Yingluck Shinawatra is the youngest of nine children of Lert and Yindee.[9][10] Her father was a member of parliament for Chiang Mai.[11] Yingluck grew up in Chiang Mai and attended Regina Coeli College, a private girls school, at the lower secondary level and then Yupparaj College, a co-ed school, at the upper secondary level.[12] She graduated with a BA degree from the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University in 1988 and received a MPA degree (specialization in Management Information Systems) from Kentucky State University in 1991.
Yingluck began her career as a sales and marketing intern at Shinawatra Directories Co., Ltd., a telephone directory business founded by AT&T International. She later became the director of procurement and the director of operations. In 1994, she became the general manager of Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of International Broadcasting Corporation (which later became TrueVisions). She left as Deputy CEO of IBC in 2002, and became the CEO of Advanced Info Service (AIS), Thailand's largest mobile phone operator.[9] After the sale of Shin Corporation (the parent company of AIS) to Temasek Holdings, Yingluck resigned from AIS, but remained Managing Director of SC Asset Co Ltd, the Shinawatra family property development company. She was investigated by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission regarding possible insider trading after she sold shares of her AIS stock for a profit prior to the sale of the Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings. No charges were filed.[13] Yingluck Shinawatra is also a committee member and secretary of the Thaicom Foundation.
Yingluck received 0.68% of Shin Corp shares out of the 46.87% that Thaksin and his then wife held in 1999. The military junta-appointed Assets Examination Committee charged that Yingluck made up false transactions and that “there were no real payments for each Ample Rich Co.,Ltd shares sold” and “the transactions were made at a cost basis of par value in order to avoid income taxes, and all the dividends paid out by Shin to those people were transferred to [her sister-in-law] Potjaman's bank accounts”. However, the AEC did not pursue a case against her.[14] Yingluck, in response, claimed that “her family has been a victim of political persecution”.[15]
She has one son, Supasek, with her common-law husband, Anusorn Amornchat. Anusorn was an executive of the Charoen Pokphand Group and managing director of M Link Asia Corporation PCL.[16] Her sister, Yaowapa Wongsawat, is the wife of former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat.