Bundles was named after A'Lelia Walker (1885–1931). Walker was her great-grandmother. Walker was also the daughter of entrepreneur and philanthropist Madam C. J. Walker. She graduated in 1970 from North Central High School. In 1974 Bundles graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College. She was inducted into Harvard's Alpha Iota chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Bundles received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1976.