'Sylvia Fowles is the daughter of Arrittio Fowles. She has three brothers and one sister.

Fowles grew up in a variety of neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County, including Coconut Grove, Little Haiti, and the Victory Home Housing Projects. She attended Little River Elementary School and Horace Mann Middle School.

High School
Fowles led Edison Senior High School to two state championships before transferring to Gulliver Preparatory School. Here she averaged 20.6 points and 11.6 rebounds, and led them to the class 3A state championship.

University
Sylvia Fowles attended LSU, with a general studies major concentratiing in communication studies, sociology and sports studies. She played center for the LSU Lady Tigers, under coaches Pokey Chatman and, in her senior year, Van Chancellor.

WNBA
Sylvia was selected second in the 2008 WNBA draft, just after Candace Parker, by the Chicago Sky.

Due to a knee injury, she is out for several weeks.

Personal
Fowles enjoys drawing and sewing in her spare time.