Background
Parr's mother died in childbirth, her father unknown. The only member of her family still living -- still in the picture -- is her older half-brother Wish, 13 years her senior. The pair were alone on Corellia, at the very least, they stayed on the planet of their birth until Wish was old enough to fly (well, officially fly, he was always very good at flying).
She was three when her brother stole a ship and fled with her, seeking their fortunes among the stars doing whatever they could to get by. He specialised in odd jobs, becoming a bit of a smuggler, though he always seemed to be helping a rather... strange... group of people. They said they were fighting the empire, something Wish could definitely get behind. they had been pressuring him into service for years (something he wanted absolutely nothing to do with), and he had seen what they were doing in the world. He originally saw this as his way of helping out where he could, running simple missions with his sister and his run down ship. He made some friends out of his contacts, giving them rides, aiding them over the years. He became a fully-fledged member of the rebel alliance even, alongside his sister (even if she was probably around 6 when this happened).
Wish was always a great pilot, and so, there came times when he was asked to trade in his trusted ship for a sleeker fighter, something he took to with gusto, wanting to prove himself to his new friends, his new cause. After a while he took to a more sedetary lifestyle, settling on a series of rebel bases and running fighter missions along with other things, reaching young Parr how to do things, how to fly, how to feel the "threads of the universe" as he called it, the things that he said helped him see the best places to fly, help with his missions, his intuition. He said it was like a nagging feeling in the back of his mind guiding him in the right direction, the same thing that Parr always felt when she was behind the wheel.
Parr was 13 during the battle of Yavin, stationed with her brother on the base on Yavin 4, she was too young to fly, but she snuck her way into the strategy room during the assault. Her brother was up there, in his X-wing, and she wanted to make sure he was ok, she wanted to know how he was doing. Before he left he gave her a hug, told her to listen for Red 8, and that he would tell her about everything when he returned. Parr did what he asked, sitting in that strategy room and waiting with baited breath for Wish's inevitable victory. He had never failed before, he was one of the best pilots she ever heard of.
She was there when he went down, shot by some strange fighter. She felt it in a way, his life leaving the galaxy. At the end of the battle she joined the festivities, but it didnt feel the same, her brother wasnt there to share in their joy. She stayed on the sidelines, trying to put on a brave face, everyone was so happy, so she should have been too, right? After the fight, one of her heroes came up to her, patting her gently on the head and quietly introducing himself. Of course, she knew who he was, Red 2, Wedge Antilles, one of the best pilots the fleet had. He gave her a little token, something her brother had entrusted to him in case he went down -- it was his necklace, the one their mother had left behind, his good luck charm. She has worn it with pride ever since.
Two years later she started running missions for the Rebels in an official fashion, she was 15, she knew how to fly, she even had her own ship, the one that she inherited from her brother. That was more of a home than the rebel bases she bounced between. She wanted to help, and she would do whatever she could to aid the cause. When she was 16 they allowed her to fly an X-wing for combat missions, something she took with great seriousness.
Over the remainder of the war she flew countless times, participated in countless battles, always knowing just when to move out of the way, when to shoot. She always said it was something her brother taught her how to do. She made a name for herself, someone reliable, someone that you could count on, despite her young age. She was a great x-wing pilot, and great when it came to acquiring supplies.
She was there on the second battle of the death star, flying like her brother had been during the battle of Yavin. She would do him proud, she said, she could sometimes hear his voice in the back of her head telling her what to do next. She took up the mantle that he left behind, and made it out alive. At age 18, she lived to see the destruction of the empire.
After that, she didnt know what to do, all she knew was war, the dangers of fighter combat, the constant life and death. She decided to become a pilot for a different purpose, bringing people from place to place in her brother's old ship, giving up the thrill of the X-wing for something less destructive. She offered her services to Luke Skywalker, jedi master and comrade in arms, offering to run security for the temple from the sky as well as doing whatever else he might want, gathering supplies, gathering people, she just wanted to stay flying no matter what happened.
How he found out she was force sensitive was a mystery, perhaps she mentioned something about how she saw the world, the feelings that she got when she flew, or perhaps he just felt it, and ever since then Parr has been granted a place at the jedi academy, honing her skills with the force (and her skills flying, its not every day you can get lessons from one of the best pilots the galaxy has ever known).
Now, Parr is 23, a veteran and padawan, hoping to turn over a new leaf in her life.
(Comfortable with tech, pragmatic power
Motivation
The Accidental Rebel: Her brother was the one who found the alliance originally, Parr has always been along for the ride. Her time with the alliance, essentially her whole life, shaped just about everything about her. She grew up on Rebel values, and those values carry over into her current life, for good or ill.