Hera Valsamaki-Ralli was born in Athens, she completed her studies at the American College of Greece (Pierce College), the University of Athens (History – Archaeology), Boston University, USA (Education), Reading University, UK (Comparative Education), and Stanford University, USA (Mass Media for Education). She was granted fellowships by the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY), the Danish Ministry of Education, and the Fulbright Foundation.  During her long and illustrious career, she served as an archaeologist at the National Archaeological Museum and taught in secondary schools as well as Teacher Training Institutes of the Hellenic Ministry of Education. 

She was founding member and Director of Educational Broadcasting of the Ministry of Education,  National Representative of the Ministry of Education in the European Union’s Committee on Education, and member of the Board of Directors of OLME (Greek Federation of Secondary Education State School Teachers).  She also served as Secretary General of Equality, President of the Research Center for Gender Equality (KETHI), as well as Deputy Prefect of Attica and Deputy Mayor of Athens (1990-2010). 

At the same time, she was a member of the Board of Directors of Pierce College Alumni Association, President of the Fulbright Fellows Association, Vice President of Greek Guiding Association (SEO), and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Athens Festival.  She is currently a member of the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation and the College’s Board of Directors.

She is the author of books on education and politics and, for a number of years, was a columnist for the Greek language journal “Political Issues” (Politika Themata) .  She has represented the Hellenic Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Athens in various international meetings and conferences.