Esther Handali was reportedly a Sephardic Jew from Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.
[2] She was married to the Jewish merchant Eliya Handali, who traded in luxuries such as jewellery, expensive clothing and cosmetics to the women of the Imperial Harem.
As was common for a kira, she became her the trusted confidant of her client, and her tasks soon expanded from acting as intermediary for merchant goods to acting as intermediary for other money transactions, and from there to further tasks between her client and the outside world.
When Nurbanu became the valide sultan, mother and adviser of the reigning sultan (1574-1583), Handali's own influence reached its peak, and she was entrusted with political and diplomatic correspondence between Nurbanu and foreign powers.
She became known as the benefactor of the Jewish community in Istanbul, especially for widows and orphans, and became particularly remembered for her relief help to the victims and homeless after the great fire of 1569.