Her parents are Nikolaos Sakellaropoulos, a former vice president of the Greek Supreme Court, and Aliki Paraskeva.

[6] Her election came after the Syriza government, which was in power at the time, considered her progressive record on issues such as the environment and human rights.

She has also contributed to the book Financial crisis and environmental protection in the case law of the Council of State (Greek: Οικονομική κρίση και προστασία του περιβάλλοντος στη νομολογία του Συμβουλίου της Επικρατείας), Papazisis Publications, 2017.

[8] On 15 January 2020, the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, nominated her for the post of president of the Hellenic Republic.

[3] Sakellaropoulou took office before the Hellenic Parliament on 13 March of that year in a session with few legislators present, as the country was beginning to be severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the first restrictive measures had been ordered.

[7] She has described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as "a direct and dramatic conflict of values, between freedom and authoritarianism".