[3] She grew up in both communist and post-communist Albania, the experience of this transition being the main topic of her book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History (2021).

Her historically Muslim family was compelled to be atheist under communist rule (Ypi says she is now agnostic).

[8][9] Prior to joining the London School of Economics she was a post-doctoral prize research fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

In addition to her native Albanian, Ypi is fluent in English, Italian, French and she also speaks German and Spanish.

[17] In 2022, Ypi was named one of the world's top ten thinkers by the British magazine Prospect[18] and one of the most important cultural figures by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.