[1] Pappas was born June 7, 1949, in Warwood, a neighborhood of Wheeling, West Virginia, to first generation Greek American parents.

[3] She then taught at Governors State University until switching to the legal field; graduating from Chicago Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1982.

She lost to fellow board member John Stroger in a three-way race that also included County Clerk Aurelia Pucinski.

In her first year, she tripled the amount of interest earned by the Treasurer's office and uncovered a scam run by her predecessor Edward J. Rosewell.

Since 2020, Pappas has hosted a live radio program on WVON, Black Houses Matter, to encourage taxpayers to claim overpaid property taxes.