Papaiaoannou was born in
Athens, Greece, in 1969 and was raised in
Palaio Faliro, a coastal suburb of Athens. Papaioannou holds a BA in History from
Deree College,
American College of Greece, and a BA in English Literature from the
University of Athens. She received a Master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from
New York University before returning to Greece to work in both print and broadcast journalism. Papaioannou has been active and visible in Greek journalism for 25 years. She has worked at four major Greek television stations:
Antenna,
Mega,
Skai, and Alpha, working in a variety of roles and capacities (journalist, editorial director, co-anchor, co-presenter, presenter, and producer), and has covered stories across the world as well as across Greece. Alpha TV host of 365 Degrees investigative news show. She has also hosted a radio show, served as Editorial Director of the Greek edition of the
Huffington Post, and served as a print reporter for Greece's largest daily,
Kathimerini. She served as head of the Foreign Press Office for the Athens 2004 Bid Committee for the Olympic Games.
Published works Papaioannou is the author of the book (in Greek),
Hidden in the Aegean: A True Story, published in May 2011 by Patakis Editions.
Awards Papaioannou was recipient of the 2017
Association of European Journalists' Award. In 2005, 2006, and 2007 she was recipient of the Greek TV/Ethnos award for the investigative news show "The Files." == Personal life ==