Carolina Ballester studied in Spain and France, obtaining an MA in Political Science from the Madrid Complutense University and degrees in Chinese and Arabic from the French National Institute of Oriental Studies (INALCO). She worked as a translator and as cultural attaché at the Consulate of Spain in Shanghai. In 2013, she joined the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair team as programme manager to run the Fair's fellowship, awards, conference, and residence programmes.
Carolina joined the International Board on Books for Young People as Executive Director in 2022.

IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) is an international non-profit organization with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Created in 1953, it brings together a network of children's books specialists, who work together to promote reading and quality children's publications in 80+ countries.