Pamela Combastet was born in New York and raised mostly near Paris. After getting her French baccalaureate and spending a year at Sciences Po Paris, she moved to Washington, DC to attend the School of Foreign Service School at Georgetown University. She worked in the development department at the Smithsonian Institution and then in several New York city museums. In 2004, she moved back to Paris, working as a legal English teacher. She serves on several Boards, including the American Aid Society of Paris, the Paris chapter of Cancer Support France and is the incumbent AARO secretary.