Mara Zaharea studied at the Economics Department of the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She then pursued her postgraduate studies in journalism (Masters of Journalism) at the City University of London. She worked for a short time at the BBC radio and upon returning to Greece, she worked for the newspapers "Avgi", "Eleftheros Typos", "Epikairotita", "Ethnos", and the radio station "90.2".

In 1992, she transitioned to television as a political editor for the Mega Channel TV station. Very soon, she took over the presentation of the channel's main news bulletin, and later, she also presented the weekly news show "42 minutes".

In 2009, she founded the news website “Star.gr” and shortly after, she became the main presenter of the news bulletin of the TV station “Star”, a position she holds to this day for more than 12 years. In 2017, Mara Zacharea became the first female journalist in Greece to take on the role of news director at a private television station, “Star”. She remains the director and presenter of the main news bulletin, consistently achieving high ratings, especially among dynamic audiences, namely the younger generations of viewers.

She speaks English and French.