Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni has emerged as the marketing face of Greece’s rebounding tourism industry. The good-looking 39-year-old assumed office in June 2012 at a time when there was a great deal of negative publicity about Greece but the tide has turned and Ms. Kefalogianni appears to have captivated tourist operators from around the world – putting Greece back on the tourist map.

Of course, Ms. Kefalogiannis is no stranger to the post because her father himself, Dr. Ioannis Kefalogiannis, once served as minister of tourism. Nonetheless it was the footsteps of her mother, lawyer Eleni Vardinogianni, that she decided to follow by obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1997 and a Master of Law  in Commercial and Business Law from King’s College London and later a master’s degree in International Affairs from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

The firstborn child has two sisters – Christina and Danai. With just one and a half years age difference between her second sister, the two grew up like twins, and saw Danai as the “little one.” The minister remembers sharing her secrets and clothes with her second sister. “Though we are different we complement each other and feel bonded,” she says.

“Due to our Cretan heritage we grew up knowing the meaning of the term ‘loving family’,” says Christina Kefalogianni. “From our father we got Cretan guts and our mother sacrificed her career to raise us, helping us to stand on our own feet and to rely solely on our strengths.”

“Olga was the oldest and most dynamic and she would get us organized as far as duties and scandals were concerned. She was the best student and the only one who would wake up to go to school without an alarm clock. She would get Christina ready, but my wake-up was a permanent headache for both of them. Not only was I late in getting up, I’d also lounge around,” says Danai, the youngest of the three Kefalogianni sisters. The sisters laugh remembering the times they would “almost” miss the school bus.

“Firstborn children have to deal with the unswerving strictness of their parents, however later things loosen up,” says Olga. “Perhaps that’s why Danai is cooler than us.”

Childhood

Childhood is linked to summer holidays on the isle of Crete living carefree days at grandma Chrysa Vardinogianni’s house at Episkopi, Rethymno. Long days spent playing by the beach, eating grandma’s gemista (vegetables stuffed with rice) and enjoying the beauty of the island may have been laid the seeds for Olga’s interest in tourism.

The three sisters went their different ways when Olga left to go to law school, and Christine followed suit with studies in political science at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and postgraduate studies in investment administration in London. On her part, the youngest of the three went to George Washington University to study Marketing and continued with tourism, environment and development studies at King’s College in London.

“Our mother, used to noise in the house, fell into deep despair once we left. She said that our family home had emptied,” remembers Christina.

“One Christmas, though we were all in different cities, we decided to all meet up. Christina left from London and found me in New York so that we could visit Danai in Washington. I admit that we enjoyed the best Christmas of our lives!” recalls the minister.

The first of the three to marry was the middle sister who is the wife of engineer Christos Kaklamanis. The night before the wedding was a tough one for the minister who had to come to terms with the fact that they were growing up and slowly moving away from the happy family home to create lives of their own. Later, the youngest married businessman Andonis Stasinopoulos. The last of the three to decide to marry was the eldest sister who is married to jeweler/businessman Manos Pentheroudakis.

All three are relieved that their husbands get along and socialize though they make sure that they also have their own exclusive “sisters day”. “Though we’re all grown up and have kids of our own, we continue to be close,” says the minister. One of the most trying periods for the three women was their father’s death. Since then, they have followed their father’s advice – to stand “united like a giant fist.”

The minister is aunt to seven children – four from her second sister and three from her youngest one. “I remember the birth of my first niece as though it was yesterday: just two days before the elections at Crete where I was standing as a candidate MP for the first time,” she says. “I left everything so that I wouldn’t miss the moment and I haven’t regretted that one bit.”

For the photo shoot for Proto Thema, the three sisters gathered at their family home at Lykavittos hill. Their children now relax at the rooms where they had grown up with grandma babysitting. Regarding Olga, the younger sisters say that they vote for her not just because she is their sister but because she is a young person with vision and ability. “We admire her battles in the political arena, just as we admired our father in the past,” they say.

As for summer vacations this year – of course the three sisters will head to beautiful Crete, the island of their happy memories…