Sevasti Kallisperi was born in 1858 in Athens to Nicholas and Marigo Kallisperi. Her father, originally from Kalymnos, was an officer in the Greek War of Independence and after the establishment of the modern Greek state held several prominent positions, including Inspector of the Public Schools of Samos (1830), where he founded several primary schools; judge of Athens (1844); and the Prefect of Messenia (1855). The couple had three children and were staunch supporters of education. Kallisperi's brother George would also become a soldier and later served in the 1897 Greco-Turkish War.