Pareigis has a polyethnic migrant background with relatives in Germany, Sweden and Zimbabwe and studied political science and African studies in her hometown of Hamburg as well as in New York and Berlin. She started her career in television as assistant to the editor-in-chief at N24 in Berlin. Prior to that, she was already gaining experience in the Peacekeeping Department of the UN , in the Reuters news agency and in various foundations and newspaper publishers. From December 2014 she presented the ZDF morning magazine.