karyofylli originally worked in finance for greece's ministry of sport when she moved to the ministry's sports development section in 1999. the same year, karyofylli was a representative for the greek ministry at the salt lake city general assembly meeting held by the international paralympic committee. in 2000, karyofylli was named president of the hellenic paralympic committee and became the general manager for the preparation of the 2004 summer paralympics.