Heer Mandalia was born in Ahmedabad, India. Having grown up in diverse and culturally rich surroundings inspired her to capture and translate her surrounding into visual forms. She expressed these through various mediums, of which one of the first ones was photography. The interest was cultivated during her teenage years and further in was converted to exploring visual design in a broader sense. This led her to take a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design.

In the curiosity to explore design as a part of storytelling, she came to the United States to pursue Masters's in communication design at Pratt Institute. Her work during her master's developed her to examine herself in her surrounding. She explored the concept of the "Effects of material aesthetic on self-presentation" as her thesis dissertation.