Hanneke grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. She received dual degrees from Tufts University, with a Master of Science in food policy and applied nutrition from The Friedman School and a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School. While in graduate school, Hanneke spent a summer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia interning with a small NGO that works in early intervention for child trafficking, and a summer in Kinshasa and Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, researching community- specific causes of malnutrition with Action Against Hunger/ACF International. She completed her undergraduate degree in international studies at the University of South Carolina. After her undergraduate studies, Hanneke served for two years as a rural community health education volunteer with the Peace Corps in southern Morocco. She then went on to teach kindergarten through eighth grade English in the Marshall Islands with WorldTeach. This past spring, Hanneke completed her first marathon in Boston.