Paloma Herrera was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and began her training at the age of seven. In January 1991, having just turned 15 years old, she moved to New York and continued her studies at the School of American Ballet. After only six months, she joined the American Ballet Theatre and, in 1995, became the youngest Principal Dancer in American Ballet Theatre history at age 19. She has appeared in ballets ranging from Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet, and Swan Lake, to Apollo, The Prodigal Son, and Stepping Stones. She has appeared as Guest Artist with great ballet companies around the world, including New York City Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Teatro Colon, and National Ballet of Cuba, to name a few. She retired from American Ballet Theatre at the end of November 2015, right before turning 40. Since that, she moved back to her home, Buenos Aires – Argentina, and continued to teach all over the world.

In Argentina she received the award: Konex de Platino, Maria Ruanova and distinctions by the Honorable Camara de Diputados de La Nación , Medalla del Bicentenario by the government of the Buenos Aires city, among many others, and since 2012 she is a member of the gallery of popular idols of the Argentine Government House. In 2016 she wrote her autobiography that was presented at Feria del Libro in 2017 , That same year she also launched her own perfume “Paloma Herrera”, in 2019 “Paloma Herrera Pasión”, her second fragrance and in 2022 the third, called “Paloma Herrera Fantasy”.

From 2017 to February 2022 she was artistic director of the Ballet Estable of Teatro Colón, where the company grew enormously during the five years of her management. Since late 2022 she has been the Artistic Director of the Summer Intensive at KAATSBAAN Cultural Park in Upstate New York.