Cultural manager and diplomat Rita Valiukonytė studied German language and literature at Vytautas Magnus University and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in 1999. She graduated with a Master’s degree in German Philosophy from the University of Bergen in 2003 and with a Master’s degree in European Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin a year later. As a grant recipient of the Robert Bosch Foundation, in 2004–2005 she worked at the Hamburg House of Literature and organised an interdisciplinary festival presenting Lithuanian and German artists. In 2006–2007, she worked as a study coordinator at Gateway College (Norway) in Cienfuegos, Cuba. 

Valiukonytė worked as Cultural Attaché at the diplomatic mission in Austria and the Republic of Croatia in 2008–2012, as Cultural Attaché at the Diplomatic Mission in the United Kingdom in 2012–2016, and Cultural Attaché at the Diplomatic Mission in the Federal Republic of Germany in 2016–2020. Since 2020, she is an advisor on international communication at Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022.