Olga Talamante was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, to Eduardo and Refugio Talamante. At the age of eleven, she and her family moved to Gilroy, an agricultural community in California. She learned English and excelled in her studies, being elected president of her sophomore class and vice president of her senior class at Gilroy High School. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, graduating with a degree in Latin American studies. During college, she became active in the anti-Vietnam War peace movement and the Chicano Movement. While in Chiapas, Mexico on a field study, she met many Argentines who told her of the leftist political successes in their country. After graduating, Talamante went to Argentina, and arrived shortly after the election of the Justicialist Party candidate for president, Héctor José Cámpora. She arrived in Azul, Buenos Aires Province, and began working for Juventud Peronista, a poverty-relief agency, in one of the city's poorest areas. She was imprisoned and tortured in Argentina, and later released thanks to the Olga Talamante Defense Committee. Talamante has also worked with Head Start, the YMCA, and the American Friends Service Committee. Talamante became first executive director of the Chicana/Latina Foundation in January of 2003. Talamante has also been the recipient of a number of community awards in the San Francisco area, including the the Hispanic Magazine "Diversity award", the "Women Making History Award" from the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, KQED-TV award for "heroes and heroines of the Latino community', and the Girl Scouts of the USA Daisy award.