Doris Schmidauer was born in Grieskirchen, Upper Austria, on 21 September 1963, to Doris and Ernst Schmidauer.[1][3][4] Her father, Ernst Schmidauer (1934–2018), was a school director at Johann Eisterer State School and a brass band conductor.[1][4] Schmidauer was raised in Peuerbach, a small town in Grieskirchen District.[1] She attended primary school in Peuerbach and graduated from a girls' high school in the city of Wels in June 1982.[1][3]
Schmidauer moved to Vienna, where she graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Vienna in 1988.[1][3] Her thesis dealt with the history of the Österreichischen Nitrogenwerke AG.[1] As a student, Schmidauer participated in the 1984 Occupation of the Hainburger Au, to help preserve a large flood plain and wetlands area near Vienna.[1] She credits the campaign to save the Hainburger Au as the beginning of her work in ecology and environmentalism.[1] The Hainburger Au was saved from development and became part of the Danube-Auen National Park in 1996.
Schmidauer, who described her political views as "left-liberal," has worked for the Austrian Green Party for nearly 30 years.[1] She began working for the Green Party as a new hire in December 1989.[1] Schmidauer worked as the personal assistant and political aide to Alexander Van der Bellen, a prominent Green Party politician (and her future husband) from 1996 until 1999.[1] She then served as the Managing Director of the Green Party Parliamentary Club from October 1999 until January 2018.[1][3]
In December 2015, Doris Schmidauer married Alexander Van der Bellen following a longtime relationship.[1] Doris Schmidauer has no children, while Van der Bellen has two sons from his first marriage.[1]
Schmidauer became First Lady in January 2017 when Van der Bellen assumed the presidency of Austria. She expressed a desire to continue working within the Green Party's leadership while fulfilling her obligations as first lady and wife of the president.[1][5] She left her position as manager of the Greens Parliamentary Club in January 2018 to focus on the duties of the first lady.[3][6]
In a speech on International Women's Day 2019, Schmidauer criticized the lack of women on the boards of directors of domestic Austrian companies.[6] She noted that, out 186 total board members, only nine were women.[6]
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