Rosalia Mera was born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain in 1944. She dropped out of school at age eleven to work as a sales assistant in a clothing shop.

Mera married Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1966. She had a son, Marcos, who was born mentally disabled. The couple also had a daughter, Sandra. The couple divorced in 1986.

Mera began designing gowns and lingerie in her home with her then-husband, Amancio Ortega Gaona. The couple opened the first Zara store in 1975 in A Coruña. Eventually the couple parlayed their work into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Zara’s success was in part due to its strategy of imitating popular fashions and quickly making them for sale at inexpensive prices.

On 14 August 2013, Mera was admitted to a hospital in Menorca in an ‘irreversible situation’ after suffering a stroke. The family had been on holiday in Menorca. Mera died on 15 August 2013 in A Coruña. She had been transferred by plane to the port city and then by ambulance to the Hospital San Rafael de A Coruña where she later died of complications. Inditex confirmed Mera’s death on 16 August 2013, stating “The group wishes to send its sincere condolences to her loved ones and friends at this extremely difficult time, after the loss of a person who contributed so much to the origins and development of the company.” She was buried in the cemetery of the church of Santa Eulalia of Liáns, in Oleiros (A Coruña).