Lourdes Diaz is a product of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and a proud alumna of Miami Senior High School. She completed her undergraduate studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she double-majored in English & American Literature and Psychology. Ms. Diaz also earned a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University. She started teaching at her alma mater, Miami High, and later joined the founding faculty of Barbara Goleman Senior High School, where she taught English and coached varsity softball.  

From 2002 through 2007, Ms. Diaz served as an assistant principal, first at Miami Coral Park Senior High School and later at Orchard Villa Elementary School. Her first principalship was at Hialeah Middle School from 2007 to 2015, when she was named principal of Miami Lakes Educational Center. In 2019, Ms. Diaz was promoted to the North Region Office as an administrative director. In 2022, Ms. Diaz became the Chief Academic Officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the fourth largest district in the nation.