Lya has a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology with an Asian Studies minor from James Madison University, and she obtained her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. She worked at the Library of Congress before teaching English for two years as an Assistant Language Teacher in Gifu City, Japan. Lya participated in the 2020 U.S. Census project as a Survey Worker and a Quality Assurance Monitor, and she also worked as a Special Education Paraprofessional at an elementary school. Lya is bilingual in English and Japanese, and she hopes to keep on learning more languages. Her interests and passions also include reading, traveling, and playing musical instruments.