Olivia Diaz Biography
A native Nevadan, Olivia Diaz has lived in Assembly District 11 for most of her life. The second daughter of Mexican-American citizens, her father worked for 35 years as a casino porter to support his wife and six children. Olivia attributes most of her success in life to the strong moral values and work ethic her parents instilled in her at an early age. She attended inner city schools such as Sunrise Acres Elementary, Roy Martin Middle School, and Rancho High School. In 1996, she graduated from Rancho High School as Student Body Secretary and Salutatorian of her senior class and continued her post secondary education at UNLV.
In 1997 she participated and won the Miss Hispanic of Las Vegas beauty pageant, which catapulted her into a period of civic activism in the community. One of the most rewarding experiences she recalls having during her reign of almost two years was the opportunity to create public service announcements to help Amigos for Democracy increase the number of registered Hispanic voters in 1998. While working toward her bachelor’s degree, Olivia was an AmeriCorps member and was assigned to tutor at-risk students at Gene Ward ES. She graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Minor in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations in 2000.
Shortly after graduating from UNLV, she married her husband of 9 years and inherited two wonderfully talented step-sons. She started working for the Clark County School District as a second grade teacher in the fall of 2002. She is currently the English Language Learner Specialist at C.C. Ronnow Elementary. Olivia feels passionate about working in at-risk and Title I schools because she wants to serve as a role-model and advocate for people in the community. In 2004, she obtained her Masters in Education from Nova Southeastern University. She loves the challenges that being an ELL teacher brings as far as helping students acquire a second language and feels she has an important role in advocating for parents and students.
Olivia knows that the needs of a school reflect the needs of the community. “I’ve learned about the many issues parents and students face in my district first-hand by living here for more than 25 years and being a classroom teacher. Now I want to expand my efforts to the district level and help the community that helped raise me. I feel that it is my turn to look out for and take care of my neighbors during these trying times.”
