Born in 1978, Moniz and her sisters were raised by her mother, who had immigrated from Sao Miguel Island in Portugal. They lived with extended family in Cambridge and Somerville but eventually moved to Medford. Carla is a graduate of Medford High School (1996), the University of Massachusetts, Boston (2003), and the City University of New York Law School (1996). She started the GSA in Medford and endured harassment from classmates and adult members of the community. Despite these barriers, Carla was supported by BAGLY (the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth). Her interview talks about working at the Boston GLASS (GLBTQ+ Adolescent Social Services) until she left for law school. She would eventually return to Massachusetts to live in Lynn, where she resides with her wife, Katie, and two children. Through the group Lynn Parents Organizing for a Better Education (LPOBE), she lobbied the school committee to sever ties with Gordon College due to its discriminatory policies toward LGBTQ+ people. She is the Senior Civil Rights Attorney at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights.