Xanda Lemos graduated in Portuguese and English from UFPR - Universidade Federal do Parana (Federal University of Parana) in 2008. After migrating to the United States, she completed her M.A. degree in Latin American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2012. While pursuing her M.A., Lemos Zagonel developed the Portuguese Program at UNCC, teaching all levels of Portuguese, Portuguese for Spanish Speakers, and classes of Brazilian Culture and Civilization. She entered the doctoral program of Latin American History at Emory in 2015. Her dissertation focuses on Brazilian music, youth, and spirituality under the military dictatorship. As an Emory Center for Digital Scholarship Fellow (2020-2021) she is currently working as a Managing Editor of the Atlanta Studies Journal.