Her work has been published widely, including in ReVista: The Harvard Review of Latin America, and The Miami Herald. In May 2010, López won the Félix Varela National Award for Excellence in American Journalism on Latino Issues—in the print category—for her series "The Narco Empire," published in El Diario/La Prensa in 2009. She has an M.A. in International Relations and an M.A. in Journalism, and has taught journalism and coverage of international issues at graduate and undergraduate levels in the United States. During this fellowship she examined the Lorenzanas’ drug and arms trafficking networks between the U.S. and Guatemala to discover other locations for arms and drugs smuggling in the U.S..