miranda was born in southern phoenix, arizona. she lived in arizona her entire life, attending middle school at lassen and high school at east high. when she went off to college she attended arizona state university to obtain her bachelor's degree and then she attended northern arizona university where she obtained her master's degree. she worked as teacher in roosevelt school district in arizona and went on to be a school administrator in the roosevelt/cartwright/washington districts. after that she served as a school board member in the roosevelt district before finally moving on to politics.