Liz Balmaseda was born in Puerto Padre, Cuba in 1959.  Her family fled to Miami, Florida soon thereafter.  Balmaseda showed interest in writing and journalism from an early age and she received an Associate’s Degree from Miami Dade College and later a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Florida International University.  Upon her graduation, she was hired by The Miami Herald in 1981 to write for El Herald, the Spanish version of the newspaper.

Covering numerous local developments, Balmaseda eventually left The Herald to become Central America bureau chief for Newsweek, a position that was based in El Salvador.  Later, she became a field producer for NBC News.  In 1987, she returned to The Miami Herald as a feature writer.  In this role, she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1993 for her writings about the plight of Cuban and Haitian refugees.  She was awarded another Pulitzer for breaking-news reporting in 2001.  During that same year she also won the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature.

Liz currently covers food and dining for the Palm Beach Post.