Dr. Julia María Nazario Fuentes, the mayor of Loíza since 2017 is, first and foremost, an educator and administrator in different instances of her life. Julia and her sister Nelly, now a social worker, lost their father at the age of six and grew up with their mother in the San Isidro neighborhood between Canóvanas and Loíza.  

It is from her mother, Doña Carmen Lydia, that she received the skills and tools for life. "Those who share with me first and then meet my mother understand many things. She continues to be my teacher of life." says the mayor. 

Julia attended the Elementary School of the San Isidro de Loíza neighborhood until the fifth grade and then moved on to the Eugenio María de Hostos School. She continued to Antonio R. Barceló Middle School and Luis Hernaiz Verrone School, where she finished high school in 1974. Her formal education was closely linked to biblical studies and leadership development. In fact, she was president of the Puerto Rico Youth Congress of the Universal Church of Jesus Christ for five years. All while she studied at the Horeb Bible Institute, where she graduated in Biblical and Systematic Theology.  

In August 1974, she began her great adventure at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, where she completed a bachelor's degree in education. After working as an educator at the post-secondary level, she returned to the UPR to pursue a master's degree in Guidance and Counseling and continued until she finished her doctorate with high honors.  

Along with her husband, Félix Algarín, Julia has also served the communities in which she has lived as a godmother to children of alcoholics and addicts. She continued to climb the ladder in her professional career, becoming Assistant Secretary of Human Resources in the Department of Education, where she developed multiple initiatives, highlighting the delivery of incentives to 80,000 students of academic excellence throughout Puerto Rico.  

Upon becoming mayor of Loíza, Nazario Fuentes undertook the vital task of reorganizing municipal finances, structuring municipal services, and offering professional development to employees with English classes and continuing education. As part of her educational commitment, she managed to get the Department of Education to approve her ESTEP initiative (Systemic Education for a First Educational Transformation) with the purpose of offering extended hours in six schools in Loíza. This idea combined the study of mathematics with sports and the arts in a new and appealing way for students.  

Another initiative was Loíza's Office of the School Commissioner, an entity that serves as a contact to channel the needs of public schools in Loíza through an agreement with the OMEP (Office for the Improvement of Public Schools.) For Julia Nazario, education has extended to multiple public administration sectors, such as promoting Loíza's history and culture.  

This is evident in such emotional themes as what is heard over the loudspeakers of the mayor's office every Monday through Friday at 9 a.m., the Loízan anthem written by Lolita Cuevas. Coincidentally, the educational theme is also concentrated in the lyrics, as follows. "... our history is the hope that will make our homeland triumph. Cultivate your land, which is a treasure. Study and fight incessantly, for Loíza is a worthy daughter of Borinquen, a people of love and peace."  

In 2023, Mayor Nazario Fuentes published the book, 'Desperté Alcaldesa', together with Marcos Rivera, where she toured her personal and professional life before her election. In it, she makes dramatic revelations showing how life can give us many surprises and how to get ahead. The book presentations both at the Ana G. Méndez University and at the Norberto González and El Candil bookstores in Ponce have been very well attended.