[3] Enrolling in the National School of Anthropology and History (Spanish: Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, (ENAH)) in 1957, she studied under Barbro Dahigren.

[2][4] Nolasco began her career working at the National Museum of Anthropology in the old building located at #13 Calle de Moneda, as a cataloger and was quickly promoted to a research position at Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH),[3] working her way up the ladder to become the Director of the graduate and post-graduate studies of anthropology at INAH.

[1] Nolasco belonged to a group of anthropologists collectively known as Los siete magníficos de la anthropología (The magnificent seven of anthropology), which included besides herself: Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, Mercedes Olivera Bustamante, Ángel Palerm [es], Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Enrique Valencia, and Arturo Warman.

[3][7] They were the first group working in Mexico to focus their attention away from the assimilated national identity of the varied peoples in the country and instead critically evaluate the differences of the cultures that made up the whole.

[7] Her research specialties focused on ethnography and migration, analyzing the political and human rights issues impacting indigenous peoples[2] and throughout her career published more than 100 articles on these topics.

Between 2004 and 2006, she served as president of the Mexican Academy of Anthropological Sciences and was a founder of the College of Ethnologists and Social Anthropologists, the governing board of professionals working in the field.