Chapa Lopez's parents were born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago in the 1950s.

[1] Chapa Lopez received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas, and her Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law, thereafter joining the United States Army and earning her Master of Laws from the JAG School at the University of Virginia.

[2] Chapa Lopez spent more than a decade as a judge advocate in the United States Army, leaving at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

[1][3] From April 2000 to April 2016, she worked as an assistant United States attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, prosecuting complex transnational and domestic drug trafficking organizations, large-scale money laundering cases, and complex opioid cases.

[4] On May 10, 2018, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Chapa Lopez to be the United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida.