After graduation from the Letters Department of the State University of Moldova Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei continued her education at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania, and then at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York.

She worked as an advisor to the education minister before getting promoted to deputy minister of education during the time Maia Sandu was in charge there. Before joining the government she had worked as the executive director of Pro-Didactica, an educational center. Mr. Nicolaescu-Onofrei is also known as an author of educational curricula and Romanian language books for primary school.


She joined the political project of Maia Sandu in 2015 and shortly rose to deputy chairwoman of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). In the February 2019 elections she competed in the uninominal constituency №31 Chisinau, on behalf of ACUM (PAS+DA bloc) and lost to her Socialist rival Grigore Novac. However, she has obtained a seat in Parliament thanks to the party list mechanism.

In June 2019 Liliana Nicolaescu-Onofrei was appointed as the new Minister for Education, Culture, and Research in the Government led by Maia Sandu.