Dr Nasiphi Moya started her political career during her first year at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science Politics and Public Policy and Administration from UCT in 2007. She furthered her studies at UCT and was awarded with an Honours Degree in Social Science specialising in Public Affairs and Administration in 2008.
In 2011, she obtained her Master of Philosophy from UCT, specialising in Public Policy and Administration. She later obtained her PhD in Political Science from the University of the Western Cape in 2021. She has a Certificate of Competence/Attendance at the UCT and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Winter Course where she did Democracy and Development in Africa.
Dr Moya started her working career as a tutor and teaching assistant at the UCT Department of Political Studies. She was appointed as a research assistant and project administrator dealing with the Democracy in Africa Research Unit (DARU) and the African Legislatures Project. She was later appointed as a research assistant at the Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape from February to December 2010.
She was appointed as the Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant – Programme Evaluation at Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) until March 2011. She then held a position as office and project assistant at Bertha Philanthropies Services (Pty) Ltd until September 2011. In 2011, she joined the Democratic Alliance (DA), where she was recognised as a hard worker and a woman who is committed to changing the politics of South Africa.
From 3 October 2011 to 30 November 2014, she was appointed as the National Manager: Performance Development and Management System by the DA Head Office. From 1 December 2014 to 5 November 2016, she was the Provincial Manager, Support Services in Gauteng. She joined the City of Tshwane on 7 November 2016 and was the Group Head: Office of the Chief Whip until 14 February 2019. From 15 February 2019 to 31 May 2020, she was the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Executive Mayor.
In 2021, she joined ActionSA where she has been serving as the Chief Governance Director since 1 April 2021. On 19 January 2023, Dr Moya was sworn in as PR Councillor in the City of Tshwane and was later elected as Deputy Mayor on 18 January 2024. Dr Nasiphi Moya was elected as Executive Mayor of Tshwane on 9 October 2024.