Remove and discard the stems from the strawberries, then cut the strawberries into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl with the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir well to combine, then let this sit for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, place the graham crackers into a food processor, and pulse until ground into fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, you can crush the graham crackers with a rolling pin instead.
Combine the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl, and stir until the crumbs are moistened. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whip together the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla paste with a hand mixer, for about a minute on medium high speed, until the mixture is smooth and combined.
To assemble the cheesecake parfaits, place a few spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture into the bottom of a glass. Next add a layer of the buttery graham cracker crumbs. Top that with a layer of the macerated strawberries (leave the excess liquid behind and discard), then repeat with one more of each layer. Chill the parfaits for about an hour in the refrigerator before serving, and enjoy!
