My Story:
My roots start in Mexico where I was born. My family moved to the US when I was about 7 years old. Growing up in the US was difficult at first due to the language barrier, but I worked hard and was a fluent English speaker within two years. My mom instilled a strong work ethic in me since childhood and always encouraged me to follow my passions. Space, Math, Astronomy, and Physics have interested me for as long as I can remember and I never lost sight of that growing up.
My educational journey was not a straight shot. I graduated high school and enrolled in a Community College to study Electrical Engineering despite various setbacks. After three years I transferred to UCLA where I obtained my B.S. in Electrical Engineering and found my dream job at NASA JPL.
Throughout my journey in engineering school I was very aware about the lack of women in the field. This was very difficult for me because I did not have many people I could ask for advice regarding several topics such as the implicit biases we face on a daily basis. I’ve been given the opportunity to help guide those girls and women who, like me, are looking for someone with experience in what they are going through. Through honesty about the difficulties and encouragement I hope to be able to help women be better prepared for their experience as a woman in STEM.
My Work:
I am currently an Electrical Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Ca. Engineering has been my passion since high school, but I’ve known practically my whole life that no matter what I did, I wanted it to be in space exploration.
I feel very blessed to be surrounded by such bright minds on a daily basis and to have the ability to celebrate STEM and Space through my work.
I am currently working on the Europa clipper Mission. This mission will place the spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter in order to observe the icy moon Europa to determine whether it could possibly harbor conditions suitable for the development (or existence) of early life.