I was born and raised in a city called Chandler, just southeast of Phoenix, Arizona. My dad is from a small town in Chihuahua, México, called Santa Rosalía. My mom grew up in Arizona and is from a Mexican-American family.

Growing up, my mom was a Head Start teacher and my father worked as a landscaper at a golf course in Arizona. Part of my childhood was spent in project housing, then my family moved to rural Arizona and I grew up past the Gila River Indian Reservation.

But we moved back to Chandler and I attended public schools in Chandler, AZ. I came of age during SB1070-era Arizona when sheriff deputies in Maricopa County racially profiled Latinos for blaring corridos from their car radios. Growing up in an environment that was hostile to my immigrant family members always caused fear and uncertainty.

The fear and injustice that I experienced early in my life led to my involvement with political campaigns. I started organizing people in my community to push back against the oppressive laws in my home state. This injustice led me to study public policy in college.

My undergraduate years were very formative, and I took advantage of incredible co-curricular activities and work-learning opportunities. I attended Arizona State University-Tempe and graduated with my degree in Public Service & Public Policy in 2016.

As part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute internship, I interned with Representative Ed Pastor, the first elected Latino to represent Arizona in the U.S. Congress.

During my undergrad, I studied abroad in France, Germany, Cuba, and Russia. I obtained a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Russian in Vladimir, Russia. With my public policy education, I want to contribute to positive changes in the United States and around the world.

The most influential people in my life include my parents, who have encouraged me in my career pursuits. Second to my parents are my mentors, who were involved in helping me to break through ceilings. This includes my high school AVID mentor, the Si Se Puede Foundation that helped me prepare for college, the Los Diablos Scholarship which covered my undergraduate tuition and guided me every step of the way.

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Advice to younger self:

• • For future individuals reading this, you will be in positions where you will have to work harder with less, where sometimes you are the only person like you in the room, and where you may be the first person from your family to ever enter such a space. First, you have earned it, be proud, celebrate, for you are the sum of generations of resilience. Remember, when you blaze the trail, to open the doors for the generations after you.