In my time outside of Art Center College of Design, I have organized activist events in LA and created networks of like-minded friends paving the way for change through environmental activism and student resources. I recently worked with both the OC and LA chapters of Rise-Up-For-Abortion-Rights, being featured in the LA Times and La Opinion for my activist work. I was the producer for the protest they held on July 4th (planning the speaker lineup and giving speeches myself), gathered letters from activists in Latin America that participated in the Marea Verde to read during the rally (which was initially my idea to help create international solidarity), handled press interviews in both English and Spanish, and created multiple graphics announcing events. We, unfortunately, had a falling out due to several conferences in which we discussed their exclusion of trans people, with some organizers even physically laughing at my suggestions to include terms such as AFAB. As a gender questioning POC and intersectional activist, it stung deeply to have been so quickly dismissed by peers I had felt so safe around. As a Mexican-American artist, my inspirations have led me to invariably incorporate intersectionality in both my activism and artwork, and to learn more about the human spirit overcoming adversity. I love reading Cultural Anthropology books by my favorite anthropologist, Miguel Leon-Portilla, which focuses on preserving the perspective of the Mexica (Aztecs). I am also a huge nerd for magical realism like in Beloved by Toni Morrison and La Casa de Los Espiritus by Isabel Allende. I highly admire these well-read authors' strong capabilities for political and social commentary through their stories. I look to do the same with my artwork. My latest project is an animated magical realist story set during the Mexican Revolution, blending Mexica (Aztec) mythology, La Conquista, and other events of resistance against oppression. It follows a 15-year-old girl uncovering misogyny and femicide at the hands of the revolutionaries, consequently breaking her schema of blind admiration for these men. The question of redefining the nation's identity during this period parallels that of the teen protagonists' (Inés and Diego Andres), exploring themes of decolonization, feminism, and their place in these struggles. I, by no means, want to write another Katniss story of a hero girl that fights the system, but rather a character that acknowledges what they can contribute in a more collaborative and mutual-aid-like way while highlighting the importance of acts of self-care. The title of the story, “Que Tiemble El Estado”, is a line from the Mexican feminist anthem, Canción Sin Miedo. My goal is to work in the entertainment industry as a concept/character designer, storyboard artist, writer, and director while creating solid networks of diverse creators. I firmly believe that, with the rich cultural history and abundance of artists, Latin America has much to contribute to the world of stories. I hope to amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ people and BIPOC like myself, making the entertainment industry more inclusive and diverse. I will continue to incorporate my activist experiences and knowledge in my written and illustrated works, centering on characters of color and channeling my understanding of intersectionality, societal change, cultural anthropology, indigenous activism, and magical realism into a medium that can bring them to life and create communities of appreciation for these topics and experiences. These are characteristics that will continue to follow me into my animation career as well as into the rest of my life and friendships. I have linked my artist portfolio which includes my project, "Que Tiemble El Estado". Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Only in these recent months have I been feeling like my real self, energetic with a go-getter attitude and a strong appetite for human connections, books, and creating artwork just as I've done all my life. The therapeutic process of crafting images where there were none has been so essential to my own self-awareness and has helped me cope with everything that troubles me. I am currently in a recovery process after having suffered from and been diagnosed with Anxiety, Depression, passive suicidal ideation, and ADHD. In late 2019, I began to burn out, having to balance my student loans, living on my own away from my parents for the first time, paying rent and cooking meals, and thinking daily of my deceased aunt. I was just as old as she was when she passed, 19 years into her youth with so much left ahead of her. Roxana was a victim of feminicidio, raped on campus, and stabbed several times. She was an individual with dreams and aspirations all taken away by one man who saw none of that in her. Sometimes, I felt as if I was her second chance being that my dad very often told me how much I reminded him of her. She and I share a fighting spirit and the same hunger for knowledge and books, only I have more opportunities and privileges living here in the US. My dad worked tirelessly to leave Mexico City ever since he lost her, dreaming of safety for our family above all else. I became almost paranoid during my first year of college, however, walking to my apartment alone every night fearing I may suffer a similar fate to that of my aunt I had been compared to so much. I also began to realize that despite my artistic level and passion for my work, I was drastically falling behind. No matter the fact that I spent every waking moment dedicated to my school projects, drawing while eating, and only having dreams where I would be working on my assignments, I was unable to catch up and I began to feel like something was fundamentally wrong with me. The frustration ate away at me and the shame was too much to bear. Towards the end of my first year in college, I would stay home, refusing to meet with friends out of the overwhelming embarrassment, instead looking through my window at the neighbor's cats that would visit my back garden. It was all I had the energy for in those days. Time would melt into itself as I stared at the misplaced plank on the wooden floor path. It revealed a hole in the dirt in which the cats loved to nest inside on those warm afternoons. I desperately wished with every fiber of my being that I could crawl into that hole and disappear with them, letting the earth swallow me and the time pass me by eternally. I no longer had the energy or want to create any artwork, I was no longer myself. Upon returning to live with my parents as the pandemic hit, I wanted to hide how much I had changed. I was afraid of the grief and disappointment I would cause them. They had worked so hard to get us to the US and to give me the opportunities and safety that my aunt Roxana didn't have. I felt I had wasted it and that I was becoming a burden, even telling my father at one point that I hadn't killed myself because I didn't want to leave him my student loans. Not knowing what was wrong with me during those two years, lacking the multiple diagnoses I needed, was the most worthless and helpless I had ever felt. I was surprised, however, to find that when I opened up to my parents and my friends, the response was nothing short of compassion, love, and even admiration. I was met with understanding and support as I cried for months in their arms, melting away my shame. I was able to get in contact with a psychiatrist that validated my experience and assured me of multiple solutions. I was referred to a therapist, given temporary medication to calm my initially big anxiety attacks, and provided with strategies to help me tackle things from breathing to planning the next steps for my career. If I could title this chapter of my life now, I would call it "Oh, there you are again". With the help of my family and my friends, old as well as new ones, I have since rebuilt my relationship with art, transferring to a major that suits me better and being invited to work on my upper classmates' capstone animation projects. I am learning to cook more complex and fun recipes from my friends and am now working on building sustainable ways of maintaining both my mental health as well as my physical health to prevent myself from falling into those old unhealthy habits, making sure that I'm sleeping well, eating three meals a day paired with fruits and other healthy snacks, going on hikes and scenic adventurous road trips with friends, and dancing barefoot with my roommates. I feel I have found myself again and I missed being that bubbly person, so eager to try new things and always looking forward to what the future has in store.

To be an artist is to create an aesthetic mark of your present self. The therapeutic process of crafting images where there were none has been so essential to my own self-awareness and has helped me cope with everything that troubles me. I have always known I wanted to be an artist, being the class artist, writing my own little illustrated adventure books, drawing architectural plans, participating in school plays, and directing videos of my friends on iMovie. Moving to California from Mexico changed the way I looked at art and storytelling, becoming attentive of animated films, falling in love with the power visual storytelling: the total control of fleshing out environments and characters from scratch and the carefully planned chemistry between the two in the composition of each scene and frame. I would sit through the credits reading the titles of the departments that so many artists contributed to. I long to work in a studio and bounce ideas off of my coworkers to build grand worlds and stories together. I am so lucky in that my gift is intellectually rich in its inspirational material. My biggest inspirations in my current work have been the Cultural Anthropology books by my favorite anthropologist, Miguel Leon-Portilla, which focus on preserving the perspective of the Mexica (Aztecs) and magical realism as a genre in literature such as in Beloved by Toni Morrison, and La Casa de Los Espiritus by Isabel Allende, both authors also being well-read individuals with strong capabilities for political and social commentary through their stories. My inspirations have lead me to learn more about the human spirit, overcoming adversity, and incorporate intersectionality in both my activism and my writing. My latest project is an animated magical realist story set during the Mexican Revolution, blending Mexica (Aztec) mythology, La Conquista, and other events of resistance against oppression. It follows a 15 year old girl uncovering misogyny and femicide at the hands of the revolutionaries, consequently breaking her schema of blind admiration for these men. The question of redefining the nation's identity during this period parallels that of the teen protagonists' (Inés and Diego Andres), exploring themes of decolonization, feminism, and their place in these struggles. I by no means want to write another Katniss story of a hero girl that fights the system, but rather a character that acknowledges what they can contribute in a more collaborative and mutual-aid-like way while highlighting the importance of acts of self care. The title of the story, “Que Tiemble El Estado”, is a line from the Mexican feminist anthem, Canción Sin Miedo. My goal is to work in the entertainment industry as a concept/character designer, storyboard artist, writer, and film director while creating strong networks of diverse creators. I strongly believe that, with the rich cultural history and abundance of artists, Latin America has much to contribute to the world of stories. I hope to amplify the voices of BIPOC, women, and immigrants making the entertainment industry more inclusive and diverse. In my free time outside of school, I have organized activist events in LA and created networks of like-minded friends paving the way for change through environmental activism and student resources. I have written and illustrated several stories centering characters of color and women, channeling my understanding of intersectionality, societal change, cultural anthropology, indigenous activism, and magical realism into a medium that can bring them to life and create communities of appreciation for these topics and experiences. These are characteristics that will continue to follow me into my animation career as well as into the rest of my life and friendships.

Lately, my dad keeps telling me how much I remind him of his older sister, recalling acting just like my little brother does: rolling his eyes back, telling her to stop whenever she talked about politics, religion, and economics. Roxana, an economics major, was a highly ambitious girl who unapologetically questioned the status quo. In Mexico City, when my tío Hugo began middle school, he was sent to a catholic private school so he could walk home while my Abue Lupita drove her other four kids to school. The principal of the catholic school went to my Abue Paco's house once every month to have dinner. My Abuelito got along with just about any catholic pastor in the city as if they had been “compadres” since childhood. He would offer the padrecito a cigarette after dinner when it was just them and Roxana left at the table. Roxana, being the philosophy-loving witty girl my father tells me about, would challenge the padrecito’s faith and the catholic institution just as much as he’d push her to read more without wanting to necessarily change her opinion, only expand her pursuit for knowledge. They became good friends and my Abue Paco, a man just as opinionated and well-read as his daughter, would simply sit back and listen to them talk for hours while enjoying his cigarette. When Roxana died around a year later, the padrecito held daily masses for her for two weeks on account of her friends and loved ones that kept coming in to pray for her. Her boyfriend visited my Abue Lupita often, bringing flowers even after he had married and had a child. Roxana's best friend, Martha, who became a doctor, also visited. She and my Abuelita wept together as the years passed. Roxana was a victim of feminicidio, raped on campus, and stabbed several times. She was an individual with dreams and aspirations all taken away by one man who saw none of that in her. Sometimes, I feel I’m her second chance. She and I share a fighting spirit, only I have more opportunities and privileges living here in the US. My dad worked tirelessly to leave Mexico City ever since he lost her, dreaming of safety for our family above all else. I wonder if he fears the same end for me now that I’m living on my own in Pasadena. Life is so unpredictable and beautiful and there are so many interesting people and stories. I feel like Roxana would have been proud of me. She might have become my favorite aunt, being a fellow avid reader with an ever-growing appetite for knowledge the more she read. She dreamed of using her career aspirations to change our México lindo for the better and I believe she could have done it. I would have talked for hours with her just as she had done at the dinner table. I am older now than she was when she passed, 19 years into her youth with so much left ahead of her. At 21, I have organized activist events in LA and created networks of like-minded friends paving the way for change through environmental activism and student resources. I have written and illustrated several stories centering characters of color and women, channeling my understanding of intersectionality, societal change, cultural anthropology, indigenous activism, and magical realism into a medium that can bring them to life and create communities of appreciation for these topics and experiences. These are characteristics that will continue to follow me into my animation career as well as into the rest of my life and friendships.