As a proud Puerto Rican and queer woman (she/ella), I carry deeply impactful experiences related to the core wound of colonization, the work of cultural brokering as a Latina who migrated to the United States, and the pain and empowerment of forging my authenticity within the LGBTQ+ community. I was born and partially raised in Puerto Rico, and am part of the Diaspora  — an experience that has shaped my passion for working with others navigating acculturation issues, identity development struggles, and the deep wounds of historical trauma.

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As a professional counselor, I've had to navigate my own barriers and challenges rooted in marginalized stress within educational and professional spaces. Those experiences — alongside the experiences of my community and chosen family — have fueled my commitment to creating needed collective change, including co-creating culturally responsive therapeutic spaces for other Latine queer people.

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Most recently, I am on my academic journey as a third-year doctoral student in the Counseling and Counselor Education PhD program at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro (UNCG). I am grateful to have access to education that will build my teaching, supervision, and research skills. My research interests include Latine culturally responsive and LGBTQ+ affirming care, intersectionality, epistemic resistance through critical liberatory and decolonization frameworks, identity affirmation, critical consciousness, and social justice in counseling.

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