I was born in Mexico and came to the United States as an infant with my parents, who were building a life from scratch in the Coachella Valley. Growing up, leaving — really leaving, crossing oceans — wasn't something girls like me did. We stayed close. We helped. We were the oldest daughters, the translators, the ones the family leaned on.
I left anyway.
I wasn’t supposed to leave my hometown…
From the desert to the world
At 19, I studied abroad for the first time. It was the first time I flew across an ocean, the first time I was truly alone in a country I'd only read about. My parents were terrified. I was not. And the moment that plane touched down, something shifted permanently inside me. I understood, in a way I couldn't articulate yet, that the world was bigger than what I'd been told was available to me.
That trip started a travel habit I've never been able to shake. Since then, I've visited 26 countries across 4 continents, 32 US states, and 7 Mexican states. I've done it mostly on credit card points, intentional planning, and an absolute refusal to wait until I could "afford it."
The degrees, the debt, and the pivot
After finishing my BA in Orange County — the first in my family to get a four-year degree — I went east. Boston. Chicago. Federal internships. A master's degree. A first solo apartment in Chicago. Then one in LA. Then a job in LA that introduced me to something called a 401(k) match, and I nodded like I knew what that meant.
I did not. But I learned.
By 2018, I had opened my Roth IRA. By 2020, I was contributing 27% of my income while working and pursuing my PhD. By 2023, at 30, I hit Coast FIRE — meaning the money I had already invested would grow to full financial independence without another contribution.
I also had, at various points, racked up $10–15k in credit card debt. Twice. And I have over $300,000 in student loan debt that I'm strategically on track to have forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in less than two years.
None of this is a perfect story. All of it is a real one.
The PhD and the life I built in San Diego
I moved to San Diego for my PhD program in Leadership and Education. One year later, the world shut down. I kept working. I kept studying. I built this blog from my apartment during a pandemic, started investing more aggressively than ever, and discovered something I didn't expect: living in San Diego meant I could live bi-nationally. I cross into Mexico for medical appointments, wellness visits, family time, and some of the best food in my life.
I also met my fiancé here in the summer of 2020 — peak pandemic, the world on fire — and five years later he proposed in San Francisco. We're getting married in Spain.
San Diego is the longest I have ever lived anywhere. It earned that title.
What this blog is
My Creds:
PhD in Leadership and Education
Masters in Public Admin + Triple BA
Published researcher in leadership and education
Conference speaker on education and leadership
Coast FIRE achieved, 2023
On track for PSLF forgiveness (120 qualifying payments)
26 countries · 32 US states · 7 Mexican states
Read my full financial journey here
I'm not a financial advisor. I'm not a travel agent. I'm a first-gen Latina PhD who figured things out the hard way and decided to write it all down so you don't have to.
Everything on this site is based on my real life — my actual income numbers, my actual portfolio projections, my actual credit card strategy, my actual flights and hotels and border crossings. If I link to something, I use it. If I recommend a financial account, I have one. If I say a restaurant in Tijuana is worth crossing the border for, I've been there multiple times.
I write for first-gen millennials and Gen Z women — especially the oldest daughters — who are building a future that their family didn't have a map for. You're smart enough. You're capable enough. You just need the information that was never handed to you.
That's what this is.