Mayra immigrated from Sinaloa, México, at age six and grew up in California’s rural San Joaquin Valley. After earning her BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, she worked as a college access advisor and as a high school biology teacher, where she had the privilege of working with farm-working students and families. Her commitment to increasing college access motivated her to pursue a PhD in Education at UC Davis. Currently, she is a postdoctoral scholar at Wheelhouse and an affiliate of the California Education Lab, where she contributes to research on student outcomes and experiences in California Community Colleges and provides administrative and organizational support for the Wheelhouse institutes. Her research focuses on advancing educational equity for Latinx students in rural areas, particularly in terms of college access, retention, and completion.
