Explore. The insatiable drive to learn more, to experience more. This is what fuels my travels and why I have repeatedly chosen to live abroad. I thrive on the growth that follows discomfort and unfamiliarity. CS appeals to me because it is ever-evolving by nature, so I will always be learning.
Create. A highly creative mind influences everything I do. In the past my creative outlet was the performing and fine arts. CS is a natural fit for me as I can keep creating through projects and code.
Solve. Otherwise known as gritting it out to a solution. Discrete math and coding taught me that I love sticking with a challenge until I solve it. No matter how complex the situation, my creative wiring and mental toughness get things done…as long as there’s coffee.
Professional Resume
If there were travel DNA markers, I would have them, since my passion to explore the unknown is in me at a cellular level. I have actually lived the concept of being a global citizen. I was raised in a city close to Toronto, Canada until I was 16. After graduating from a high school in a small village in the highlands of Guatemala, I moved to Madrid. I have lived in 4 countries and traveled to over 50. My travels have taught me adaptability, resilience, and much more.
Performing was second nature to me from a young age. I joined a highly competitive dance team and was competing internationally by age 4. I mastered a range of styles from tap to hip-hop, but ballet/pointe was my main focus. I did all the exams and was qualified to teach. When I wasn’t dancing, I was in the theater doing productions. This is where I also did choreography and learned aerial silks and trapeze. I had unique performance experiences such as traveling to the Netherlands to be part of a dance group to set a new Guinness Book World Record. Performance has taught me how to be disciplined in preparation, push through fear, manage pressure, and excel in front of an audience.
Creating is an integral part of who I am. Appreciating and creating art are two areas that give me a lot of happiness. I enjoy watercolor, photography, and video editing. Now that I’m in CS, I can see the beauty in well-written code, and have been told a few times that I write beautiful code. When the opportunity presented itself to be involved with CodeArt, I saw how my interests in coding, art, and teaching blended together. This watercolor is special to me because while my sister was building this sandcastle, my parents decided to move to Miami. I followed a year later.
From the moment I was handed a drum in Kindermusik as a toddler, making music has been an integral part of my life. I dabbled in many instruments like the violin, trombone, guitar, but focused on piano and voice. I focused on piano competitions, voice ensembles, and musical theater. I sang in many specialized choirs including a German choir, and a small women’s ensemble.
I began teaching in Guatemala when I was 14, when there was an urgent need for a native English speaking teacher for adult and children’s classes. I started teaching and have never stopped. After high school, I did a gap year teaching in Madrid. I owe many of my communication skills to teaching diverse students in often challenging environments. These experiences taught me that charismatic teachers not only make the material understandable but do it in fun, memorable ways. I became skilled at reading an audience through body language, adapting and improvising to maintain interest levels, and navigating the full spectrum of interests and personalities of administrators, educators, students, and parents. I have applied my teaching tools in many settings since.
My Discrete Mathematics Professor and supervisor relayed how impressed she was with the “amazing” feedback she was getting from her students about my TA tutoring. With my ability to communicate combined with understanding my audience, I was able to make even complex concepts understandable to the listener. Dare I say, I made discrete math fun.
The last few years, I have focused on teaching girls to code in order to increase interest in STEM fields. This work has involved writing successful grant applications, creating curriculum, and leading training workshops for teachers.
Travel Video editing in in Final Cut Pro X is one of my favorite hobbies. I hope to make my own soundtracks for the next one. This most recent video is from the summer of 2017 when we visited Qatar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand. We also road tripped from LA to Miami.
If you look at minute 9:35 in the video, you’ll see me capture on video one of the most legendary salutes I have ever received.
Click on the button below to see the Go Traveloco page for this trip, the Summer Circumnavigation.
Go To Page
While I have been paid for event photography and professional headshots, I love editing photos from my travels the most.
This photo is a combination of two pictures that I took in Bolivia. The picture of the Milky Way was taken from the second highest desert in the world with a tiny f1.8 travel lens. I had food poisoning that night and it was freezing cold but taking this picture and then looking at it inside our house made of salt was one of the most magical moments I have ever experienced.
The lake image is the Laguna Colorada where flamingos live and the water is a beautiful pinkish-red. This was taken with my Zeiss F4 16-70mm travel lens. Click on the link below to see more photos from that trip.
Go To Page Go Traveloco is a website that I created with my mother. I create the framework, and she fills it with content.
Click the logo above to go to gotraveloco.com, and click the button below to go to the page on our world trip, which is the video on the left. The video on the left is my first travel video, back when we didn’t know to take as much video footage, minute 5:50 is when I started taking video in my second favorite castle, Gicon.
Go To Page
Professional resume found below on LinkedIn.