I would consider myself a natural born Foodie. One of the earliest memories I have is eating birthday cake at my fifth birthday party. I remember the vanilla cake with white frosting and rainbow colored sprinkles mesmerizing me as I blew out the big red candle in the shape of a 5.

From the beginning, I was interested and intrigued by food. This led me through my own life journey and discovery about my relationship with it. Once I realized that nutrients were meant to actually nurture, I took a completely different approach to how I viewed food. It was fuel, not just something that was meant to be an afterthought obtained "real quick". It was meant to give us what we needed to function as healthy, thriving human beings. When I started to view balanced eating habits as a necessity to a happy, healthy life, my own life changed. That was when I knew that I wanted to study nutrition and spend my life inspiring people to explore what could come from a balanced, varied and complete diet.

Being raised in a Latino household, I developed an appreciation for Mexican culture and cuisine while simultaneously creating a drive for exploring other cultures and flavors. Hearing my mom and grandmother speak Spanish my whole life pushed me to develop a fluency in Spanish language as well, which I have been able to use and strengthen in both my past and current jobs. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area exposed me to a cultural melting pot of flavors, literally. Not only is there a world of flavors to be discovered in the most cultural neighborhoods, there's the fusion of flavors that occurs when different cultures combine, taking their traditions and palettes with them. That influence combined with my love for food in general lead me to create an interest in cooking.

I was introduced to the culinary arts at a young age. My mom loved to cook and is one of the best cooks I know. She has had no formal training in cooking whatsoever, but she thoroughly enjoys doing it. She is the type of person that will get an idea in her head of something to make, no matter how little experience she has in making that particular thing, and she will just do it. She will spend days reading different techniques on it, what the best ingredients would make it taste like the real thing, and then when she felt confident she would go for it. Sometimes she'd make a dozen different batches until she had perfected it. I have a memory of her attempting what must have been atleast ten times to make classic french pastry. After each batch, she'd taste it, have us taste it, have anyone taste it to see where she needed to improve. When she finally got the texture and color she wanted, I remember seeing how happy and proud of herself she was, that she had done it all by herself. The memory of her resilience, persistence, and ultimate success of her goal, while still enjoying the process of it all, reminds me what it is to stay committed to our goals while still taking the time to "smell the roses".


Now, in my adult life I find that the influence from my mom got me to follow in a similar path when it comes to recipe development. You will usually find me in the kitchen testing different techniques or recipes. My personal journey with food inspired me to want to create healthier, lighter versions of my favorite indulges and now I often find myself trying to sneak as many vegetables into everything I make as possible.

If I'm not in the kitchen, I'm enjoying the fresh air either on a run, hiking, at the beach, or sitting on my porch enjoying a good book. I love living, breathing, and eating anything that involves the culinary world, and am always striving to increase my knowledge of cooking and food. I get excited about new kitchen gadgets and the latest food trends, and above all, love to share my passion with others.

Thank you for taking the time to get to get to know me! Please scroll below to learn more about my goals, skills, academia and hobbies.