The Lab Community

Born in Guatemala and raised between Mexico, the United States, and France, Maria Cecilia graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a B.A. in Global Studies and a minor in International Migration Studies. During her time at UCLA, Maria Cecilia specialized in tracing international migration flows through colonial histories with an interdisciplinary lens by participating in a study abroad program titled “Global Challenges in Postcolonial France” and writing a departmental honors senior thesis analyzing creative resistance in response to US-Mexico and Israel-Palestine border securitization. Upon graduation, Maria Cecilia interned with Al Otro Lado, a migration non-profit based in Tijuana, Mexico. There, Maria Cecilia worked in community education and translation to help migrant communities understand the requirements for the asylum process and assisted with family reunification intakes for migrant families being released from detention in San Diego, California.