As a first-generation Chicana, I am deeply committed to social justice issues within and outside of academic spaces. I leverage my positionality to listen, and to understand, by engaging with students and colleagues in conversations around diversity, inclusion, and the empowerment of underrepresented communities. My research focuses on the intersect of environmental justice, natural resource stewardship, and biocultural heritage, with special attention to the ways that Latinx and Indigenous foodways is nurtured by cultural practices in marginalized communities.