I’m a historian of the 20th-century United States and an Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University. My work is shaped by a deep commitment to understanding how race, ethnicity, and gender shape migration and diasporic communities. I began my intellectual journey at Antelope Valley College, a community college in Lancaster, CA where I grew up. I took classes part-time for several years while working as a licensed esthetician and raising a family. In 2008, I completed an Associate of Arts degree, becoming the first in my family to earn a college degree. I transferred to the University of California, Berkeley soon after earning a B.A. in history before completing a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.