About me

I am a U.S. immigrant. I moved to the United States with my family from Bogota, Colombia, at age 18. Moving to the U.S. was a challenging experience. Learning the English language and navigating the different aspects of life, such as finding a job, going to college, and making friends, took long amounts of time behind piles of English grammar books and failed attempts to communicate with cashiers at grocery stores.

Growing up in Bogota, I knew I wanted to study anthropology because I was always interested in the minutia of human interaction and its impact on social relationships. However, my experience of moving to the U.S. made me aware of the power of language in framing how an individual and groups of people are perceived and typified.

I first visited the Amazon region during my undergraduate at the University of Florida. Then, I participated in a study abroad program with the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Peru (PUCP) that aimed at documenting seven different indigenous languages in the Peruvian Amazon. I quickly noticed the importance of digital communication among Shipibo-Konibo community members while also noticing the challenges such participation posed. I am currently doing a Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan with an expected graduation in 2025.