It took me moving to Tennessee to embrace my Hispanic heritage.

I was only a year old when my family immigrated to the states. So you could say I grew up in the American culture. It did not take long for me to begin to respond to my parents only in English when they spoke to me in Spanish.

I can’t say that I was never ashamed of my Hispanic heritage, but I won’t deny that I wanted to be like the popular white girls in my school. Wearing Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch clothing and getting keratin treatments to have my hair permanently straightened; I believed that looking like the white girls in my school would make me cool.

It wasn’t until my junior year of high school when I started to rock my curly hair that I began to embrace my Hispanic identity. Although I felt like I was never quite Hispanic enough and obviously not a traditional white American, I was cool with living in the hyphen of Hispanic-American. It also helped that many other kids in my school were like me – first-generation Americans and a child of immigrants. Living in Orlando is like living in one big melting pot of people and cultures. I never felt like I did not belong because every public school I attended was incredibly diverse. Plus, there was a large population of Hispanics living in our community.

Things turned a complete 180 when I moved to Tennesse and started graduate school. I never I realized how fortunate I was to grow up in the richness of diversity. I am no longer constantly surrounded by people of color. Now when I go out to eat, if I am not the only one I am one of the few people of color eating at the table that is not in the back of the house. I can count with my hands the number of Hispanics in our chemistry department, and I personally know the only Hispanic professor in STEM (who was hired last year, btw). It was not until I was the only Hispanic woman in my cohort for me to fully accept my Hispanic heritage.

Attending SACNAS, a huge diversity and science conference, reminded me how normal it felt to be in a culturally rich and diverse space. As a scientist and soon to be doctor of philosophy, I recognize the importance of embracing my heritage and fully understanding the challenges we face as a minority in STEM. I want to use my new privilege to be a voice for Hispanics/Latinx students is STEM and an ally to people of color.

It took the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month for me to reflect and acknowledge that I am proud to be both a Hispanic and first-generation American.

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