I did a lot of exploration before choosing my field because I was unsure of what I wanted to do. While my parents had a huge influence in my pursuit of science, my mother was my inspiration. She worked as a lab technician at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao preparing the microbiology lab courses. As a teenager, I would help my mom prepare media (food) to grow bacteria, I would organize the tools the undergraduates would use in their courses and I would help clean the materials. This lab experience led me to pursue a degree in biology.

As a biology major, I explored different fields by working as a student researcher. I had four research experiences, two of which I performed in the US mainland during my summer breaks. These experiences helped me narrow my interests to microbiology. As a graduate student, I joined a grad program with lab rotations before joining a research group. These lab rotations gave me a chance to learn the science, the culture and the interactions between scientists from each group, and I chose the lab that was best suited for me. After completing my doctorate, I continued to work in research as a postdoctoral scientist and honed in my skills as a bacterial geneticist.