My Story

I was born in El Paso, Texas and raised across the border in Cd. Juarez, Chihuahua by my mom and my grandparents.  Like my great-grandfather and grandfather before us, my mom and I commuted to

El Paso so that she would go to work and I would go to public school.  My mom's dream was that I would learn English so I could have better jobs than she did.

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She never imagined her sacrifices and examples would give me so much more than that. I graduated from Burges High School in 1994.  I graduated from Brown University with Honors and a double-concentration in Environmental Studies and Ethnic Studies in 1998.  I went on to The University of Texas School of Law and have been practicing law at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. since 2004, where we provide free legal services to people who are poor.  After law school, I adopted Max, a Border Collie, Pit Bull mix who radically changed how I advocate for animals and the people who love and depend on them.  

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I knew that eventually, I would write a children's book because words and stories were an extremely important part of my childhood.   This first book, Toma Toma Toma, is based on my mom's childhood dog.  It is set in the 1960s in Cd. Juarez and features a Pit Bull puppy.  The second volume will be coming out soon. 

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