We had the good fortune of connecting with Maritza Yamile Roberts-Padilla and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maritza Yamile, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am from Puerto Peñasco, Sonora. I grew up there with my Mamá, Dad, and younger sibling. It is a small, rural fishing town and a tourism hotspot hidden away in between the Altar Desert and Sea of Cortez. Growing up here, the educational opportunities were limited. I was learning arithmetic in eighth grade, my peers and I lagged behind the Mexican standard of education all through out elementary and middle school.

Five years ago, I moved to the United States in pursuit of a better education. The stagnant curriculums that accompanied me through out my childhood was the first institutional barrier I became aware off. Up until my first year at BASIS Tucson North, I had never considered that my path would lie in science. STEM classes and science fairs were not readily available in my little town in Sonora–no woman in my family had ever studied science, my mother was the first of her family to attend and graduate college.

My environmental activism and scientist identity lays embedded within practices of social justice. In an attempt to alter the cultural perceptions and awareness of science within the hispanic community, it is my ultimate hope to inspire those from the Latine diaspora to break into these fields, and to consider science a second home.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In 3…2…1… “Hola todos! Welcome back to Cientifica Discussions”

Activist, investigator, film maker, and graphic artist—all from my iPhone 11, iMovie, and my bedroom desk.

Cientifica Discussions is a podcast and video series, created by youth for Latine youth, that I have been working on since May 2023—this project is an extension from my @maritzastudies academic blog.

Chats with my guests (friends) dismantle the performance of identity in science. My platform amplifies the voices of high school Latinas revolutionizing neuroscience, chemistry, physics, entrepreneurship, and technology. These conversations that are broadcasted across the Instagram and Youtube platforms are able to humanize success—presenting achievement and accomplishment as possible to youth who have not been taught or aided by their own families. The content I film and edit outputs information on the accessibility of summer programs, scholarships, national prizes, the experience of first generation students in college, and national prizes. My platform has garnered 2,500+ followers, 500K impressions, 190K views, and 4k in revenue from sponsorships.

My story is the story of so many educationally disenfranchised youth that are from the Global South—beyond the context of the United States—yet, it is also a reminder that your future is in your own hands.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Tucson is full of eclectic local shops, parks, and artistic people. I would want to start off the day by eating some breakfast at Ren Coffee House—they serve great latte’s and sandwiches, with a lovely outside seating area.

Udall park is great for picnics. The swings (although usually reserved for kids) are an awesome way to enjoy the warm winter of Arizona. Visiting Sabino Canyon and taking a hike by rocky trails and water streams is a great way to keep your physical health in check, and an introduction to the native wildlife of the surrounding area.

The sunset’s are the most beautiful part of Tucson, funnily enough, the Super Target here has one of the best views of the mountain ranges. In the afternoon my best friend and I would go buy matching PJ sets and finish the day off with a cotton-candy-colored sky.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Southern Arizona Science Foundation and the greater BIO5 Institute have been essential for my presence in labs, connecting me with my (present day) closest friends, and ultimately pushing me to embody bravery.

The Keep Engaging Youth in Science program saw the potential “scientist” perspective that I had pushed back on for so long. My mentor, Yaritza Durazo, was my name twin, and the first Mexican-American girl I met that had ever conducted research. She encouraged me to apply myself towards my experiments with bacterial soil investigations, and empowered me to confide in my skills and intuition. Presenting at the KEYS Research Symposium, my light-pink poster stood out amongst the crowd–her supervision had accompanied me. Representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is an essential, sometimes invisible, power at work.

Being part of the Students Taking Advantage of Research Program, sponsored by the University of Arizona and the greater Southern Arizona Science and Engineering Foundation, housed my independent research project that bridged my cultural background into the field of chemistry. Now, as a Southern Arizona Science and Engineering Foundation Youth Ambassador, I give back to the organizers and sponsors of my favorite non-profit. They invited me to dissect the role of identity within science, and encourage elementary and middle schoolers within inner city schools to start up their own fair projects. Speaking to parents in Spanish, I help connect them with resources and information to support their first generation students bring their questions about the world to life.

These pillars of support have made every moment of hard work, strain, and success, my joy.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maritzastudies/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maritzarobertspadilla/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9ugc8t_koc

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutArizona is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.