“I saw everything coming my way as an opportunity. I didn’t see it as, ‘I can’t believe that I’m cleaning a bathroom right now.’ It was just more like, ‘I’m glad that I have a job and I can buy food and have a house to sleep.’ And so, I think that all of those things make me, and even today, helps me see life differently”

The Main Points From The Article:

• Born and raised in Colombia, she left home at 17 with $300 to start a life in the United States
• Growing up seeing the roles that women were depicted in gave Diana the tenacity not to give up on her dreams.
• Eventually, Diana transferred to the University of Florida, where she majored in aerospace engineering.
• Being in the 2% of Latinas working in STEM she knew that she represented her country, her culture and her heritage.
• Diana helped design the Rover’s robotic arm.  It will collect rock samples that may provide evidence for past or present life on Mars.
• Diana recently hosted “Juntos Perseveramos (Together We Persevere)”, NASA’s first-ever Spanish language broadcast for a planetary landing.  It has been viewed over 2.5 million times.

More on Diana Trujillo!