Noemi’s education and lifestyle have always centered around an insatiable curiosity while labored with resiliency. She is determined to continue a never-ending journey for a balanced life, championing an institutionalized educational system while surviving a racist and misogynistic landscape as a first-generation Chicana. The battle of surviving in a capitalistic environment too often transforms one into a stoic nature; guided by the principles of intuition, self-growth and community, Noemi strives to embody the expression “laugh now, cry later.” However, she pivots the narrative to embrace the present emotion in an otherwise disconnected society to “cry now, laugh later,” refusing to succumb to a suppressed, false facade of the too familiar “chillona pero chingona.” Noemi advocates to prioritize oneself, honoring first our ever-fleeting emotions to dismantle oppression and laughing about it later—”chillona pero chistosa.”