Growing up, I learned resourcefulness from an early age. My family faced financial challenges, and we often had to make do with limited resources. Despite these hardships, my mom always found a way to buy me a few of these dolls. However, we never had enough for the doll house, so I would make do with what I had. Whether it be a shoe box that I would compartmentalize to create rooms or an oversized thick comforter that I would throw up in the air and let fall and then use the nooks to be my doll’s rooms. Eventually, I would start drawing floorplans in my notebooks of what I dreamed my house would be someday (and the proof is in the notebooks filled with these drawings instead of class notes).

However, I never considered majoring in architecture until I attended Citrus College when I decided to take a history of architecture class as it seemed to cover a General Education requirement. And the rest is history. I knew architecture was what I wanted to pursue but I can confidently state that without that course, it's improbable I would have chosen to pursue architecture. Another significant influence was the professors—Richard Fernandes, Susanna Au, Flint Tabata, and Antonio Anfiteatro—who consistently provided encouragement and guidance, and openly shared their experiences and insights from the architectural field.
Ultimately, I would say that my passion for architecture has always existed within me, but it took time to recognize it fully.