56: Physical Fitness and Health in Grad School with Mara Lopez

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hello everyone. Today I am really excited to have a guest speaker who is going to be covering the topic of physical fitness and health in grad school. Our guest is Mara Nohemi Lopez, who is a Mexicana from Southern California currently residing in Arizona. She's a mother to two beautiful babies under six. I can so relate. She is a wife. She's a full time research program manager, a part time faculty associate, a doctoral candidate in Education at Arizona State University, and many, many more things.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Welcome to the podcast, Mara. I just wanted to kind of open it up and have you share anything- say a little bit more about who you are yourself. I would love to just have you get us started with fitness. How did you get into fitness? Who are you? How did you get into fitness? And anything else that may be relevant.

Mara Lopez

Hi, thank you so much, doctora, for inviting me, or accepting my showing up in this space that you've created for so many different people, for so many different great reasons. That's pretty much a lot of what I do. I do a lot of things at ASU. Again, I have a full time job as a research program manager. The work that we're doing is working with rural community, community college HSI. I'm a faculty associate. I teach first year success courses. I'm also part of the Graduate Advisory Council. We're reviewing academic handbooks and academic policy for inclusion. So I do a lot of different things. My husband also just finished his MFA, so we're quite busy.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Felicidades to him.

Mara Lopez

Gracias. Fitness, it's an investment that I've been taking more seriously in the last year. Obviously, I am a very busy person, so it takes a lot of work to make this commitment work. So a little bit of background, too. I was a college athlete. I played volleyball, basketball, and softball from the ages of nine through nineteen. I played all three sports for two years at the junior college level, and that's about what your eligibility is. So you can only really play the sports for two years at the junior college level before moving on to the university. But I'm five- five. So you know, I was considered a little bit above average in my small town of the Imperial Valley, when I played for IVC there. And I just decided not to move on and continue to play at the university level. But I didn't realize until much later how much I depended on the teamsmanship for physical activity.

Mara Lopez

It's really hard for me to be self motivated, and go to the gym and just like knock out two hours and feel accomplished. So I tried a little bit of things here and there. Somethings worked, somethings didn't. In this last year, with a pandemic and everything shutting down, and all of my family being sort of on top of each other, I just realized that I needed to make more of a concerted effort to take some time and be in my own space.

Mara Lopez

I started- I just took a step out. I went to the park. I was like, you know what? I love my babies. I love my family, but I need a little bit of a break. So I went to the park and I walked a little bit. I started following this page called Running Mommies. They're for tias, ninas, mommies. You know, all the mujeres supporting one another through their journey to walk, run and just build on their physical fitness. And I started following them. They set up these weekly goals, like five miles a week, ten miles a month, things like that.

Mara Lopez

And so I was like I'm just gonna move without thinking and see how many of these goals I can achieve. I achieved the first one. I was like, okay, well, I probably won't keep doing this. But let my mind stop talking and let my body keep walking, right.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Oh, I love that.

Mara Lopez

And I just kept going. I just kept showing up. Before I realized it, I started to develop a habit. Now the habit was sort of an agreed upon effort, because it was hard to get out of the house, especially since we had spent almost four months being so attached to one another, not leaving. You know the pandemic shut everything down, and has been the experience for a lot of people.

Mara Lopez

So it was a lot of like, mommy don't leave. You know, my son's holding on to me. The mom guilt, just the overall like, why am I sacrificing time with my kids to work out? What's the point? A lot of this internal dialogue and all of it very negative, you know? And I'm like, how do I work so hard? How are there 24 hours in a day, and I can't feed myself an hour or two a day in all this time? This can't be my reality. Then all the while I'm sedentary, or I'm not doing enough with my body. Really, I'm not attending to my own health, which means that I'm cutting my life short and my time with my kids short in the long run. It was a very serious conversation with a lot of negative dialogue that was the catalyst for that.

Mara Lopez

That changed everything. It was a combination of the need to get some fresh air, finding a community of support, and maintaining this effort because of the necessity to do it. It was really challenging sometimes, because I didn't want to go, or it was hard to go. Or I was tired, because I have a lot of things to juggle. But just doing it- again, having my brain stop talking, and my body keep walking. Before I knew it, I had completed almost 600 miles in the year, and I started in June.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Wow. You mentioned walking and running and Running Mommies. I've got a friend who has been involved in Running Mommies too, so I am familiar with it. Is that what you're currently doing? Are there other things- what do you currently do for fitness? Is it the walking and running, or other things?

Mara Lopez

Yeah, that's sort of my constant. It's something that I do every day. I'm committed to moving my body and getting two, three miles in a day. Sometimes I can get in six, depending on how much time I have. But I recently- because I'm now fully vaccinated. I've been fully vaccinated for the last two months now. I started going back to my yoga. I'm also a certified yoga instructor. I was certified in 2012, and it's something that I had used to reconnect with myself spiritually, slow down, meditate.

Mara Lopez

But when the pandemic literally slowed everything down, I felt like it sped up all my thoughts. So me doing yoga at home really was counterproductive, because I'm like, I could just sit here, sitting here, just thinking about everything. Anyways, I am now two months fully vaccinated. I started going back to the yoga studio- core power yoga studio. That's something that I do three times a week.

Mara Lopez

The classes that I take are yoga sculpt. It's a heated yoga. The class sizes are minimal. There's a bunch of different safety precautions, and we do that with weights. I feel like I can get in some cardiovascular exercise by running or power walking at the park. And I've been going to the yoga studio for about a month now, three to four times a week, getting in my yoga and weights all in one. So of all the things that I like to do- weights, yoga, and running, walking, I'm able to do it all at least five to six times a week.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Nice. And how do you find spaces? You said you found a place to do yoga three times a week, and it's a relatively safe environment. You're fully vaccinated. But I keep thinking about myself, and perhaps other people who may be like me. I have attended a few yoga classes before and I didn't quite feel like I fit in, whether it was because of my body size or my skin color. I just didn't feel fully reflected in both the instructor and also the other people in the class. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. So I'm like, how do you find spaces where you feel like you belong, and you can also then get your physical fitness in?

Mara Lopez

That's such a great question and so loaded. It's not something that I have thought about thoroughly, but I attend a predominantly white institution. As a woman of color, sort of a dark skinned Mexicana as you might want to say, I have experienced a lot of this feeling like the only one, or an outsider, or like I don't necessarily blend and I'm also in Arizona. The city that I live in is predominantly white as well. I guess you could say - give me just one second my son's in the room.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

No worries.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

All right, we're back. So you were saying?

Mara Lopez

Yeah, so it is hard. I think that the yoga studio that I attend, I'm so eager to give myself my time, I hardly pay attention to the people that are in the class. I don't see myself represented. I don't see myself represented in the instructors. I don't see myself represented really in the demographic of folks that attend these yoga classes. But I have developed this sort of a callus I guess you can call it. I just show up, because I know what I need to get.

Mara Lopez

While I won't get the representation, I still have access to this space and I'm going to utilize the space to my benefit. You know, if I were focused more on representation in the spaces that I'm in, I wouldn't be in a lot of the spaces that I've been in here in Arizona. And it's hard. But there are so many different deterrents for being consistent in physical activity, showing up for yourself, that I do my best to minimize that. If I have the time to do it, I'm going to fit it in. Nothing else will stop me. I'm just going to show up.

Mara Lopez

The yoga class that I go to also is incredibly westernized. I'll just be honest with that. It's not a yoga class that is traditional. They don't necessarily tend to a lot of the traditional historical practices, and that's not great. It's more of a fitness class. But it feeds me in a lot of different ways, and again, I have access to it. It's not that far away. Sometimes I have to take classes at six o'clock in the morning, so it does impede upon the very little sleep that I get. But I do my best to really tend to that as best as able.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What I'm hearing is that a lot of times when we're in predominantly white spaces, we kind of just have to take what we can with what we have available to us. I'm also in an area that's predominantly white in Bolita, Santa Barbara. And yeah, the few times I've tried to engage and be part of active communities, I've struggled with my physical fitness. I continue to struggle with it, and I have not felt like I have really fit in or belong.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But you're right. You're reminding me that sometimes it's just take what you can and use what works, and then try not to focus on what doesn't work when it comes to physical fitness. But the other thing that you're making me think about is- I'm like, how does she do it? How does she make time for three times a week yoga, and two to three miles a day every day?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Obviously, a lot of it has to do with priorities and putting yourself first. That can be really hard for a lot of us. But also I'm like, what do you do when it gets really hard? What motivates you to keep going during the hard days, the days that you may feel exhausted or depleted? Or it's just been a really long day, and sometimes we just want to veg out, or just like not go on a run or on a walk. Just what do you do to keep going, to stay motivated?

Mara Lopez

Well, I think even as I say that, I'm like, wow. I really have been doing that for the last couple months. But I'm also not a machine. I have sort of marketed myself to my friends and family as a very active, lazy person, because I can binge watch shows on Netflix like nobody's business. So I don't want to paint this illusion that I go non-stop until I hit a wall, because I'm also very aware of how toxic that mentality is, how counterproductive that is, and how unhealthy that is. I've arrived at that space before and that didn't help me.

Mara Lopez

I felt like I had to go until I hit the wall, and I realized that's not it either. So for example, I had a very busy week last week, with meetings and all the many things that take up most of our days. And then still finding the slivers of time to be physically active, make memories with my kids, because the important thing for me too is that my kids know that they are always the priority. I'm allowed my time, but they're always the priority. So I'm still making memories with them.

Mara Lopez

But Saturday, I was like, today's the day that I'm gonna restart Grey's Anatomy. I probably watched like six seasons, and those episodes are like 45 minutes long. So I am also fully aware of when I need to just not. Not have a meeting, not attend to a deadline, not schedule in Zoom happy hours, or this or that just because I have extra time. And also not push my body beyond its limits because I can. Saturday was that day for me. Saturday was the day where I ate all the things. I watched all the things. I sat on my couch that I bought with hard earned money. I just didn't, and that's also showing up for you.

Mara Lopez

While I want to say that it's all about balance, I also feel like sometimes balance can be an illusion. It's something that we- as graduate students, as full time employees, as mothers, as partners- there's this notion that we strive for balance. Everything is balanced.

Mara Lopez

I'm not sure that I have ever arrived at a point where I'm like, everything is balanced in my life. Everything makes sense. So why would I promote that I am successful at balancing things out? I don't know if that's true. I don't get very much sleep, because when the kids go to sleep, I call it my second shift. When really, it's like my fourth. I put on the fifth hat of the day, and I do my writing. I just recently got approved for my last round of my research studies. I got my IRB approval.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Yay.

Mara Lopez

So the days are long, but I fill them with good things. I do my best to fill them with good things. I show up for work, and my students and my family. But I also don't ever not show up for myself, not anymore. I spent so many years doing that. I think that when we talk about breaking intergenerational traumas and breaking these habits, and the histories that don't serve us now, that's I think one of them.

Mara Lopez

I wish I would have seen my mom tend to herself more, you know, tend to her self care, workout more, feed herself more, fill her cup more. When for the four of us, she always showed up for us. She worked her ass off until burnout, but I never saw her fill her own cup. You know what I mean? And I want my babies to see that. I work really hard. We do fun things. We spend great time together. But mommy also takes care of herself physically. And as a result, you know, mentally too, psychologically, feeding my mind, body and soul.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I resonate a lot. I feel like you just gave us so many gems there. You mentioned this, the facade or the fallacy- I don't know what you would call it- this idea of balance that's not really true. I know at least among my friends, some of us do refuse to use the word balance. Now we use the word harmony. How can we work in harmony, so that sometimes some moments you prioritize your work more, your research more, or whatever is coming up that needs to take priority at that particular moment.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But at the same time while doing that, you're reminding us that we do have to constantly show up for ourselves. At least for me, the reason I struggle with my physical fitness- I'm very good with, well, mostly good with my nutrition, because I have a chronic illness. So I have to monitor my diet to make sure that my diet affects my symptoms and how I feel every day. Every day I have to have a green smoothie. It's like one of the things. Every day, there's certain things that I'm like, I know I have to have that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But I have not yet figured that out with the physical fitness aspect of it, and I think it has to do with not always showing up for myself and all. Sometimes I just overdo it with the work and with the scheduling and not taking time for myself. So at the end of the day, I just feel like I don't have the energy to do it. But this is all really useful information about, we're teaching our kids. I now have a daughter, and she's going to be watching me. She's going to be seeing how I take care of myself, and she's going to learn.

Mara Lopez

Absolutely girl. It's so layered, right? The work that we're doing as a collective, and the narratives that we're changing and the intergenerational traumas and curses that we're breaking, it's heavy. It's labor-some and it requires intentionality behind every one of those efforts. But it's so important, because not only did I not see my mom, for example, or my Nana who were like my parents, fill their cup. Self- care isn't wrapped around spa days, but like I never saw my mom go get a manicure and a pedicure. I didn't see that.

Mara Lopez

I didn't see her go to the gym, go to swimming lessons, walk at the park with her girlfriends. I didn't see these things. I also didn't see her be like, damn, I look good in the mirror. Or man, I'm feeling myself, or like I feel good. I feel healthy. I feel energetic. I didn't hear my mom say any of those things. I didn't hear my Nana say any of those things. Those things matter. So I had to learn also to be like, I'm okay in the body that I have. I'm happy. I'm grateful in the body that I have. I'm going to fuel it with good food. And trust me, that's hard. The longest relationship I've ever had in my life is with Hot Cheetos. It's abusive. That might be an intergenerational curse too, I don't know.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I tell my husband. I'm like, dude. You didn't have hot Cheetos with cream cheese in middle school? Because I know I did. He's like, you're weird.

Mara Lopez

Girl, for me, it was hot Cheetos and nacho cheese. And that was it, 50 cents, you better fill it up. And you know those things, they're still habitual things that are hard to break in. I also don't want to give this illusion that I can only eat salads. I'm not on this journey for weight loss. I am not on this journey to be fit, muscular, whatever. But I can't treat my body like a trash can. I can't not feed and fuel and tend to myself, because I love my babies more than that.

Mara Lopez

I want them to have a mommy that has energy. I want them to have a mommy that can go play soccer with them, because I have the energy and I have the cardiovascular health to go do that, you know? Those too are contributions to our children's well being. There are a lot of different things that are happening. And by the way, I love what you said about balance being harmony. I love that, you know, now it's helping me because when I talk about- what is balance anyway? What is this illusion? I think I can reframe and be like, I'm working on harmony. I'm harmonizing over here. I'm like Destiny's Child.

Mara Lopez

Thank you for sharing that too, because I am definitely going to apply that from you. But there are a lot of different factors that are happening right now. It's just like, this narrative of-well, you're in grad school. The grad school 15, the pandemic 15, or you're a mom, the mom bod. And I hate now- and I invested in it. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna gain a bunch of weight now that I'm in grad school. I'm a mom, and I'm going to gain all this weight. Because that's the narrative that is perpetuated most consistently, most often and most publicly accepted.

Mara Lopez

But what is less known or what is seen less is that these programs- master's, graduate level doctoral programs- I think that we need to change the narrative and invest in this idea that they don't become your life. They don't change who you are, and create this new, cumbersome, overweight, stressed out, anxiety ridden experience for you. You're still able to live and thrive.

Mara Lopez

I did an IG live with Black women PhDs last week, and someone asked me, what are your thoughts on dating in grad school? Someone else asked me, what are your thoughts on buying a house in grad school? And I know that these are questions that are broached often. I go, why do we believe and why do we allow ourselves to believe that grad school should determine the trajectory of our lives, while we're in grad school trying to better our lives?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Yes, I've had similar questions, but more related to the parenting aspect of it. I've had folks say, when is the right time to have a baby in grad school, or in academia. The right time is whenever you deem it the right time. Don't let any clock or any academic timeline or milestone determine it. It's up to you. There's no right time. Like you said, there's really isn't.

Mara Lopez

Yeah, exactly. When people ask me like, when's the right time to apply for grad school? I'm like, never. Never is the right time to do anything. For me, the decision to become a mom was intentional. And I understood I was ready when I was ready to be selfless. When I was ready to share my time, and my heart and my spirit and my food, and my space, and the restroom. When I was comfortable being for someone, living and existing, and sharing my life for, with someone- that's when I was ready. But all the rest of these things like, never.

Mara Lopez

It's never the right time. You know, I used to think that I needed to have like $50,000 in the bank account before I had a kid. I'm like, well, that wasn't gonna happen when I was 23 or 20. Like it just. So I think that it's important for us to show more often that it's possible to be a mother and attend to your physical health, to be a graduate student and tend to your physical health, even if that means that you don't submit that writing project or whatever. Find a way to make it work if you want to make it work. Making it work, but really tending to it, you know,

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I really like that. I feel like you got right at it at, at why a lot of us should prioritize it, to take care of ourselves. It's about sustaining ourselves. It's about making sure that we're okay, not just now but long term too. And it's especially important for us as moms, because we have other people who depend on us.

Mara Lopez

I also want to say, we've talked a little bit about seeing yourself represented or being comfortable being the only woman of color in certain spaces and stuff. Going to these yoga classes, I don't always feel like, I don't see myself represented- again, in the class members or the instructors. But I rely a lot on my community outside of those spaces as well, as support. Like either Running Mommies, I've met a lot of different- Dr. J I met through. I've met a lot of different mujeres that are being active, that are making the effort to be active, and we always cheer each other on.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Is this in person, online, social media? I'm just curious.

Mara Lopez

These people are all virtual. A lot of these mujeres that I have connected with, especially in this last year since I've embarked upon this journey of reconnecting with my physical health, a lot of them- I mean, because most of us were meeting virtually or connecting virtually. Last year, we didn't really have the option to connect in person. I'm also new to Arizona. I had only been here two years before the pandemic hit and that really sort of put a wrench in my networking efforts. But I want to say- so I post a lot about like, I got a couple of miles in today. I went to the yoga studio today. And sometimes my Instagram stories are like that.

Mara Lopez

But I think that it's important that we share that we can- we as academics, mothers, grad, doctoral students, people that are on this journey- that we can, that we are, and lift everyone up that that is making the effort. I see someone shared the other day, like I got a 15 minute workout. I'm like, yes, go girl. Do what you can do, whenever you can do it, because it's so important.

Mara Lopez

If I'm gonna cheer you on because you publish a paper, I want to cheer you on because you took a walk in the park with your dog. You're still making the investment, you know what I mean? These communities of support that we are able to have access to virtually are so important. I have found they've really enabled me to keep going and just keep staying the course.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I like that, because it's also reframing the way that you use social media. I know for a lot of folks, social media can sometimes feel toxic. Like it's just too much, or like we're only seeing a certain kind of facade, like only the good part, or only certain aspects of people's lives and we assume that other people are having better experiences or whatever, whatnot.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But at the same time, it's like if you reframe it and think about us, like how can I use this as a tool to better myself and to also be a support system and a cheerleader to my friends, my community? It can actually help you maintain your own goals, whether it's the physical fitness goals, professional goals, personal goals, etc. I really like that.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And it reminds me, this year- and I mentioned that in another episode- I was like, this year, my word, my theme of the year is abundance. Thinking about- there's more than enough. There's more than enough good things for everyone so we should just embrace that, cheer everybody on. Don't worry about, don't think about competition. Think about- how can we all help ourselves with whatever it is that we're working on? I really liked that because I do sometimes feel like on social media, I sometimes get a little bit overwhelmed by it. But if I focus on the good and focus on, what am I working on for myself? Let me share that. Okay, how can I help someone else? How can I cheer someone else on? It could definitely kind of shift things for me.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

100%. And I think that I was very fortunate to have found Running Mommies. But I also want to say, if these communities of support don't exist in your realm- say you want to be a golfer or something. I'm not into golf, but let's say that's what you have access to and that's the thing that you want to invest in. And you don't see a lot of people of color, women of color, mothers of color doing this activity, but that you want to do it.

Mara Lopez

Create it. Create your support. Social media makes that at least super accessible. Another thing is that social media is super toxic, especially- I feel like I've been living in a sort of a perpetual state of baby rage fits for the last five, four years.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

What do you mean by "baby rage fits"?

Mara Lopez

I see something on Instagram and I'm like, oh my God. I can't leave that happened. We're under a new administration, so I feel some of those baby rage fits subsiding. But even still. I also think that creating positive environments for yourself is important, both in your physical, mental, social, psychological, but also your social environments. This year has been really revealing how people are navigating the pandemic in a very different way. It's also revealing that some folks are adamant about not investing in the well being of the whole. You know, last summer, I was like, un pinche borradero de gente. It's just like, I can't have the toxicity in any space that I want to exist in.

Mara Lopez

I think setting those boundaries is also super important. Then finding a way to set boundaries in a way that feels healthy for you. Some folks have a hard time saying no. As a mom, as a nurturer, it's very hard for me to say no. But I can always say, not right now, or maybe another time, or I'm just not available at the moment. I'm starting to feel less and less guilty, because the reality of the situation is it's my time. No one should have an opinion about what I do with my time. So learning how to find slivers of time to tend to yourself. In 24 hours in a day, you deserve one to two hours of something that will fill your cup and setting boundaries and finding your community of support.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I really love that. It's so funny you mentioned the golf example because- so the way I choose social media is I am very intentional about how I curate what I see and what friends I have. So I don't have a lot of people like in my personal Instagram or in my personal Facebook page, just folks that I know and folks that I know are good folks. It's just not going to be super toxic for me. Not surprisingly, I have a lot of fierce mujeres, PhD mamas who are on my feeds and I'm always so inspired by them. One of them, her name is Dra. Larissa Mercado-Lopez who's at CSU Fresno. She recently picked up golfing and started a golfing IG page, and I remember thinking like that is so awesome.

Mara Lopez

She's exactly who I was referring to, by the way. Yeah, she did that. She's like, I know that this might not be a thing, but I'm gonna create this thing so come out and join me. She's exactly what I was referring to.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

It's really funny. Definitely setting boundaries is important too. Saying no, so that you will allow yourself to say yes to other things for yourself. We're getting close to wrapping up. I wanted to ask if you had any last thoughts on the topic or any takeaways? If not, how can folks reach you, be in touch, connect with you? I'm sure a lot of the listeners are gonna relate. They're gonna want to follow you. They're gonna want to kind of get to know you a little bit more. So last thoughts, or how can folks be in touch?

Mara Lopez

You had mentioned that one of your words for the year was abundance, and I want to share mine. My word for this year was momentum. I found that last year, when everything slowed down, I had a really hard time picking things back up. And what helped me navigate 2020 and all of the many unknowns, and anxieties that those unknowns brought about, is momentum. The hardest step was just the first step out the door, that was the hardest.

Mara Lopez

And I was successful at just keeping going and experiencing the discomfort in that first step. I built momentum. So this year, my word is momentum. I have found that momentum has been my greatest weapon, and I'm going to utilize it in as many ways as I can. I just wanted to share that.

Mara Lopez

The last couple takeaways were, again, just finding a way, a time management resource that helps you find slivers in your day, where you can give yourself one to two hours. There are 24 hours in a day. Find a way to attend to your physical health best as able. It will inevitably affect positively, hopefully, your mental health and just fill your cup. Whatever it is, it doesn't have to be something that's super intense. But you deserve it. You deserve one to two hours a day, whatever it is. And get everyone on board, all your kids, your partners, whatever it is, everyone on board so that they too encourage you.

Mara Lopez

Then lastly, it's finding your community of support, whatever that looks like. It could just be an accountability buddy. You creating little challenges for yourself and your friends, creating an Instagram page, a Twitter page, clubhouse where you guys just check in. Whatever it is. That community of support has really fed me and has helped me stay consistent, stay motivated, and stay excited about continuing on this physical fitness journey. That's really all I have. And then you know, just having these dialogues with other mommies too, with navigating mom guilt and time management has been super helpful for me as well.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So how can folks reach you? Thank you.

Mara Lopez

My Instagram page is public. It's @MoxiMara. I also am the founder and creator of @AcademicMujeres on Instagram, where I'm sharing profiles of women of color in academia, Black and Brown women and sharing all of the many things that they're doing. Again, hoping to contribute to changing the narrative and increasing the percentage, because I think that right now, at the doctoral level in the country, I think the percentages are below 4% for both Black and Brown women that have doctoral degrees. I'm hoping to help contribute to the changing of the narrative there with Academic Mujeres. But I share a lot of my efforts to be an active, working mommy of two on my personal page, MoxiMara.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on here, for sharing your words of wisdom. I know I learned a lot. I'm sure our listeners will learn a lot too. Hopefully we'll have you on another time, because I know you have a lot of different things you can contribute. Thank you so much Mara.