Silvia Escanilla Huerta was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to immigrant parents from Chile and Peru. As a first-generation college student and a working-class baddie, Silvia always wanted to be a historian but could not pursue a traditional academic path. She attended college at night while working various jobs and couldn’t continue her studies after graduating in 2008. In 2011, a scholarship and the support of great mentors allowed Silvia to pursue a master’s in Historical Research. Her research honors her ancestry by focusing on the role of indigenous peoples in the independence of Peru and Bolivia. Her goal is to re-center indigenous peoples’ histories, often sidelined or forgotten. Researching indigenous peoples of the Andes involves visiting archives in multiple countries and securing funding available only outside South America. For this reason, Silvia made the difficult decision to leave Argentina and pursue a PhD in the US. The sacrifice paid off: she found love, started a family, graduated, and pursued a career as a historian. Now, Silvia teaches History of Latin America courses at UMBC and hopes to live in Baltimore for many years to come.