Echazarreta was born in Mexico before moving with her family to the United States at the age of seven. She recalled struggling to fit in as she couldn't speak the language. A teacher had even warned that she would have to be held back. "It just really fueled me and I think ever since then, ever since the third grade, I kind of just went off and have not stopped," Echazarreta recalled in an Instagram interview. Echazarreta worked at McDonald's when she was 17-18 years old and was also the main breadwinner of her family. "I had sometimes up to four [jobs] at the same time, just to try to get through college because it was really important for me," she said. The trajectory of Echazarreta's life has since changed. She is now doing her master's degree in engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She also worked on at NASA's famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. She also has a strong presence on TikTok and YouTube thanks to her short clips on science matters. She has more than 330,000 users on TikTok and is also a presenter on the weekend CBS show "Mission Unstoppable."
She is determined to become a role model for those in her community. "Throughout my journey in engineering school, I was very aware about the lack of women in the field. This was very difficult for me because I did not have many people I could ask for advice regarding several topics such as the implicit biases we face on a daily basis. I’ve been given the opportunity to help guide those girls and women who, like me, are looking for someone with experience in what they are going through. Through honesty about the difficulties and encouragement, I hope to be able to help women be better prepared for their experience as a woman in STEM," she said.
Echazarreta was part of the fifth such group carried to the edge of space by "Blue Origin." Most of the passengers paid an undisclosed sum to book a seat on the rocket. Space for Humanity aims to send "exceptional leaders" to space and offer them a view of Earth from space, which is believed to give them a new perspective on life itself. It was Dylan Taylor, a space investor who founded Space for Humanity, that chose her for the program. "We were looking for people who are doing really great work in the world already, and people who are passionate about whatever that is," said Rachel Lyons, the nonprofit's executive director.
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