Marisol Ochoa

Mari grew up in Santa Ana, California, the oldest of three, in the apartment above the panadería her parents opened the year she was born. She spent weekends folding pan dulce boxes and doing homework at the counter, and she is the first in her family to go to a four-year university. Now a junior studying nutrition science at a public university in Los Angeles, she works morning shifts at the campus coffee bar, joined a sorority in her sophomore year and is the friend who always has a phone charger and a hair tie. She plans her week in a paper planner with five highlighter colours, drives home most Sundays for dinner, and brings back a box of conchas for her floor.