Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. She holds a B.A. in Social Communication and a M.A. in International Relations. She completed her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan. The topic of her doctoral research was Feminist Critical Human Security: Women's (In) Security and Smuggling on Ecuador's Borders. This research, which utilized qualitative methods, was carried out with a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.