My name is Rosalie Ochoa and I am currently a senior at Loyola Marymount University. My major is Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing, and I am taking "Chicanas and Latinas in the U.S." as an elective. I am the second person from my family who will be receiving a Bachelor's degree. My parents expect a lot from me, and I am proud of myself for finishing college soon. I am a very outgoing person, and I love being surrounded by people who have a great sense of humor. My ultimate goal is to open up a Bar/Lounge that caters to the LGBT community. Being a Chicana in the U.S., I felt it was important for me to take a course that further educated me on the influence that other Chicanas have had in this country, during the Chicano movement and now. I had previously taken an Intro to Chicano/a Studies course, but it dealt mostly with the historical and social aspect. I wanted to be introduced to the art and activism that has influenced my culture. In this course, I have learned a lot that I can incorporate to my own personal beliefs.

I decided to focus my project on Yreina Cervantez because she has a lot of great art work that is not as mainstream as work by other prominent Chicana artists. It was very hard trying to find detailed information on her, which made this project a bit challenging. I felt that it was important to focus on her work beacuse it clearly represents Chicana identity, while incorporating the struggles that have been faced by both Chicanos/as and Latinas. One of my favorite murals from Cervantez is "La Ofrenda", and my favorite self-portrait of hers is "Big Baby Balam". I hope that through the research I have done, more people may become inspired by Cervantez and her amazing work.