Ahtziri is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico who came into the US in the 90's. She was raised in Sonoma, CA and is the oldest of three.  Her mom, as a single mother, worked her way up from fast food jobs to working in a hospital. Her mom’s story served as inspiration for her to go on to be the first in her family to graduate from college. Since earning her degree in Neuroscience, she has been involved in neurosurgical clinical research and is now working at Stanford as a member of Project Baselin