Cristina was born and raised in Las Vegas and her people come from Mexico and Cuba. She graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2005, graduate certificate in Women’s Studies in 2012, and in 2020 received her Master’s degree in Public Health. Her professional paper topic was on lesbian and trans men’s pregnancy, birth experience, and birth outcomes based on provider (i.e. OB/GYN, Midwife, and Nurse Practitioner) and setting (i.e. hospital, home, and birth center). She has been a doula since 2017, a certified childbirth educator since 2018, and certified as a full spectrum doula via Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings (BADT).
Currently, she is a Project Manager for EARN-FS (Early Responsive Nurturing Care for Food Security) at the UNLV School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Health. This project is researching maternal and child health & nutrition within the West Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood.