Ariana Barajas

Ariana is from Guadalajara, Jalisco via Oxnard, California. Her paternal grandfather labored as a migrant farm worker in the 1920s in Oxnard, and in the 1950s, her maternal grandfather moved his family from Jalisco to the Mexicali Valley in Baja California seeking farm labor.

Ariana’s family has taught her the value of perseverance and education – within 10 years of her arrival to the United States, she earned a B.A. in Sociology from UC San Diego as a first generation, English-language learner and, soon she will also hold a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Portland State University. She cites her academic and professional successes to the invaluable support she received from culturally-responsive services and competent professionals. 

Ariana has provided cultural and linguistically responsive services to underserved communities in California and Oregon since 1999. As a seasoned professional, she now chooses to serve members of historically underrepresented groups utilizing an equity lens at all times.

She moved from the semi-desertic soils of California to the rain-drenched Pacific Northwest in 2010 after she read the Twilight Saga and is not ashamed to confess it. Additionally, she transplanted to Oregon to experience living in a state in which she is not the linguistic or ethnic majority. An avid lover of creative writing, once a month you will find her at a community writing workshop in Portland. And when she’s not writing, she’s likely cooking Mexican comfort food such as pozole, tamales, and capirotada.