Rebeca Santa Maria Granados

Class of 2025

Faculty Advisor: Alberto Diaz

Peer Mentor: Esteban Salmon Perrilliat

Rebeca Sauly Santa Maria Granados was born and raised in Tlaxcala, Mexico. At the age of fifteen, she migrated to New Orleans. As a Posse scholar, she graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame, earning a B.A. in Political Science and Global Affairs with a concentration in Latin American Studies.

During her undergraduate career, Rebeca interned at the Embassy of Mexico in Rome and D.C. and at the Mexican Cultural Institute in D.C. She worked as a research assistant for various projects focused on Latin America, investigating women's representation in the Supreme and Constitutional Courts in the region, political polarization in Mexico, and LGBTQ+ rights in Jamaica. Rebeca conducted field research in Puebla, Mexico, analyzing the impacts of ecological stoves on Indigenous artisan women's socioeconomic mobility. In the U.S., she worked with nonprofits around the country dedicated to advocating for the Latine community by mentoring high school students who are children of migrant farmworkers in Homestead, FL, and advocating for migrant rights as a LUNA member at Puentes New Orleans.

Her undergraduate senior thesis, "Shaping Diplomacy: La Cuarta Transformación and Mexico-U.S. Bilateral Relations," focused on understanding and improving U.S.-Mexico ties. She is interested in furthering her research at the intersections of identity, politics, and immigration as a master’s student in Latin American Studies at Stanford. As a FLAS Fellow, Rebeca is excited to learn her fourth language, Nahuatl, and learn more about Indigenous politics and cultures. At Stanford, she looks forward to building a community and exploring new ways to use her education to improve outcomes and opportunities for others.

Rebeca aspires to pursue a career in public service and bring about policy changes that will serve underprivileged communities in the Mexico-U.S. region.

Peer Mentor: Esteban Salmon Perrilliat