Growing up in Mexico City, one of the biggest cities in the world, Daniela, 24, never imagined that the ocean would become such an important part of her life. During her childhood, she only visited the coast on holidays. but her true connection to the underwater world began at 13 when her dad encouraged them both to learn to dive as a new activity. When she took her first plunge, she was immediately fascinated by this new environment and knew she wanted to keep exploring it as much as she could.
After finishing high school, she volunteered in a marine conservation program in Madagascar, where she helped to survey coral reefs and turtle populations and participated in beach clean-ups. There, she learned how scuba could be an important tool for science and conservation, and this experience helped her decide to seek a degree in Biology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). During her studies, she worked on different projects ranging from paleoceanography, climate change, microorganisms, and many more. She won a grant to study a semester abroad in Paris and did an internship at the Natural History Museum researching gecko vocalizations. When she returned to Mexico, Daniela and two of her friends started a Bat Diversity and Conservation Project in a Natural Protected Area in Puebla, Mexico. While sampling bat diversity, she conducted workshops for rural communities to challenge misconceptions about bats and promote their conservation.
She realized her true calling lay in ocean-related research and focused her dissertation thesis on the ecology of marine mammals in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, making it the first formal study of these megafauna in this remote region. Determined to merge her love for scuba diving with science, she pursued multiple courses, including her Master Diver, Freediving and Scientific Diver certifications. She also worked at a local aquarium as a way to get more experience while being far away from the coast. In her short diving career, she has already witnessed ecological changes to some of her diving spots and has been surprised how, despite immense anthropogenic pressures, these reefs persist as resilient ecosystems.
Becoming the 2025 North America Scholar is a dream come true for Daniela. She hopes to become an advocate for the ocean and underrepresented groups—especially Latin women—empowering them to engage in environmental and scientific fields. Her ultimate goal is to unite her love for the ocean, science, and conservation to become an example for future generations and ignite a passion for action to explore and protect our oceans.
Region:North America
Scholar Date: 2025 to 2026
