Personal Statement

A story I share often from childhood is that my mom would go into parent teacher conferences and hear, “Rachel gets the answers correct, but we can’t give her full credit because she needs to show her work for the methods we teach in school and that isn’t how she gets her answers”

My entire life has been having the right answer there in my mind, but struggling to “show the work” in a way that satisfied society’s desire for standards in neat little boxes. Losing the drive to show any work or give answers, because even with the “correct” outcome, the thought process behind it that is intrinsic to me was still making me feel alienated. 

 As a high schooler preparing to graduate in 2009, I had been accepted into multiple University of California schools to study a concept that hadn’t exactly been adapted into a degree quite yet. Gardening and science have always been a sort of hybrid fascination to me, and biotechnology in agriculture seemed natural to pursue. Unfortunately, physical health needs took precedent, and I was unable to go away after a thyroid removal surgery. The fall-out from this series of events had negatively impacted my mental health as well, and the decisions to further sedate me (for a mood disorder I did not have) took away many functional years of my life. It wasn’t until my third daughter was born that I was able to stop taking medications, and start analyzing my medical history on my own. I had been unable to get the referrals I needed for a diagnosis until I researched and figured out how to order labs on my own to prove the need for more in depth work ups. As I started recognizing patterns in family history, my own medical history, and drawing parallels between known genetic variations I had possibly inherited, I discovered a reignition of the passion I have always felt for nutrition, genomics, and their agricultural applications. 

My desire to work in agriculture-biotechnology evolved with my life experiences as a mom. Developments in psychology and nutrigenomics have shaped my long term goals towards bridging gaps in what guides inclusion. I strive to educate others transparently and without stigma, because control without knowledge or respect is a scary concept and I believe we limit our capacity to lead others when we choose not to grow towards better self-awareness. 

I have always wanted to verbally paint pictures that represent all of the in betweens, outside the boxes and abstract concepts that are what define subjectivity and context in humanity. I learned how to do that in a painful way, but it challenged me and it helped push me to better myself. My neurodivergent daughters remind me how important creativity is; they have taught me what being valued feels like. They opened up a world of understanding sensory input, emotional regulation, and all of the nutritional and neurological gems that serve as catalysts for wellbeing.

In a world of exclusion and evolving technology, I am pursuing the role of connecting the biases and limited scope of social constructs to be a resource.