She holds a BA from Carleton College (Magna Cum Laude) in Music, and her Master's and Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to teaching at Texas Tech University, she taught at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and the California Institute of the Arts. Through archival and field-based research, her work focuses on mariachi music in Mexico and the United States and its institutionalization vis-à-vis American academic programs at the primary, secondary, and collegiate levels. Utilizing the frameworks of postcolonial and practice theories, her research explores the ramifications of mariachi’s formalization in terms of pedagogy, performance practice, and meaning.