C. Estela Vasquez Guzman was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was two. She became interested in better understanding the medical establishment due to her personal struggles with various health conditions. She graduated salutatorian from Benson Polytechnic High School, a vocational school where she majored in Nursing. During that time she did over 200 hours of volunteer service at Presbyterian Hospital. Vasquez Guzman graduated from Whitman College in 2010 with her B.A. in Sociology and published her first piece on racial and class health disparities. She went on to the University of New Mexico where she obtained her M.A. degree in Sociology with a focus on mental health among the children of Mexican immigrant mothers. Currently Vasquez Guzman is pursuing her Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration on Racial/Ethnic Health Inequities and using an equity framework to develop stronger health policy promoting a more equitable healthcare system.