I grew up in Virginia (the daughter of a Cuban refugee and Colombian immigrant) and moved to New York City in '89 to attend school at FIT. I didn't have specific ambitions to earn a degree but ever since I was a child I had a fantasy about coming to New York City. I'd visited several times during particularly pivotal times in my teen years and I was hooked. There was something mysterious about the city then. A relentless chaotic energy that beaconed me. The underground was really underground. Friends were throwing parties at big night clubs and making avant guard fashion and film... There was a D.I.Y. spirit and the city was a giant playground.