Azucena first discovered her passion for the outdoors and the environment through exploration of her grandmother's backyard in Tijuana, Mexico and her fathers hometown of Culiacan, Sinaloa. As a young child she played in the sierras and mountainsides discovering scorpions and mesquite bugs along with her fascination for the Azucena flower who she was named after.
When she grew older and attended college, sightseeing at her university sparked her interest in the flora and fauna of California along with her relationship to the environment. While there, she joined various organizations revolving around social justice and the environment which fueled her passion in environmental justice for low income communities of color.

She worked for the City of Goleta giving tours of the monarch butterfly grove to children, worked as a lead teacher for Kids in Nutrition teaching children about sustainable eating and their connections to food and the environment, and recently worked giving tours of a local wetland teaching about native species and the importance of being environmental stewards.

In her freetime she enjoys hiking, knitting, hanging out with friends, dancing banda, and taking care of her awesome tarantulas MJ and Boots.