Yesica was born in Jalisco, Mexico and moved to California when she was 10.  She was a Cell Molecular and Developmental Biology undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside, where she studied the biogenesis of small RNAs in C. elegans.  She then joined the NIGMS Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis, to examine retinal ganglion cell differentiation.   Now in the Butler lab at UCLA, she is studying axon guidance mechanisms in early circuit formation.  She was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the NSF.  Outside of lab, Yescia enjoys playing old school video games, watching psychological thrillers and trying new foods.