Hello everyone!

I'm Estefania Hernandez, currently a senior studying Business Administration and Disability Studies minor. I'm very excited to be taking this course and learning more about the music that I have performed since a young age!

Here is a bit about me:

I was born in San Francisco's Mission District and lived there until the age of 8 when my family moved to the East Bay Area. Both of my parents grew up in a small pueblo in Los Altos de Jalisco, Mexico (where tequila is produced), which I would visit on a yearly basis. I loved running around the pueblo, going to la tiendita de dulces to buy my Carlos X chocolate bar. Mexico was my second home.

Both of my parents immigrated to the US during their teenage years in search of el sueño americano. My father, a construction worker, and my mother, a stay-at-home mom. They raised me in what I believe to be a traditional Mexican household, regardless of the fact that it was the Bay Area and not Mexico. Mexican food, Mexican traditions and of course only Spanish at home.

Mariachi Juvenil Los Cachorros

At the age of 12, I joined my local church's mariachi group, Mariachi Juvenil Los Cachorros. They first taught me guitar and eventually I switched over to vihuela. I began learning mariachi church music and eventually transitioned into the traditional mariachi music that we sing in class!

End of year performance (Spring 2013)

Mariachi music is something I'm very passionate about and which I love dedicating my time to. Exactly a year ago, Victor Muratalla and I began UC Berkeley's current mariachi group, Mariachi Luz de Oro. We perform at school events, private events and through the streets of Berkeley on random days! We hope you enjoy mariachi music as much as we do!

Mariachi Luz de Oro and Ballet Folklorico Reflejos de Mexico