Hello my name is Raina Villanueva, I live in Mesa, Arizona, and I belong to the Southern Ute, Navajo and Hispanic communities. In 2016, I graduated from high school and I went on to obtain my Associate of Arts (AA) degree at Mesa Community College. Currently, I’m working part time at Nordstrom Rack to help fund the furthering of my education. Working in retail has taught me to be knowledgeable of the strengths that I bring to the workplace like my creativity and optimism.

I enjoy volunteering for local and national volunteer groups like Hope women shelters, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), and American Indian Student Support Services (AISSS) at Arizona State University. I also make jewelry, I cut and shape my own gem stones then determine what jewelry piece that they will work best in.

I’m the oldest of my siblings, and I have always had to be an exemplary role model for my siblings to look up to. In view of this, I wanted to further my education so that I can leave a lasting legacy not just for my family but for others as well. By broadening my horizon through coding, my hope is to help the environment through sustainability and software development. With this opportunity provided by Codefy to obtain a better understanding of coding/ software development, I now have a chance to make a greater and a long lasting impact to help our ecosystem.