“I had a very simple dream. I wasn’t asking for a car or a trip or the kinds of things you usually dream about when you’re young. What I wanted was something everyone should have access to: studying.” That’s how Yngrid Espinoza Villaruel (Class of 2011, Peru) recalls the life path she had to walk. A nine-year-old Yngrid selling beverages and candies on the street; a teenager constantly looking for a job to help her family; a young university student doing everything possible to keep studying, while also making sure she had food each day. She doesn’t recount her story with shame or pity, but with the confidence of someone who has triumphed over a great challenge.
Yngrid is the second of four siblings, the children of a single mother. Although she began working as a child, she never gave up on her dream. She would dive into books “like a lab mouse,” she says, and even while helping her mother make ends meet, she always excelled in her studies. She applied to EARTH while in her second year at a national university in Peru.
The day she received the call saying she had been admitted, she was in shock. Not only had she been admitted, but she was also selected as the first recipient of a full scholarship funded by EARTH alumni.
“When you come from a vulnerable background, your perception of yourself and what you are capable of achieving is reduced. At EARTH, I studied alongside students who were the children of business leaders, and others who came from situations like mine, but we all ate the same food, slept in the same dorms, received the same treatment, and the message I absorbed was that I too deserved that opportunity, that I was capable. That was the blessing I received from alumni: they didn’t just give me the right to study without worrying about food, but also the confidence to keep going.”
As a student, Yngrid had work-study jobs at the Guácimo Campus to continue supporting her family, especially her younger siblings, who are soon to finish university. After graduating, Yngrid began a professional journey defined by innovation and social commitment. Between 2012 and 2016, she worked on designing sustainable agriculture models in rural communities in the buffer zones of Manu National Park (Peru) and Corcovado National Park (Costa Rica), in collaboration with scientist Adrian Forsyth. Later, from 2016 to 2024, she co-founded the first organo-mineral fertilizer company in Latin America, aiming to improve fertilization for small farmers and promote carbon capture through soil improvement.
Today, she leads pilot projects for young women in technology sectors to strengthen their technical, socio-emotional, and leadership skills, while also training them on labor rights and entrepreneurial potential. She is also designing a project focused on providing access to education for rural women seeking university opportunities or transitioning into the workforce.
Her bond with EARTH has remained strong: she facilitated the arrival of 11 interns and graduates to Peru to collaborate on high-impact projects, coordinated visits of EARTH professors to deliver training, and continues to stay active as a graduate eager to contribute to community development projects. “I always felt that giving back to my country what I had received was a way to honor the opportunity I was given,” she says.
The nine-year-old Yngrid who once went out to the streets to earn a living is now a professional who broke the cycle of poverty, working so that other women can have fair conditions and access to a dream as basic as studying—something that should be possible for all.