Hello, there!
I’m Elisa Samayoa, a 24-year-old data scientist, writer, leader, dreamer, and purpose-driven woman from Guatemala.
I studied Data Science Engineering, specialized in Marketing, and somewhere along the way, I discovered that science, art, ideas, and real impact can live in the same sentence.
I love reading, writing, asking questions, and telling stories. I enjoy learning, helping others, and finding opportunities to explore, lead, and take risks.
I aim to live with love, respect, and empathy through faith, dreams, and hard work.
These are the international academic experiences that have shaped me
...But this is where it all started
It was a rainy Monday in June 2002. I was born in Guatemala City, but raised in Amatitlán, a small town just 25 km away.
I’m the oldest sibling of a marvelous little brother who came into my life when I was four.
I used to live on one of the main streets. In less than a block, there was a hospital, a school, a market, a mini mall, a park, a pharmacy, a bakery, a police station, and a church.
I grew up watching people rush to visit their loved ones at the hospital, kids running to elementary school uphill, pre-teens skipping middle school two blocks down, and mothers buying fruits and vegetables at the market in front of my house, and stopping by the second-hand stores next door.
I heard the laughter of kids in the park behind the market, the rooster crowing at 5 a.m., the horns of buses and motorcycles as traffic started to change our town, and the Catholic church bells, just a street away.
I grew up seeing, hearing, and feeling everything. And even though it was my father’s hometown, it never truly felt like mine.
I used to stand in front of my window facing the street and try to see beyond the mountain that hid the Volcán de Agua. Morning and night, I asked myself: What’s behind that? What else exists beyond this town? And how far can I go?
My parents raised me not only with love and hope but with a strong sense of responsibility, hard work, and self-improvement. Even as a little girl, I made sacrifices and didn’t mind because I always had a vision of the kind of woman I wanted to be someday.
But I was quiet and a bit shy, and as a teenager, I began to feel that people only saw me as the smart, well-behaved girl at school, defined by her grades, rather than the powerful, creative, and unstoppable young woman I was inside. I couldn’t bear the thought of hiding myself, my passion, or my dreams. So when I transferred to a new school, I also decided to change the way I approached life. Instead of asking, "What if I…?" I began saying, "I will…". I didn’t realize it immediately at 15, but that shift transformed me forever.
I am currently living in Guatemala City which is chaotic, noisy, and poetic at the same time. But I have discovered that I'm not meant to stay in one place. I'm not just a girl meant to settle. I am a woman made to discover, pursue, and inspire worldwide.
Countless stories, places, and people have shaped me, but the memory of where I come from, the sacrifices we’ve all made, and the places I still long to go are the things that keep moving me forward, every single day.