Born and raised in Laredo, Texas, María-Luisa is a true Tejana. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco. After a short practice, she followed her spouse to postings in the Netherlands, Singapore, and India. In Singapore, she taught legal research and writing to first year law students at the National University of Singapore. She now resides in Houston, Texas but spends time with her extended family in Laredo.

María-Luisa is an independent scholar focused on the folklore of Tejano culture. She is currently working on a creative nonfiction book. Her previous works have appeared or are forthcoming in Chamisa: A Journal of Visual, Literary and Performance Arts of the Southwest; Barrelhouse; The Nationa and in an anthology, ¡Somos Tejanas! She has made various presentations in Texas and New Mexico on different facets of the Sephardic influence found in modern day Tejano culture. As a 2023 Texas Folklife Community Fellow she documented some of her work on an episode of the podcast The Folklorist Next Door.

Her work seeks to memorialize Tejano culture and history and to engage in a dialogue about life on the U.S./Mexico border. She currently serves on the board of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Her hobbies include both dancing and singing flamenco.