Noramay Cadena is a mechanical engineer with several degrees from MIT.

Her family came to the U.S. from Mexico. They settled in Los Angeles where her parents worked in factories.

cadena_extra2Noramay (pictured above right) came to StoryCorps with her teenage daughter, Chassitty Saldana (pictured above left), to remember one summer when, as a teenager, her parents brought her to work.

During her engineering career, Noramay has worked to improve conditions at factories like the ones where her parents still work.

Originally aired September 25, 2015, on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Photo courtesy of the Cadena family.