Her Story
About Adriana
Adriana Victoria is a freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is pursuing a degree in neuroscience. Originally from Newark, California, she developed a passion for working with neurodiverse children after her own experiences with social anxiety and unclear diagnostic processes during her youth. Victoria founded the NeuroUnity Network, a community organization that hosts workshops on self-esteem and confidence while raising awareness for neurodiversity. She conducted research at the Stanford Autism Lab the summer before her senior year of high school under mentor Dr. Hegarty. Victoria has also been guided by her English teacher Mr. Betcher, who supported her senior project on inclusive classroom strategies. She represented the NeuroUnity Network at a UN conference in 2025. Her advice to young women entering the field is to approach neurodiversity with an open mind, free of presumptions, to foster deeper learning about this broad topic.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Adriana
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My biggest piece of advice would be to go with an open mind. Neurodiversity is a very very broad and vast topic and so going with an open mind really can foster that learning and going without having any presumptions or any like previous perceptions of people it can truly help one with like learning more about neurodiversity.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is breaking the stigma around neurodiversity and having people view it as a positive thing because it means your child thinks differently and can be used in other fields with out of the box creative ideas.
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