From La Habana, Cuba, Jimena graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of Havana. Her undergraduate thesis was a study of the impact of the Cuban Revolution on the life and work of a woman who was once married to a Comandante. After graduation, Jimena was assigned to complete her post-graduate mandatory social service at the Center Juan Marinello, one of the most important social science research centers in Cuba, working in particular with oral histories and testimonies, and interdisciplinary studies in general. Most recently, she worked at the studio of artist Carlos Garaicoa, where she became interested in the impact of the Revolution, and other 'big' political events on the work of visual artists, mainly in Cuba. Jimena spent her time in the M.A. program exploring this phenomenon and how it related to the migration of artists or their return to their countries. She earned her M.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane in May 2016.
