Marla de la Cruz is a 21-year-old student at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico, where she pursues a double degree in International Relations & Government and Public Transformation. Her interests in education accessibility, sexual and reproductive rights, and youth have motivated her as a gender justice activist since 2016.

In 2018, she founded Girl Up CIDEB (Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de Educación Bilingüe), and in 2021, she became the president of Girl Up Tec de Monterrey. Marla was part of the First Adolescent Girls Advisory Council of the Global Fund for Women from 2020 to 2023 and is currently an Adolescent Girls Advisory Fellow. She has been part of research projects with the Reach Alliance, Noria Research, and Impunidad Cero, among other institutions and organizations.