Mary Helen Ponce is a chicana writer. She was born on January 24, 1938 in Pacoima, California. She has worked as an instructor of Chicano studies at California State University from 1982 to 1987 and from 1987 to 1988 she was also an adjunct professor. From 1988 to 1992 she was adjunct faculty in the Women's Studies Program at the University of New Mexico, Women's Studies Program. She was an adjunct faculty member at University of California from 1992 to 1993. She is also a writer for the Los Angeles Times. She earned her bachelor's degree in Anthropology from California State University in 1978 and then a master's degree in Chicano Studies in 1980. She studied from 1982 to 1984 at the University of California at Los Angeles. There she was the recipient of the History Department's Danforth