November 7, 2024

BATON ROUGE, LA – Though Baton Rouge native Malana Fuentes grew up with the cards stacked against her, she has come out on the other side, hoping to inspire younger generations, including her own kids, that they can do it all if they want it badly enough.

Fuentes’ life was hard from the beginning, as she had asthma and lost her older sister when she was just a baby. Then, she was raised by her dad and stepmother before living with her half-sister, Tabitha, who was attending LSU at the time.

“My half-sister saved me in my teen years and gave me everything I needed to succeed,” Fuentes said. “She was a role model for me since she went to school and raised me. She’s my favorite person in the world.”

After graduating high school in 2010, Fuentes took a break from academics, unsure of what direction she wanted to go in.

“College right away wasn’t for me,” she said.

Instead, Fuentes started a family that has now expanded to three of her own kids and a “bonus daughter,” as she calls McKenzie. Her oldest daughter, Lydia, is 13; her daughters Jeana-Marie and McKenzie are both 11; and her youngest son, Malakai, is 10.  

“Once my kids were old enough where I felt comfortable leaving them home alone after school, I decided I was ready to go to college and be a role model for them and show them that it doesn’t matter what they go through in life or what their status is; they can always succeed in anything they want and make themselves better as long as they want to be better,” she said.

Fuentes began attending River Parishes Community College in Gonzales, La., and then transferred to LSU in 2020.

“It was a very tough time,” she said. “I was trying to see if I could manage parenting and school. I went to RPCC for two semesters, then once I had enough credits to transfer to LSU, I did that.”

Fuentes chose to major in computer engineering at LSU.

“I always loved to break things apart and put them back together, and I’m an overthinker, so I pay attention to details, which matters in engineering,” she said. “I also like to solve problems. I’m the type of person where you have to tell me if you want a solution or just want me to hear you out because I will always try to give you the solution otherwise.”

Fuentes began struggling with her work-life balance studying for CE and being an active parent and wife.

“I wasn’t able to spend time with my family without compromising my studies,” she said.

She realized computer engineering overlapped with computer science, so she changed her major to CS with a concentration in cybersecurity. She is scheduled to graduate in May 2025 and plans to get her master’s degree at LSU, before finding a job in digital forensics and incident response and studying memory forensics.

Aside from her studies, Fuentes currently has three part-time jobs. She is a teacher assistant for the digital forensics course under LSU CS Department Chair and Professor Ibrahim “Abe” Baggili and LSU CS Ph.D. student Clinton Walker.

“Dr. Baggili’s digital forensics course is the whole reason I chose the cybersecurity concentration,” Fuentes said.

Fuentes is also an undergraduate research assistant under LSU CS Professor and LSU Cyber Center Director Golden Richard III, who she says is “amazing.”

“He inspires me daily in the same way I want to inspire future generations,” she said.  

As if these jobs weren’t enough to keep Fuentes busy, she also cleans houses to make ends meet.

Fuentes hopes her kids see her hard work and realize they can do whatever they set their minds to.

“I have really good kids,” she said. “They all understand and see how hard I’m working. My husband has been amazing, working all the time to pay the bills so I can focus on school. I totally believe you can’t just tell the younger generation do better, be better; you have to show them this is how you can do it. There are many ways you can do it, but do it.”

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Contact: Libby Haydel
Communications Manager
225-578-4840
ehaydel1@lsu.edu