In 1952, she began to work as an apprentice to the sculptor Germán Cueto at Mexico City College, learning from him for six years. Later she worked under Mario Zamora at the foundry of Abraham González and at the workshop of Montiel Blancas. However, it was still difficult for women to be taken seriously as sculptors, so she signed her works with male pseudonyms, Alberto Urría or Angel Urría. This included her bid for her first monumental piece, called La familia obrera, which was done in 1965. When the organisers of the bid found out she was a woman, they were surprised and disgusted, as at the time it will still unthinkable for a woman to do such pieces.
