[2] Along with her brothers Manuel (1852–1903), Louis (1858–1943) and Victor grew up in the house of her paternal grandfather, Diego Antonio Barros Fernández de Leiva (1789–1853), until the death of her father.

This publication, a pioneer in its day, included a very controversial prologue, by the same Orrego Luco, her then-boyfriend, who produced, paradoxically, a pleasant reaction in the liberal male circles of his time.

Martina was able to meet many influential people of the time since, as a result of her relatives who held prominence in public life - her husband, her brother Luis, Alessandri Palma contender in the 1920 elections, and her aunt Julia Borgoño Vergara, married to Admiral Patricio Lynch.

In 1917, she was invited to the Club of Ladies by Delia Matte Pérez, president of the association, where, in the first meeting, she gave a lecture on women's suffrage, an issue almost unprecedented for those times.

"[4] While her work is not extensive, the life told in her memoirs makes allusions to the need for women's liberation, not with a separatist or egalitarian spirit, but rather to contribute to the progress of Chile.