She has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Los Angeles.

Her poems have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology, Without A Net: The Female Experience of Growing-Up Working-Class, Baby Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing, and Word Warriors.

[3] Her film, Do the Math, with award-winning director Mary Guzman was the 2006 winner of a Frameline Completion Grant and screened at Outfest 2007.

She was a cast member in the 2008 Dark Room Theater production of The Ten Commandments: Live!,[10] and appeared in Lynnee Breedlove's short film Godspeed in 2007.

[11] Other venues where Bañales has performed include Julia Serano's GenderEnders, Femina Potens,[12] SFinX (SF in Exile), Mad to Live: Queers Under the Influence of the Beats [13] curated by Michelle Tea, the Queer Cultural Center, Litquake;[14] and many more.