[2][3] She is a Pura Belpré gold medal winner for her young adult novel, Furia.

[5] Méndez grew up attached to the culture of one grandfather, who was Syrian Lebanese; her mother was an orphan but knew she was a descendant of indigenous people from Argentina.

[5] Her father drove a taxi and her mother worked as a nanny.

[5] The first among her extended family members to attend college, she went to Brigham Young University where she studied international economics.

[5][6] Méndez received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.