Monica's doctoral research was funded by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT). She completed her M.A. in Politics and the Mass Media at the University of Liverpool in 2002. She completed her  B.A.(Hons.) in Communication Sciences from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico City Campus in 2000. Prior to securing her PhD funding, she worked as the Administrative Coordinator of the Graduate School of Public Administration and Public Politics at ITESM, whilst lecturing the module International Communication to undergraduate students at the Department of Communication. She currently works as Postgraduate Events Manager at the University of Leicester. Monica's research interests are in the area of political communication, journalist-source relationships and political clientelism.