Martinez was born in Brooklyn, New York to Puerto Rican parents. She was raised in Yauco, Puerto Rico where her family had moved when she was still a child. In Puerto Rico she went to school from k-8th grade. When she was in 8th grade, she was given a homework assignment to study the moon which. She spent a lot of time on the roof of her house every night for a month. She wrote down and detailed everything about the moon, the way the moon looked. That report made her interested in the moon. 