While still an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico, Santos-Febres had her work published in magazines and journal reviews such as "Casa de las Américas" in Cuba, "Página doce" in Argentina, "Revue Noire" in France and "Review: Latin American Literature and Arts", in New York. Santos-Febres acknowledged in El País the Puerto Rican narrators who influenced her career: “I come from a long tradition of women writers, Rosario Ferré, Giannina Braschi, Ana Lydia Vega. Mayra Santos-Febres got a bachelor's degree in Hispanic Studies, from the University of Puerto Rico which she graduated with high honors in 1987.”