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Kristel Andrea Orta-Puente's area of research is San Antonio history and the documentation of cultural bearers and San Antonio artists, particularly Tomás Ybarra-Frausto and Octavio Medellín. Her research interest also includes film, intersectional feminism, activism, the borderlands, fashion, and Rasquachismo. Orta-Puente is a non-traditional first-generation scholar that began her educational journey at San Antonio College with an Associate of Arts in Photography.

She went on earning her undergraduate degree as a Mellon Fellow at The University of Texas-San Antonio with a Bachelor of Arts in Mexican American Studies, graduating with Highest Departmental Honors. She earned her Masters of Arts in History from The University of Texas at San Antonio as a Nau History Fellow. She is also a professional photographer, rasquacha artist, and community historian that intersects her work in the community with her work as a scholar to build bridges between those who produce knowledge and the community that are the source of that knowledge.