Bios

I was born in Bogota, Colombia’s capital. I married Oscar 15 years ago and we have five children. The oldest children are Maria Camila and Ana Sofia, who are fourteen and twelve. Matias and Tomas are seven and four years old, and my youngest baby, Emma, is three months old. I’m an industrial engineer. When I finished university, I started to work in an electronics company in Bogota and I was an Administrative Director. I worked almost six years at this job which was great experience for my professional life. I could apply my knowledge in different areas such as finance, strategy, project management and human resources. Also, I achieved many goals to help the company grow and we received certifications in quality and climate organization.

Over time I wanted to work in the social sector to help vulnerable people. Therefore, after six years I started to work in a non-profit organization called Somos Mas (means: we are more). I was the Executive Director until 2016, and during this time I was happy dedicating all my experience to developing social projects.

In addition, I had the opportunity to work in many poor cities in my country and to be part of social transformations. I knew many experiences around the world for engaging government and citizens through a strategy called Open Government that exist in more than 50 countries. This strategy is now my inspiration for continuing working on this issue.

While I was working at Somos Mas, my husband started a small business five years ago and I helped him in the organization with finance and strategy for the company. This achievement was very important in our life since it changed our challenges, improved our personal / professional skills and made us think outside the box. Everyone in our lives was very professional. Nevertheless, my husband and I always had dreamed to live in another country to learn a new culture and so that our children could have better opportunities. That was the reason we applied as skill workers to Canada.

However, the process for obtaining the residence was very long and there was a moment that we forgot it, but two years after we had applied, we received the notice that we had been accepted to Canada. This was very exciting for us and at the same time it was confusing because our lives were in the best moment.

Nevertheless, we decided to accept and to continue with the process for coming to Canada. Now, after six months I am sure that was a good decision. Although the achievement of the goals has been slower, I am seeing many possibilities for achieving an excellent future for our family. We want to start a small business. I want to do a specialization, to engage with issues about citizen participation and to be a support for my husband and children. I think we will be happy in Canada.