Staff

Marisela
Chávez

Program Associate, Andes-Amazon

Marisela is a program associate with the foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative. Born in California into a family with strong roots in Mexico, Marisela spent the majority of her childhood growing up in between San Fernando Valley and her grandparents’ farm in Colima, Mexico. This upbringing nurtured her love for the natural environment and helped her explore her cultural identity. It was her fascination with her grandmother’s storytelling and education that would ultimately begin to shape her career path.

Prior to joining the foundation, Marisela was an environmental educator in Costa Rica, where she supported a small biological station located inside of an indigenous territory in developing new program materials and connecting children to researchers to produce educational materials that the local communities could easily access. She also provided support to a number of educational institutions in the development and implementation of outreach activities related to Latin America and the Caribbean, combining her passion for education with expanding experiential opportunities for K-12 educators and students. These and other volunteer experiences cemented her commitment to work on environmental conservation and social justice issues in the region.

Marisela earned an M.A. in Latin American & Caribbean studies with a concentration in environmental studies from the University of Kansas. Her thesis focused on sustainably grown food as a mechanism to promote environmental and social justice amongst marginalized communities in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. She has a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in global studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is bilingual in English and Spanish, and is also fluent in Portuguese.

Close X