Biography

Margarita Pérez was born in Bochojbo, municipality of Zinancantan, located in the southern part of the highlands of the State of Chiapas, Margarita belongs to the tzotzil ethnic group. She holds a BA in agrarian economics from the Autonomous University of the State of Chiapas. She received an award for her thesis titled “Handicraft production and marketing as an alternative socioeconomic project for the Nachig community, municipality of Zinacantán”. Moreover, Margarita holds a technical concentration in tourism. Her areas of interest are intercultural education, management and development for indigenous women, linguistics and culture of indigenous peoples, preservation of tzotzil language, popular arts and business plan development. Margarita has worked as administrative assistant for Save the Children and for the National Support Fund for Solidarity Enterprises. In late December 2009, she worked as tzotzil translator for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).