Ana Viriginia Cruz Alvarez
Biodesign Education Team
Local Leader, Mahahual
Born in Guatemala, she showed interest and empathy for her surroundings and community from a young age. Since the age of 14, she has volunteered for environmental care in her home country, such as cleaning the Agua Volcano Crater and underwater cleaning of Lake Petén Itzá, among others. She holds academic degrees as a Preschool Teacher since 2000. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the ENAP Rafael Rodríguez Padilla National School of Fine Arts in 2007 and a Bachelor's in Clinical Psychology from Mariano Gálvez University of Guatemala.
She has teaching experience in preschool, elementary, and secondary schools. She is the co-creator of "SanArte," an art therapy collective for women. She also founded the virtual pandemic project "Art and Emotion Management for Children." She has lived in Mahahual, Quintana Roo, Mexico, since 2021. She has participated in volunteer beach cleanups and turtle monitoring. In this same town, she carried out a collective wellness program for women in 2024 called “Women's Laboratory.” Co-creator of “La Caracola, Permaculture, Art and Parenting”. As its name suggests, it is a parenting community with an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach that promotes environmental education among families in the community through art, a traveling library, and sports activities. Sports can be a safe and peaceful place, possible through community play, providing emotional support and guidance to families. She is currently participating in the Sargastream project, contributing creative and didactic ideas to the team in co-creating educational materials on Sargassum for implementation in secondary schools in Mexico and collaborating on the artwork for the guides that will be introduced to the Mexican educational community.