Ivanna Mía Márquez is a 27-year-old Venezuelan girl with a great passion for social causes. Since she was little, Ivanna felt the need to help others and seek justice, motivated by her mother, Carmen Teresa Márquez, a union leader with an ample background.
Ivanna is a constant and disciplined woman inside and outside the classroom. She is a lawyer and political scientist who graduated with honors from the Universidad del Zulia and the Universidad Rafael Urdaneta. Despite her young age, her résumé is impressive. She has extensively taken part in different political and non-governmental organizations in the country. In the same way, she is a woman with conviction who believes in the vindication of the rights of all citizens of the country, in the restoration of the State apparatus, and women empowerment.
In a few days, Ivanna will take a flight to New York City to start a Master’s in Public Media with a concentration in Strategic Communication at Fordham University. All this is thanks to the opportunity provided by the competitive Fulbright scholarship program, of which Ivanna is deserving thanks to her academic achievements, her extensive experience in national and international volunteering, and her use of art as a means to express and impulse memorialization of the reality that Venezuelans live.
-Tell us a little about your beginnings working for social causes. Since you were little, did you see yourself being an activist?
My mom set a great example for me. She is the fundamental reason that my life has been oriented towards social causes. She is a leader of the Teachers’ union. Seeing this since I was little made me get closer to it and shaped my position regarding injustice, the value of work, empathy, and the ability to excel. But it was not until my irreverent adolescence that I began to inquire about problems that affected the global scene and were not very popular in my locality.
The years went by, and the Venezuelan context became more enveloping: either you took a position or let yourself be carried away by the tide. That was when my true passion for activism arose because I experienced injustices firsthand, and I began to value my environment and desire a better space for everyone.
I started my life as an activist as a volunteer in the endless list of elections that took place in our country. I was a volunteer or logistics coordinator, and even later, one of those volunteering groups became a Foundation: Creo en Venezuela, which brought me closer to those who are now my best friends. Thanks to this connection, we helped each boost our careers at the right time; the Foundation was the common ground in our vision of the country.
Over the years,, I decided to do volunteering outside the country, with the idea of visualizing other people’s contexts and getting the best ideas for my own, always returning to my homeland. I worked on a literacy project for the elderly in Colombia in 2015. I was part of the logistics team for the dispatch of humanitarian aid for 2019 on the border with Brazil, where I was also present in border cities providing care for Pemon indigenous people who were injured as a result of the conflict caused by the access of the aforementioned humanitarian aid. I was also director of communications for a race in Miami in 2019, the purpose of which was to raise funds for orphanages in the country and show a little of Venezuela to those far from home.
-An extensive volunteering work is part of your career. How did you come to this? How were your first experiences? What differences did you perceive concerning volunteering inside and outside of Venezuela? How did you stay motivated over the years?
When 17 years old, I participated in the campaign of the Democratic Unity Roundtable to change the country’s direction. My first job as a volunteer revolved around my first election as a university student: Chávez vs. Capriles in 2012. After that, and under different electoral circumstances, I joined different volunteering organizations, and simultaneously, Creo en Venezuela organized more and more activities. At the same time, I got my first job: a professor invited me to be part of the first office of Ashoka in Maracaibo, a social entrepreneurship NGO looking to get fellows in my city.
Almost in parallel, the protests of 2014 came in, and under the premise of doing what I considered correct, I decided to start organizing the protests in my city. Ven despierta was a social movement that came out of conversations with my friends, while we were studying to get a diploma in peaceful resistance. My role in the protests led me to give my all for what I considered necessary and opened many opportunities for the future.
The scenario changed, and the 2015 elections arrived, Nora Bracho (aspiring deputy of the National Assembly) made me part of her team, which ultimately resulted in her victory, but I no longer felt the same, something did not fit, and everything had to do with the protests of 2014. Seeing unpunished events, violent forces of the State, and the systematic violation of human rights made me an active part of different organizations that promote them: Convite, Transparencia Venezuela, and the most important: CODHEZ. And this is why I stayed engaged over the years, and progressively I became more and more aware of human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis that we are experiencing in the country. What could I do about it? It depended on the organization I was working with at the time. Of course, every time I went out to do volunteering, I felt more reasons to come back and do new things, create and reflect on what I had learned. Never staying static and being extremely persistent was the best motivation for me to continue working in Venezuela for Venezuela..
-You have worked for several Non-Governmental Organizations in the country, but your last experience was born in the middle of the quarantine. How did you start working for Save the Children? How hard is it to work for an NGO in Venezuela in the midst of a global pandemic? Do you feel that the scope of this project could have been greater in the absence of a pandemic?
There’s no doubt the pandemic has touched us all in a challenging way. When I came back from Miami, I had to look for a job in the country, amidst a pandemic context that hit us all equally. I was sure of what I wanted: to get a job in the humanitarian context, which would allow me to continue working for the common wellbeing. I applied to various organizations, but it wasn’t until the interview I did with the Save The Children team that I said: this is mine. After a few weeks I received their approval, they wanted me to be part of the team and they guaranteed my participation in a context that, in particular, fills me in many ways.
Although the experience has not been easy, their work exists. The organization has allowed us for a long time to achieve the objectives of our projects, taking into account any movement of the authorities, decision-making or events that slip out of out control. However, the results are palpable and the relief of the humanitarian crisis is the result of it.
-We know that you are passionate about strategic communications. At what point did you decide that this was the way to go? What are you looking to achieve in this area?
One of my passions since I was a teenager has been visuals: photography, video, photographic composition and performance. On the other hand, in college I did my thesis on discourse analysis and I was able to understand how public communications can get best or the worst result of a society. The trigger: the public and authority figure that addresses people, and the way they do it.
For this reason, and from my experience at Wyz Agency, an agency that helped me grow in matters such as social networks, marketing and client management, I was able to merge my passion for visuals, my college degree and my work. Through this, I want to achieve important changes in groups of people in the future and, if possible, in my country, in order to alleviate the wounded psyche of our people through communications, beyond only mitigating the physical effects of the humanitarian crisis. On the other hand, I hope to be able to generate incidence from my work and that this can persuade decision-making in the public and private sphere of my country and wherever it comes from.
–Besides your passion for social causes, you also feel closely linked to the arts, especially photography. How has your experience been dedicating yourself to photography with a human rights narrative? How do you go about your process to capture realities through your lens? What do you want to convey to people when they see your photographic work?
I always try to reflect my emotions or processes through photographs with a human rights approach, I have never been one of those who prioritize large photographic projects, but I think I always seek to photograph from my heart. Not long ago, in the framework of a workshop on photographic narrative in human rights organized by CODHEZ, I was able to experience resilience, forgetfulness and loneliness as a result of the migration of others and its effects on those of us who remain and live in my city. This experience not only leads me to close cycles, as in other opportunities, but I also consider that it sets a record of what we have experienced, and will lay the foundations to create our historical memory, which I believe, in the future, will also help compensate for the damages caused to our country.
-You are the winner of a Fulbright scholarship and you will soon leave for the United States to continue your studies. How did you get to the Fulbright? Have you always wanted to live an experience like this? Who can apply for these types of opportunities?
During the same pandemic, looking for options for my future, I saw that the Fulbright scholarship opened places for Venezuelans, after a while without granting them. Although for me this scholarship was like a parallel universe for incredible people, I said: why not do it? Let’s apply! A couple of months later I received the pre-selection for the interview phase and a month after this I received the notification that I had not been selected. However, I saw that another call had been opened, so I asked for feedback on my interview and if I could apply again through this other way. Upon receiving the affirmative answer, I wasted no time.
I applied the day before my birthday, and in a very fortunate series of events, an employment opportunity at Save The Children and a Fulbright scholarship arrived at the same time, on October 14, 2020. So yeah, in that moment I believed that I was one of those incredible people who deserved to live the experience, that I longed for and felt so distant. I think that anyone who believes in their moment, and is determined to achieve it, can do so, it depends on whether it is the right time for you.
–Stories like yours motivate us to grow, and give us strength to move forward and transform. What does Ivanna have to say to both young Venezuelans who are migrants or still live the country?
Out context is not easy, we live under the shadow of what they tell us was the reality of our relatives, however, I believe that history will also be proud of us. We are a determined, blunt, irreverent generation that solves problems with its own hands and achieves its objectives. Not only does this represents us as individuals, but it also represents us as a country. Whether you are abroad or within the country, your actions say a lot about us and yourself, take advantage of the situations and do the best you can, that always gives good results, it gave them to me and today I believe in it.
Text and translation: Pascual Díaz
