About me 2021

Hello everyone, My name is Mariana, I was raised in a mixed Mexico-Peru family of small business owners.

When i was a child i wanted to be a writter, then I saw myself as an economist, just to finally change my mind to become a graphic designer

I still want to become a writer, though. I’d still like to understand more about economics, and I haven’t developed yet an approach to visual communication I feel satisfied with.

That is to say, I haven’t achieved anything yet, at least not for the standards of the boomer generation.

Back then, whenever someone asked me what did I do for a living I’d panic for a few seconds and then, with my best poker face, come back with the answer I thought the safest, the one that I thought that would save me the most questions about my career, « well, I’m a graphic designer »

To this day, I still am the Chandler in my group of friends (the character in that ‘Friends’ American sit-com; not sure if this is too much of a pre-millenial cultural reference), that is, the one who no one really knows what he exactly does for a living, nor what life’s about, for that matter, but still the one you always miss when is absent.

“But admit it, Mariana, you must be a mafia-boss, aren’t you? (ahhhh, Mexico and its cultural references 🙂 ).

« it’s better if you know nothing about it, mes chéries, It’d be safer for you »

In short, my reply was basically dodging the questions.

After arriving in France, I had to face the need of writing a CV for the first time ever. Yes, you read it right: for the first time EVER.

Why, you might ask. Well, as I mentioned, I was born and raised in the midst of a family of business owners (or shopkeepers, as you prefer), so I didn’t really make the difference between work and my personal life. There was no line, no clear boundary between work, family life, leisure or even holidays. Life was business and businesses were life, and that’s about it.

Here are some examples:

• December 31st when my dad took us on ‘holidays’ to Peru to harvest his wine-yard, ’cause the field workers, of course, do were on holidays’. Crazy, right?

• That time I took a flight to Shanghai from Mexico city the day just before my birthday, and as the aircraft crossed the international timeline along the Pacific Ocean, I missed it altogether. There was no September 6th that year for me, so I’m stuck being 18  for the last 12 years 🙂

• Those nice early mornings! ‘going to bed’ in someone else’s office in Shanghai, in a MASSIVE wholesale farmers market, just to be on time for a business meeting at 4 am. Why so early? well, why not? Agro-businesses are always managed by hardworking early birds 😀

• That holiday when I spend a month in Brazil by myself because the airline I was supposed to travel back home with had just filed for bankruptcy, and I was the only member of the family who hadn’t brought her American visa (just in case), and it happened that the only flights we were re-directed towards stopped in the States. So I was welcomed by a nice family of lapidaries (stonemasons) who taught me some of their trade, of course, always under supervision. Really, don’t ever try it without knowing what you are dealing with (seriously, my dad lost the tip of his pinky two months ago, after feeling a little adventurous D: ! )

• When I failed maths in high school because I missed my final test because I had to go to Yiwu, Zhejiang, China, to do some whole-sale shopping for our business, but I was still scolded and grounded all the following summer.

• That time my parents had tons of fun at Universal Studios while my brother and I stayed at the hotel dealing with some American clients because ‘we speak good English’ and, on the other hand, the fun doesn’t wait for you 🙂 .

• Our crazy expedition and house-to-house search in Pushkar, India, chasing a scammer supplier who we finally caught calmly having a nap at his place, but who still got away with it playing the fool, or -literally- the mad-man. Battle lost.

• When my sis and I bought 2 full 22 tons containers of Indian furniture because YOLO. You have to diversify your business, don’t you? (sadly, the furniture arrived in Mexico all eaten up by termites)

But my point is not bragging about my « interesting life », though. As I mentioned, I’ve really never felt myself much like that.

My point is that all these experiences, despite their richness in all senses, made me grow inside the feeling that throughout my life, I haven’t actually done anything special, maybe precisely because I’ve tried doing bits of everything. However, building a career has its own rules and needs, and you have to eventually abide, so let me start again:

« I’m a graphic designer with experience in business administration, international trade, digital marketing and e-commerce, looking forwards to immerse herself in the world of data visualizing and communication »

But yet again, Is that who I really am or is that just the goal I’m told I have to pursue?

No, ladies and gentlemen, that’s not what defines me and I’d answer the same a thousand times over. NO.

Because, what I get out of this long inner journey of reflections on life and existence, which, by definition, won’t ever end until life itself does, is that there’s one thing that it is worth committing to: the conviction that there’s no single job, activity, social role or even place in the world that you should let it define yourself. Even less, one that is named with categorized with a two-words, fancy, fashionable anglicism.

So, honestly -but also with all dignity, if I was allowed to write such a CV, I think I’d just say:

This is Mariana Díaz, and I love to learn