Estela Román,
Estela Román has a Master's degree in International Peace Studies from the International Institute for Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where she was granted a full-time scholarship as a peace scholar due to her work in the community and her outstanding academic achievement. In addition she majored in Sociology at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). Ms. Román received training to teach Spanish as a second language and English as a foreign language, has been trained in holistic medicine, expanded use of massage techniques: acupuncture, Chinese medical philosophy, and basic first aid. Her experience in the field of herbal preparation includes: community health work, organic agriculture: organization and skill building as well as project and proposal writing. She has trained several health workers to provide basic healthcare services using traditional methods in her community of Temixco, Morelos.
Ms. Román comes from a large and simple agriculture family, that is rich in customs and traditions. She has played a key role in promoting the different practices of traditional healing and has had an active participation in her community the teaching of women and children in the different aspects of health, the environment, as well as traditional customs and practices. Her grandmother and other relatives were well known for practicing traditional methods of healing using techniques of massage, herbal medicine, and spiritual purification or “limpias.” She continues to look for best practices and techniques to improve her work and apply her knowledge in her community as well as the places where she has been invited. Ms. Román practices and promotes traditional healing as a way of life and discipline; she believes in formal education only if it is combined with practical experience. Ms. Román loves the arts and aspires to be able to transmit her knowledge and inspire others to live in a healthy world where tolerance, love, mutual respect, and justice are fundamental principles of human life.
Ms. Román's commitment to personal and community empowerment continues through her work as an educator. Currently she is the Director of the International Center for Cultural and Language Studies in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Ms. Román also teaches ecology and indigenous philosophy for the College of Saint Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota and has given lectures and classes in sociology, ancestral medicine, Mesoamerican herbal healing, indigenous cosmology, cultural rights, English and Spanish at a broad spectrum of conferences, workshops, colleges, institutions, universities and other groups in a number of countries including Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Bolivia. She has traveled all throughout Mexico, Latin America and recentley India and Thailand, where she expanded her knowledge and commitment to work with the disadvantaged.
Estela Román is recognized in her community as a teacher, a healer, a social worker, and a lawyer. She recognizes herself as a citizen that tries to do what everybody should to live in peace and harmony.