Who is She?
Mariana Pereira is an adventurous spirit, nature lover, and hiking enthusiast. She loves traveling, meeting new people, trying new foods, learning about different cultures and ways of living. New experiences move her soul. Mariana quit her job at a Market Research startup in May 2019 and decided to go explore the world and try to figure out her passion. 9 months later, the pandemic stopped her in Colombia, her home country, and she decided to dedicate this time to learn new skills, work on herself and start sharing her experiences with others.
For this reason, she co-created the Podcast “Viajeras y Aventureras”, which tells stories of women traveling solo. This podcast is currently in Spanish only, but she is planning to launch an English version of it in the following months. By 2021, Mariana aims to travel around her country and share more stories. She also enjoys working on multiple projects at once and she is always learning something new: lately, she is very interested in topics related to personal development, social entrepreneurship, and digital marketing.
What makes her special?
She got her inspirations to start a Podcast Show on “Women Solo Traveling” from a random walk, and a talk in a forest with her Mom. Mariana has also crafted a Hobby Festival from talking with some friends who hated their jobs, and felt overwhelmed by loads of work, couldn’t enjoy their lives, or make a change. A very intuitive person who downloads her idea from the surroundings. Now, working on a project to develop a home for holistic experiences by creating a space where like-minded people can come and learn how to nurture their minds, bodies, and souls in relaxing beautiful places in Bogota and its surroundings. She used to tell people she did not want a “normal job”, but instead she wants to be able to work on different projects at the same time.
Read Her Story
Growing up, Mariana used to think that being vulnerable was a bad thing. Therefore, she avoided at all costs putting herself in situations where she could be judged or rejected. She also believed that ignoring her feelings and trying to appear strong and unaltered was what she should aim for. Mariana used to be in her head all the time, overthinking everything and worrying about things that hadn’t happened and most likely would never happen. She had anxiety and did not know how to deal with it. No one had taught her how to understand her emotions and express them. When moved out of Colombia she started questioning many things. One of them was her career.
Mariana thought she had to get a good job in a multinational, climb up the corporate ladder, make a lot of money, and then she would be happy. And everyone around her seemed to think the same. She got “the perfect job” in a Start-up in Boston, where she had all the perks anyone could ask for: unlimited vacations, a cool office full of snacks, she could work from home whenever she wanted and dress how she wanted. But she was not happy and thought there was something wrong with her. She could not understand the point of sacrificing life to make money. In her viewpoint, that was not worth it.
So, Mariana started seeking purpose and meaning by meditating, listening to podcasts, reading self-help books, and doing outdoor sports. For the first time in her life, she started to feel alive and started to understand the importance of acknowledging her feelings. She also understood that money would not make her happy and also realized she could not get through life by herself, that she needed a community around to support her and to feel part of. So, she started looking for one.
The Camino de Santiago 
A Trip in Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
Mariana quit her job and left the USA, flew to Portugal, and walked 300 kilometers in 2 weeks in the Camino de Santiago, shared rooms with 40 people who snored, carrying a backpack all day while her feet were hurting, but still was the happiest she had been in years. She became really good friends with people from different age groups, countries, and backgrounds. That experience taught her that people that are more different from her could teach her more things than people that are like her and that in this way she can become more open-minded and accepting of differences.
“Despite the language, culture, religion, or family we grow up in, we are all humans, we want the same things and have the same fears”
Mariana perreira
Mariana later attended Mindvalley University, where she learned a lot from incredible teachers, allowed herself to be seen, and met amazing people, some of the ones she considers to be her best friends today. She was surprised she created such meaningful relationships in such a short time and realized it was the vulnerability and non-judging environment that allowed these connections to happen so fast. And the community feeling even after the summer ended was amazing. Her biggest takeaways were the learning of the importance of play full out, the importance of having fun, enjoying ourselves, and not taking life too seriously. But the valuable takeaway is that wherever she goes, despite the language, culture, religion, or family we grow up in, we are all humans, we want the same things and have the same fears. The big plus is about the people you meet on the journey.
Read her first story on “AN ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT WALKING THE CAMINO”
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