Angélica Cuevas-Guarnizo
I am a social researcher, journalist, strategic communicator, educator and curator based in New York. I am a communications expert in social justice, the climate crisis, historical memory, the enhancement of indigenous knowledge and the intricate connections between plants and humans. I am a Fulbright alumnus with an M.A. in anthropology and design from The New School.
I have consistently charted innovative pathways throughout my career, leveraging methodologies such as Transmedia & Digital Storytelling and Design Lead Research Methods. These tools have allowed me to develop impactful human rights communications strategies and campaigns. I orchestrate public space interventions, facilitate educational initiatives, and lead transnational level activists and journalistic collaborations to address complex issues like the Colombian Armed Conflict, Climate Crisis, migration and refugee realities, social movements, and protests.
I've held pivotal roles, including serving as the head of the communications office at the Dejusticia Center for Social Studies in Colombia. I transformed a conventional communications office into a dynamic laboratory for pioneering communication strategies to catalyze social change. Additionally, I co-created "Relatos Anfibios," the first narrative podcast by an NGO in Colombia. In 2019, we received the Simon Bolivar Award—widely considered the most prestigious journalism distinction in Colombia—for the episode "La Masacre Invisible."
My background includes being a senior reporter and co-editor of environmental issues at El Espectador newspaper and a part-time professor of Journalism and Innovation at the Communications Department of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. My work has reached prominent media outlets such as El Espectador, Vice News, El Tiempo, Bacánika Magazine, Mutante and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP).
In the U.S., I contributed as a Communications Consultant for the Shipibo Conibo Center in Harlem, NY. I've served as a Research Assistant at the Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab (DESIS Lab) at Parsons School of Design (NYC) and the Fashion Department of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC. In 2019, I also interned at the ACLU's Communications and Social Engagement office in NYC.
My interest in innovative storytelling led to my selection as a fellow and grantee of pivotal organizations promoting quality journalism, such as the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in Washington DC and the esteemed Gabo Foundation for Journalism, established by Gabriel García Márquez in Colombia.
In 2023, I was invited by Canal Projects, a contemporary art institution in Manhattan, for a research residency along with my group, Liana Collective. We facilitated discussions and interactions around sacred and healing plants between artists, Indigenous sabedores, local communities, and researchers from New York City and Latin America.
In November 2024, as part of Liana’s work, we opened the first exhibition at the UN Headquarters in New York, focusing on destigmatizing the coca plant and vindicating its traditional uses. Check my work here.
