Our team
Mora Fernández
Founder and CEO
Mora Fernández is an artivist, survivor, consultant, and advocate for survivors of sexual and domestic violence dedicated to fighting to end child sexual abuse. She is the Founder and CEO of La Casa Mandarina AC where she created the first Sexual Violence Advocacy Program in Mexico City. As a survivor of sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation in her childhood, Mora has dedicated her personal and professional life to advocate for women and children from the most vulnerable communities. She has worked hard to give voice to victims by using her leadership position and her testimony as a survivor to break the silence of this epidemic. For 21 years, Mora has worked, nationally and internationally, creating innovative care and prevention projects dedicated to promoting nonviolence and the rights of children, women, indigenous communities and undocumented immigrants in a variety of diverse contexts and communities She has also worked with key decision-makers, partners and stakeholders of all kinds –from grassroots organizations to state ministers-international agencies, NGO´s and feminist groups and networks. Mora combines her work with her passion for cultural diversity while traveling around the world facilitating workshops and lectures on the use of ARTivism to heal trauma and create a social transformation. Since 2014, Mora is a member of FORCE: upsetting rape culture a Baltimorean art collective best known for the Monument Quilt, a collection of 3000+ quilt squares with stories from survivors of sexual and domestic violence displayed 50 times in 34 different cities of the United States and Mexico. Mora also co-stars and co-produces Secret Survivors México: using the theater to break the silence a performance presenting six survivors of child sexual abuse telling their own story on the stage. In 2018, Mora was awarded the Honorable Mention of the Hermila Galindo Award 2018 granted by the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City for her work and career as an advocate for women and girls. In 2014, she was awarded for her fight for rights of women and children in New York and India. Mora received her master’s degree in International Cooperation and Social Development from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain and a bachelor's degree in Social Communications from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City -Academic Excellence Award-. Mora has specialized in sexual and domestic violence in New York City where, from 2013 to 2018, she was a co-leader of Project Envision NYCn a collective aimed at preventing sexual violence. Mora is an extremely passionate traveler, an amateur sculptor and an excellent dancer born in Mexico City but a citizen of the world. She loves coffee, trees and butterflies, watches soccer and plays domino. She is a fan of Mafalda and The Little Prince. Her dream is to travel around Mexico riding in a 1970 Kombi, listening to Janis Joplin, Bebe and Café Tacuba with her ingenious nephew, her creative niece and Justino José, her crazy little service dog. Mora is obssessed with maps.
Erika Urueta
Director of Care
Erika (she/hers) is a psychotherapist graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2002, she has collaborated with diverse institutions dedicated to ending sexual and gender-based violence. She is the Director of Care at La Casa Mandarina AC an independent and itinerant Mexican non-profit organization devoted to end sexual violence, break the silence and heal trauma through ARTivism. Her goal is building a more just and peaceful society. Since 2003, she has devoted to her private practice providing psychotherapy to women survivors of sexual abuse and, in 2009, she focused her work on the most vulnerable population, which are children. In 2006, she extended her private practice to hospitals providing psychotherapy and working with an interdisciplinary health team. Erika is a speaker and facilitator on prevention and detection of child sexual abuse, trauma, crisis intervention, sexual, domestic and dating violence around Mexico. Her work has been highly satisfactory as she has witnessed the positive evolution and improvement of the quality of life of the people she serves.
Amyra Lira
Director of Advocacy
Amy (she/her) is an actress, artivist, survivor, teacher, and advocate for victims of sexual and domestic violence. She is the Director of Advocacy at La Casa Mandarina AC an independent and itinerant Mexican non-profit organization devoted to end sexual violence, break the silence and heal trauma through ARTivism. Amy combines her artistic work with activism in different feminist collectives. She has also been trained, nationally and internationally, with experts in the field of gender and sexual violence. Amy graduated from the Diego Rivera Art Education Center specializing in Dance and has a bachelor’s degree on Acting by the National School of Theater Art (ENAT). She has facilitated workshops on sexual and gender violence such as: "Sexual Violence in the Theater" for Las Reinas Chulas AC; “When telling the truth is not enough La Casa Mandarina and our fight against sexual violence” at the LILHA & Transversal cross-sectional meeting for gender equality; "Sexual violence" at the Violence and Child Sexual Abuse "From the wound" Conference by Delirio Teatro. She is member of the Mexican Women Theater League where she advocates for survivors of gender violence in the Mexican theater. She is a teacher and acting coach for children at the Niños Actores Studio School, directed by Margarita Mandoki. Amy is currently a co-producer and actress at Las Diablas Cabaret Company.
Wen Quintanar
Director of Art and Design
Wen (she/hers) is a Graphic Designer born in Mexico City. She studied at the University of the Valley of Mexico and has a master’s degree in "Design Applied to Communication" from the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain). She has studies in Public Image at the College of Public Image. She is the Director of Art and Design at La Casa Mandarina AC an independent and itinerant Mexican non-profit organization devoted to end sexual violence, break the silence and heal trauma through ARTivism. Wen is part of the advisory team for sexual violence advocacy cases. Her professional life has been linked to photography and theater, participating for more than 10 years in the production and advertising editorial design, as well as in the creation of posters, hand programs and photography of various theatrical productions. In 2009, Wen founded her own company Sofá Rojo Publicidad, where she is the Creative Director. From 2011 to 2020 she was a teacher of the Modeling and Personal Marketing classes for the Bachelor of Acting at the University of London.