Mariana Ortiz
ECHO, YMHFA- Biography
Mariana is a Georgia State University Psychology student with a double minor in sociology and Spanish. Mariana works as a Diversity Fellow at the Center for Leadership in Disability in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. She was also a GaLEND (Leadership in Education and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities) fellow for the 2018-2019 school year as a family advocate. Mariana has a younger sister with a developmental disability and hopes to continue to help others like her sister. She has had experience working with Latinx families through her work at the Marcus Autism Center in the Educational Sciences Research Center. During her time at the Marcus Autism Center, Mariana worked in the CITAS program, a support group for the Latina mothers of children with autism, and she also translated materials and resources for Marcus. Mariana has worked with Brenda Liz Muñoz at the Latino Community of Practice in the Center for Leadership in Disability to engage Latinx families to learn more about resources for their children with developmental disabilities. Mariana is also one of three certified bilingual Youth Mental Health First Aid instructors and has helped to facilitate mental health awareness training in English and Spanish in Georgia. She was awarded Georgia State University’s Royal Flame Leadership Award and Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.’s Principles Award and Campus Leader of the Year Award in 2020 for her work in advocacy on behalf of the Latinx community.