BIOGRAPHY OF CECILIA DOMEYKO
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE MARIPOSA CULTURAL FOUNDATION
Cecilia Domeyko created the Mariposa Cultural Foundation in 2002 in the Washington, D.C. area. The Foundation is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and has the mission of educating the public through the media about human rights, and the right of women, children, indigenous people and the environment.
The Foundation has been the conduit for a wide variety of projects related to education and the arts, which have helped to further its mission. Currently, the Mariposa Cultural Foundation’s headquarters are located in Washington, DC, and the Foundation has Chapters in Mexico City, and Santiago, Chile.
Cecilia Domeyko is also the President of Accent Media Productions, a company she created in 1988, and which has produced a wide range of film, television and radio programs, as well as national public service campaigns, many focusing on social issues. The programs have earned dozens of awards, and have been aired nationally in the U.S. and internationally on networks on five continents.
Ms. Domeyko began her career in journalism after receiving her B.A. in Communications at the Catholic University of Chile, writing for prestigious magazines and conducting a news program on Channel 13 of Chile. In the U.S., she received an MA in Film and Television at the American University in Washington, DC, and worked as an on-camera reporter and producer for the U.S. Government, and at Univision-TV, covering the White House and Capitol Hill. For seven years she was the host of Revista, a bilingual talk show on WJLA, the local ABC station in Washington, DC. She has also worked as on on-camera host and anchor for Channel 13 of Chile; NBC; 24-Horas of Colombia; and EWTN, the Catholic Church’s worldwide television network.
Her award-winning telenovelas, starring Latino talent, produced as part of a national public service for the Catholic Communication Campaign and entitled “La Familia Unida” appear regularly on Spanish language networks Univision, Telemundo and Televisa in the U.S. and on Spanish CNN in 23 Latin American countries. The 60 second programs are written by Cecilia in the telenovela style so popular with Latino audiences, and talk about important social issues, including discrimination, drugs and gangs, domestic violence, and AIDS, while imparting a message of love and hope.
Her works on women leaders, artists, and musicians have appeared on WETA-TV (PBS), the Discovery Channel, and Univision. Her independent documentary “Cuba Mia” about an all-woman chamber orchestra in Havana premiered on PBS stations WNET and WBGH in 2003, and is now airing nationally on PBS. The documentary has also aired on public television stations in France, Iceland, Australia and Finland. Her documentaries on education, produced in Uganda and Chile for the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development, have aired on over 100 stations worldwide.
Cecilia Domeyko’s work has won international acclaim, earning more than 60 awards at major U.S. film festivals, including the Cine Golden Eagle, the Gabriel, the Telly and the National Educational Media Network Awards. Internationally, she was the recipient of the Silver Award at the Hamburg International Film Festival in Germany, and in 2007 won the National Award at the In-Edit Musical Film Festival in Santiago, Chile.
Cecilia continues her work in film and television while presiding over the Mariposa Cultural Foundation. In the past decade, the Foundation has enabled the production of films that have focused on human rights and democracy, women’s rights, and on films highlighting the importance of art and culture in Latin America and the U.S.
Recently, the Foundation expanded its outreach programs by sponsoring tours of Mexican schoolchildren to Washington, DC and New York so that the children may gain a greater understanding of freedom and democracy through visits of historical landmarks. The Foundation will be expanding its reach with tours of other cities in the coming year.