Maria José Sanchez Varela Barajas
b. Philosophy

María José Sanchez-Varela Barajas is a mexican philosopher, dancer and entrepreneur. She has a concentrated interdisciplinary work portfolio and publications in the field of artistic embodied experience and phenomenology grounded in the philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. She started dancing at the age of 5 and was part of the acclaimed national dance company Las Cabales, graduating as a ballet and flamenco dance performer-teacher and remains a consultant for the same dance company internationally.

Maria José has a bachelor's degree in philosophy and social science and multiple courses and studies in speculative futures and innovation for startups. In early 2014 Maria co-founded her first company, Culturista, a digital culture, and tourism startup, this innovative proposal continuing its mission to research the future of intelligent cities and the interrelationship of how we cohabit spaces. In 2016, she led the successful bid of Guadalajara as UNESCO city of Media Arts, involving a unique collaboration across academia, industry, governance, and citizens.

Maria José is a lecture professor at Tec de Monterrey University and an international visiting professor at ITESO University and also mentors emerging entrepreneurs at several other Universities across Mexico. Maria José is co-founder and representative in Latin America of the Australian company Art Thinking. In 2020 she was the producer and head of the Ars Electronica Garden TECH-ila.

Since mid-2021 Maria José has been based in Newcastle, Australia.