Senior Program Coordinator

Maria Alejandra Silva Ortega is a senior program coordinator at IWMF, where she supports the IWMF’s physical and digital safety initiatives, including Hostile Environment Trainings, safety webinars, The Coalition Against Online Abuse and more. When Maria Alejandra is not at IWMF, she enjoys cooking, taking Strength classes and playing with her kittens.

Maria Alejandra and her family fled Colombia in 2000 to escape conflict-related violence, which makes her passionate about working towards achieving more peace in Latin America. She believes that ensuring a free and representative press is important to achieving this goal, which is why she joined the IWMF in January 2019. Before this, Maria Alejandra interned for the Washington Office on Latin America and worked as a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

Maria Alejandra Holds a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution from the George Washington University. She is an Enosinian Scholar and is fluent in Spanish and French.