Mari Ullmann

Background

About Mari Ullmann

Dynamic leader and network-weaver with a track record of building successful programs, partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives in education, early childhood development (ECD)/ nurturing care, protection, and parenting, focusing on crisis-affected contexts. I have extensive experience in domestic and international policy, advocacy, and diplomacy promoting the rights of all children and youth to quality education, care, and meaningful participation in decision-making. I’m particularly interested in the impacts of migration, humanitarian crisis, and forced displacement on children, youth, and their families. On the personal side, I’m a proud survivor and cycle-breaker on a journey to uncover my family history following centuries of colonial rule and erasure. As a first-generation American born to Puerto Rican parents, my diverse ancestry includes indigenous Caribbean peoples admixed with enslaved Africans trafficked to the Americas. I’m proud to be living proof that the indigenous communities of the Greater Antilles were not extinguished by European colonizers as once declared, but live on through their modern-day descendants. I’m working to learn more about my ancestral history by documenting stories and poetry written by my own kin, including a Boricua magician, poet, and wandering troubadour who spread news and folk songs orally, from village to village, across the island’s rural interior.