Mariana Pinto

Mariana is a Master’s student in Portuguese with a focus on Brazilian Studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she also serves as a Teaching Assistant in Portuguese. She holds a Graduate Certificate in International Relations and Diplomacy from IBMEC University and a BA in Tourism and Hospitality from Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mariana lived for seven years in the Middle East, two years in Doha and five years in Dubai, where she worked with organizations fostering trade as well as cultural and social ties between Brazil and Arab countries. Her experience in the Gulf region sparked her interest in the historical and contemporary connections between Latin America and the Arab world, particularly in relation to migration, cultural circulation, identity, and transnational exchange.