Mario is an entrepreneur, growth strategist, and movement builder based in Silicon Valley. He loves building social experiments, and growing tech platforms he's passionate about.

Mario grew up next to an active volcano in Pasto, Colombia. In 2004, he left his country, moved to the United States, and learned English while waiting tables, parking cars, and teaching salsa lessons. A fifteen-year hustle brought Mario through Columbia University, Wall Street, the creation of the Int. day of happiness at the U.N., and a stint as the VP of Marketing for the fastest growing messaging app in Internet history. Today, Mario is the Head of Latin America for Coursera, where he is responsible for bringing education to more than 11 million learners in the region he loves.

Mario's cartoon world is one where whimsy and imagination are the norms, where people unite around the things that drive them, and where everyone has the tools they need to do great things.

Building and spreading those tools is Mario's mission. He has used his personal journey to launch social experiments like the AntiMondays dinner series and a happiness movement that reached more than 10 million people around the world.

Over the last eight years, Mario has spoken in more than a dozen countries (US, Colombia, Egypt, Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico, among others) both to large crowds and very small, private groups. He has presented internationally at TEDx events, addressed big companies like Google and the U.N., keynoted conferences like the Retail Industry Leaders Association and Social Media Week. Mario has also lectured at many universities including Columbia, MIT, Harvard, and Yale.

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