equipment. She lived a very nonconventional existence during that period, and her stay in that country had a very profound bearing on her personality, strengthening her restless and adventuresome spirit and her natural inclination to explore new cultures. This later brought about world travels, with her acquiring through these a gamut of experiences and a most impressive culture.
The educational development of Mari Paz has led to a great scientific and technical knowledge without diminishing her humanistic capacity. Her basic education was through religious schools. She later completed her studies in Business Administration and worked for major Spanish companies. At the age of 21, Mari Paz received her Cosmetology license just to discover her real vocation was aesthetics. Her attraction to this new world was so great that it went on to fill her entire life through today.
Her initial studies in aesthetics were completed at the prestigious Cristina Sorli Esthetics Education Center of Barcelona. After graduation she continued to expand her knowledge beyond her native Spain traveling through Europe to pursue post-graduate studies. During that period, her interest was sparked by the use of electrical equipment, which at that time was timidly entering our sector. Through her newly acquired knowledge, especially through studies in Italy and Germany, Mari Paz created a program of courses to introduce the fascinating medium of electricity into the professional channel of aesthetics, developing her program through Cristina Sorli W Esthetics Educational Center, converting the same into a pioneer in the new specialty.
The world of aesthetics to Mari Paz is fascinating, moving, and exciting, but there is one area which she is especially attracted… manual techniques. Body care through massage has been and continues to be one of her great vocations. Parallel to her completing and perfecting her program on electrical equipment, Mari Paz began the study of Therapeutic Massage at the Spanish School of Chiromassage, and further simultaneously began and completed a specialty in botany at the Schola Papularis Botanicae… all simultaneously and all in Barcelona.
In 1976, Mari Paz obtained an Industrial Masters Degree in the specialty of aesthetics through the Politecnical Institute El Cabanal of Valencia, Spain, and further had the incredible opportunity to study Manual Lymphatic Drainage as a personal student of Dr. Emil Vodder and his wife Ingrid.
With this extensive educational background, Mari Paz began her spectacular professional journey, accomplishing enormous feats within the realm of education throughout the world:
- She worked as an Instructor of Cristina Sorli Esthetics Educational Center, where in 1975 she became Director of Studies.
- In 1985 she traveled to the U.S. on behalf of a cosmetic manufacturer to train and prepare their staff to launch the importation of their product line.
- With all documentation and examinations approved in Texas, she received an Instructor’s License from Texas Cosmetology Commission as well her permits as a Registered Massage Therapist and Massage Therapy Instructor.
- In 1987 she served as a member of the Esthetics Texas Committee.
- In 1988 she became a member of the National Speakers Bureau, an organization of educators in the U.S. on behalf of which she presented numerous classes for the simple benefit of furthering the journey of aesthetics.
- In 1988 she founded European Massage Therapy Institute, in association with Rosario Garza, as a school of massage therapy approved by then Texas Department of Health.
- Since her arrival in the U.S, Mari Paz has been one of the great pioneers who has contributed immensely to thrust the development of aesthetics and Massage Therapy forward in this country, lending support in education to schools in cities like San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Houston in Texas, as well as in other states like California, Florida, and New York. Ten years later she participated in the Medical Aesthetics Program at Scott & White Memorial Hospital to promote acceptance of Manual Lymphatic Drainage within the medical field.
Her hard work and enormous effort has contributed to the promotion and the introduction of both aesthetics and Therapeutic Massage, which were little known in our country when she arrived.
In 1991, she began her education voyage through various countries:
- Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan where she introduced her first course in Manual Lymphatic Drainage in Asia.
- Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, etc., where she has taught courses in various disciplines always within her specialty of manual techniques like Manual Lymphatic Drainage, Arthromassage, Foot, Hand, Facial and Spinal Reflexology, Myo-modeling Balancing Massage, etc.
In addition, within her endless activity in education, she pursued further movement in the area of research and development of new manual techniques such as Arthromassage and Myo-modeling Balancing Massage, which have made a great contribution to the professional arena and have enormously enhanced the prestige and popularity of Mari Paz.
As an ever-present participant of International Congresses in a range of countries from the U.S. to Canada, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain, she has further collaborated with plastic surgeons, dermatologists, rheumatologists, and chemists, among others.
Mari Paz, in addition to being an incredible educator and researcher, also has commercial “know-how” that makes her an expert business woman. With great wisdom, she has coupled her activity in the area of education with purely commercial activity becoming a one-of-a-kind leader in opening new markets to introduce several leading brands of Spanish products into the U.S. It is no small wonder since at the tender age of eight, she had the innate “know-how” as she negotiated permission from the owners of cabinet shops in her neighborhood to gather their sawdust to convert it into a sellable product as the base to be mixed with oils for floor cleaning in business establishments… now that was unique “know-how” by a restless, energetic young mind.
Today, as she maintains a residence in the U.S, she travels extensively while returning to her origins in the world of aesthetics. She presently continues as an independent “Master Instructor of Instructors,” while serving as the Scientific Advisor to the Cristina Sorli Group of Barcelona, Spain, with whom she has launched a new professional adventure as the author of a book on muscular skeletal anatomy, to be published soon by the Editorial Branch of the Cristina Sorli Group, and which is dedicated to the professionals of aesthetics and massage.
Mari Paz is a part of the founding group of the Hispanic Worldwide Link of Esthetics and Beauty (Enlace Mundial de Estética y Belleza Hispano), an organization whose objective is to carry the education of aesthetics to Spanish-speaking professionals and for which she has been named Ambassadress of Spain. The honors which Mari Paz has received throughout her professional career are many, however there are those of a personal nature of great importance and which produce enormous satisfaction, such as the Silver Crest of the Spanish Group of the European Patronage, as well as her nomination by the Academy of Science and Art. This past year Mari Paz was honored with the trophy of the Hall of Fame of Worldwide Aesthetics.
Mari Paz is a woman with a special personality. She is discrete in her greatness, accessible to all, and generous in sharing her knowledge. She is truly a universal Spaniard who makes all professionals proud to have her as the insignia of our profession.