Victoria L Martinez
Victoria L. Martinez is a shamanic entrepreneur, writer and artist. Her ancestors
are aboriginal to the Americas. Her maternal line is the second oldest on the planet.
Her maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather taught her the ancestral indigenous
ways of her heritage. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Zacatecas,
Mexico.
A graduate of Pomona College, she studied democratically-elected, social governments
throughout the Americas and their work to maintain their natural resources. She
became fluent in Spanish, French and Portuguese. She lived in Mexico and Brazil
to learn more about indigenous wisdom.
Her indigenous teachers are many. She first encountered Carlos Castaneda and studied
his writings after he was a guest lecturer at Pomona. A few years later she met
and was taught Native American symbolism from Twylah Nitsch, Hyemeyohsts Storm and
Lynn V. Andrews. She continued her studies through their writings as well as the
writings of Jamie Sams, Florinda Donner and Taisha Abelar.
A passionate futurist she embraces the ideal of the “Children’s Fire”, the preservation
of Grandmother Earth and the commons for future generations. She acknowledges the
importance of learning about tradition but sees that reinterpretation of ritual
and ceremony keeps “spirit” alive for each person’s walk through life.
Victoria holds an MBA from UCLA. She studied systems thinking and high technology
when they were nascent programs and found the intersection of the two, along with
ideas born from quantum physics, fascinating.
As an educator, Victoria worked primarily in poor and immigrant communities in California
and Oregon. She specialized in professional training development, mathematics literacy,
criterion referenced test development and second language acquisition. As a school
administrator, she specialized in academic school improvement, parent involvement
and community culture. Currently, she teaches graduate students in cultural diversity
and school improvement issues for Portland State University in Oregon. Using her
blog platform, she teaches about the feminine truths from her indigenous heritage.
Her writing advocates for creative and divergent thought. Her blog relates Indigenous
wisdom from the Americas and beyond to consider its practical application for a
balanced future. Her workbook, The White Bear Medicine Wheel, helps individuals
construct an integrated, focused and meaningful narrative for their lives. Her Young
Adult series weaves cultural, political and spiritual dimensions of the natural
gifts and potential of the feminine.
Victoria’s paintings and linoleum cut designs are colorful abstract narratives about
her Indigenous cultural heritage.
An entrepreneur, she founded a company that is in the business of crafting stories
for individuals and businesses. The company utilizes the tools of education, business-process
design and media production. One of the innovations of the company is its non-linear
approach to mapping out objectives to realized outcomes and its focus on structured
balance.
Convinced that the art of synthesizing multi-disciplinary fields is the new technology,
she passionately works for balance and social justice on our planet.