Mercedes Duchicela
Ph.D. Student, University of Texas at Austin (Advertising). MPH, Texas A & M University (Health Management and Policy). B.A. Lawrence University (Spanish/International Studies). She has a marketing experience as Product Manager in a Unilever Licensee in Ecuador. After several years in the business sector, she made a career transition to the Nonprofit Sector. She worked a decade in the development and indigenous affairs field with CARE International in Ecuador and the Government of Ecuador. This led to use community participatory techniques, and to monitor and evaluate changes in behavior and practices. Mercedes worked closely with private donors and development agencies such as USAID and the Government of Netherlands. Since 2005, she has been involved with the USA Center for Rural Emergency Preparedness, developing and facilitating emergency preparedness training workshops for promotores /community health workers in the Texas-Mexico Border. Her main research interests are evidence-based research in Nonprofit Marketing , including the relationship of branding social causes, corporate social responsibility and social policy making, community- based motivations for social engagement, persuasion tools for media advocacy, and mobilization techniques for nonprofit organizations.