movies: catalina sandino

Catalina Sandino was born in 1981 in Bogotá. She is an Academy Award-nominated Colombian Actress. Before becoming an actress, she studied advertising at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. She relocated to New York City in 2004, after being discovered at the Rubén Di Pietro acting school in Bogotá. She was recommended to audition for the 2004 film Maria Full of Grace, where she was eventually chosen over 900 girls for the lead role.

Catalina's role in Maria Full of Grace made her the first Colombian to ever be nominated for an Academy Award. She is the 2nd Latin American actress to be nominated. Not only did this role bring her fame. She also met her husband, David Elwell, a motion picture electrician, on the set. They married in 2006 in Cartagena de Indias.

She's been extremely busy since Maria Full of Grace, filming movies such as Journey to the End of the Night, Fast Food Nation, Paris, je t'aime, Heart of the Earth, Love in the Time of Cholera, and The Argentine.

politiks: carolina barco

Carolina Barco is Colombia's ambassador to the United States. She works at the Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1973, Barco received her BA in Sociology and Economics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the same place Hillary Clinton attended. As an undergrad, she studied abroad in Belgium. In 1975, she received a masters degree in city planning from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. If Harvard weren't enough, she went on to obtain her MBA at the Business Institute in Spain. From 1990 to 1991, she was a visiting scholar at her father's Alma mater, MIT.

In 2002, Barco was appointed Foreign Minister of Colombia by President Alvaro Uribe. She served as minister for four years, until she was appointed Ambassador to the United States, replacing former Colombian president, Andres Pastrana Arango in Washington.

In April, Carolina met with Mark Penn, Hilary Clinton's campaign manager and CEO of the PR firm Burson-Marsteller to discuss the bilateral trade agreement that Colombia and the U.S.A are negotiating. Mark Penn resigned from Clinton's campaign as a result, apologizing for meeting with Carolina, calling it an error in judgment. Later that week, the Colombian government fired Burson-Marsteller for the comments, stating that his actions were a "lack of respect to Colombians. We find his response unacceptable."

nina garcia, fashion icon

Colombians like Nina Garcia have become successful icons in American culture. She was born in Barranquilla, Colombia on May 3, 1965. She was the fashion director at Elle magazine, and is slated to start a new position as Fashion Director at Marie Claire Magazine in September. She also judges on the reality television program, Project Runway with Heidi Klum. Her second book will be released this fall. Her first book, The Little Black Book of Style was released last September and was dubbed as one of the four best fashion books in the world of fashion.