Mariela Noles Cotito is a professor of Political Science and Discrimination and Public Policies in the Department of Social and Political Sciences of Universidad del Pacífico. She holds an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania, a MA in Latin American Studies, and a MA in Political Science with a concentration in Ethnicity in Andean Countries from the University of South Florida. Her research portfolio includes human rights, gender equality and non-discrimination, as well as the analysis of public inclusion policies in the country. More recently, she has focused on ethnicity policies in Latin America and legislation that promotes the rights of Afro-descendant populations in the region. Her latest publications include the edited volume Reflections on Peru (2022), the chapter "Race, Gender, Class and Public Policies in Latin America and Andean countries" in the Routledge Handbook of Urban Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean: Cities, Urban Processes, and Policies, the chapter “A historical, socio-political and discourse approach to the emerging field of Afroperuvian Studies” in the Routledge Handbook of Afro Latin American Studies, the chapter “The path to Black citizenship in Peru: Ethno-racial legislation and the political recognition of Afrodescendants in the country” (2021) in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latin American Politics, and the article “Disability in Emergency. An Approach to the measures adopted by the Peruvian State against the Pandemic” (2020), in the legal magazine Ius Et Veritas; as well as the edited volume Peru in the 21st Century: Progress, Trends and Challenges, published in the United States in 2020. Her experience with civil society extends to her time as Director of Development Projects of the NGO Makungu para el Desarrollo, and her collaboration with different institutions of the Afro-Peruvian movement, as well as the program for Peru of Plan Parenthood Federation of America and the Office of United Nations of the Baha'i Community International. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the NGO Presente, of the WILA Association (Women in Law) and of Heroínas Peruanas. Her government experience includes having been part of the technical team of the General Directorate of Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables, and of the Dirección de Políticas para Población Afroperuana of Ministerio de Cultura, as well as coordinator of all issues of diversity and inclusion in the Gerencia de la Mujer e Igualdad of Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima.(Management of Women and Equality of the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima). In addition, she served as a member of the Court of Honor of the Electoral Ethics Pact for the 2021 General Elections, and the 2022 Municipal and Regional Elections; as well as in the National Cultural Advisory Commission.