Julianne Chandler

MA Poverty and Development, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK
BA Anthropology and Latin American Studies, New York University
Certified Wilderness First Responder since 2007

Julianne’s interest in multi-cultural exchange, and Latin America in particular, was sparked as a young girl when she would accompany her mother on extended trips to Mexico and Central America. Since that time she has lived, worked and studied in several parts of Latin America including Chile, Mexico and Bolivia. In Chile she carried out intensive research on the exploitation of water resources by the copper mining industry in the Atacama Desert, an experience that incited her passion for helping to preserve the environmental and cultural patrimony of indigenous populations in the Americas.

Julianne moved to Bolivia for the first time after college, where she worked with a local NGO on mitigating the impact of natural disasters among Tsimane indigenous populations in the Amazon basin. Her travel later took her elsewhere, leading student trips in Spain and Morocco and eventually carrying out fieldwork on women’s empowerment in a small fishing village in Sri Lanka.

Upon completing her Masters degree in International Development, Julianne felt the pull of Latin America once again. In 2009 she returned to Bolivia where she has built a permanent home and community. First working as the Program Coordinator for the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Cochabamba, she later encountered a Dragons group in a remote corner of the Apolobamba Mountain Range in northeastern Bolivia. She was captivated at once by Dragons’ spirit of adventure, self-discovery, and the opportunity to connect with local communities. Julianne has since led seven Dragons courses in Bolivia and Peru, and has been the Program Director of the Andes & Amazon program since 2012. She has profound respect for the movements and struggles of the Bolivian landscape, and is eager to share that passion with students. Julianne then served as WTBD’s Latin America Program Director for nearly 10 years. She is currently studying journalism with an emphasis on Latin American Studies at NYU.

Raised in Colorado, Julianne is a lover of mountains, photography, yoga and meditation. She lives outside of Cochabamba with her husband, a Bolivian documentary filmmaker, and their young daughter Inara.