Today we’d like to introduce you to Alondra Jazmín Fraustro Cardiel.
Hi Alondra, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Alondra Fraustro, a young Mexican scientist with a big passion who obtained a degree in Parasitological Bacteriology Chemistry and is currently working as a science communicator and environmental educator. My goal is to inspire the people to make a true change on the planet, especially to children.
I identified different problems in my city as I was growing and thanks to this, decided to create “Ciencia Mágica”, a company focused on raising awareness of the importance and benefits of science and environmental care in an easy-to-understand way.
My persistence, creativity, and hard work helped me to represent my country several times: 2020 was lucky to win the UNCCD Land Heroes award by presenting educational kits for orchards at home; I was a speaker on the TEDXUANL Women 2020 edition talking about environmental education; in 2021 was selected on the Youth Awards 2030 edition “Global Leaders”.
I started ECOBIORES, an innovative biotech company committed to the environment by replacing the current plastic oil-based products with fruit wasted based organic products focusing on the paper industry. Participated in: “Voces que Inspiran” contest by P&G and Vital Voices, one of the best innovative ideas from the WEF, Heineken Green Challenge and BIOFASE company contest.
Since I started public speaking when I was 14 years old, realized the importance of sharing scientific knowledge and environmental care to the people, we need to cultivate curiosity and trust about science in our kids, inspire them to study scientific degrees and help girls to have more opportunities, I am confident that empowering women can save the planet.
I am committed to complying with the global sustainable development goals, for example, Climate Action and Quality Education. I am convinced that is necessary to guarantee inclusive and equitable education promoting STEM and environmental practices.
I would love to demonstrate how small changes could create big impact on the planet, we are not alone, tons of people around the think same and are acting to take care of the planet; climate change is not something too far away from us and is time to help each other to save us.
Scientific research is a powerful tool to find solutions to major environmental problems, we just need to start with one idea. I don’t want to keep scientific knowledge stored in a lab, our ideas and discoveries can make a positive impact on society, to improve our lives and the planet.
Since 2019, Ciencia Mágica has shared 400 conferences, courses and workshops (face-to-face and online) benefiting more than 50,000 people. On Facebook, we have around 142,000 followers with an average range of 45,000 people reached with social media publications and a maximum of 33 million views with a single video.
We have collaborated with 150 different entrepreneurs and young leaders who have shared their experiences, products and startups to the people; inspiring them to learn more about science and contribute against climate change.
Just last year, I collaborated on 50 interviews with different cities in Mexico and other countries (like USA, Germany, Chile, Colombia, Argentina) sharing my career as an environmental leader and STEM woman.
Participating in environmental campaigns: 100 native trees have been planted, 88 tons of organic wastes and 42 tons of inorganic wastes have been collected for recycling purposes or to transform into ECOBIORES products, 3700 eco-bricks created to build poor people’s houses; thanks to this, more than 25000 people have learned about recollection and recycling generating a positive impact in our ecosystem.
In the future, we want to reduce millions of garbage tons annually produced from plastic products that will be replaced by ECOBIORES products.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This hasn’t been an easy road, every day I face new challenges, it has been a complicated road. In the beginning, it’s difficult to captivate the people and they start looking at your project, to ask for the opportunity to talk in public or do some conferences or workshops, and even more challenging to make money with this, especially in my country where there are so many gaps in science and gender equality.
There have been moments that don’t seem easy cause you need to prepare new digital content, search for ways to make money and at the same time investigate how to reach more people.
Many times, the doors have been closed to me and my project, many times people have asked me if this is something I will continue doing, there have been a lot of stressful moments, days where I barely sleep or eat.
Science is not an easy way, there are too many problems and so little support, people normally don’t understand about scientific topics, people like what science gives them, but not the questions that science asks.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Ciencia Mágica?
As an environmental leader, in “Ciencia Mágica”, participate in conferences and activities, and create original scientific content to teach people how to care for the environment and learn from science. Also, work in synergy with other entrepreneurs, startups, and women in STEM to promote their work and inspire people and make a better world together.
By participating in different activities (recycling campaigns, ecological exchanges, street cleaning campaigns, collecting cigarette butts) we are reducing the waste that usually ends on streets, rivers, parks or even sea, minimizing our carbon footprint.
With entrepreneurship, created a homemade kit with 100% innovative degradable materials that helps family, even on marginal areas, to grow their own vegetables benefiting from better nutrition and contains a book that explains everything you to create the orchard, at the same time, teaches about climate change and science awakening their scientific curiosity.
ECOBIORES take advantage of the fruit waste to create these innovative biomaterials, reducing the pollution that these residues usually cause and creating a circular economy.
We are currently working to bring science campaigns to schools and remote communities, work together with local authorities and private companies to enhance our current impact and generate important and lasting changes in society.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The TV show “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan has been a huge inspiration for me, it helps me to keep doing what I do, the movie “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” is one of my favorite ones, it’s a big example of how the dream may come true. One of my favorites book “Women in science 50 Fearless Pioneers who changed the world” have allowed me to meet other great scientists who despite all the challenges they had, they were able to make history, this books highlight the contributions and the importance of these in different fields (science, technology, engineer, maths). Finally, I love to listen to the TEDx talks, this has helped me to learn more about how to speak in public and captivate the public, how to share my message with the public and finally to learn about new topics.
Contact Info:
- Email: cienciamagica212@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciencia.magica/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seelcientificoquellevasdentro/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagicaCiencia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgZZvo2_d3mLq0fuwvLA3w
