Mafalda Arias, M.A., is an instructor for the IDI Qualifying Seminar and a Qualified Administrator of the IDI. She is the founder of Mafalda Arias and Associates, an organization that coaches organizations and individuals to interact, communicate and manage differences effectively. The company’s innovative training programs help build trust, reduce misunderstandings, leverage diversity and introduce collective empowerment through culture. Mafalda is an advisor with a deep passion for culture.

Prior to founding Mafalda Arias and Associates, she worked for over 18 years in various capacities in private and public companies in the mineral exploration and mining industries in Canada and South America.

Mafalda has a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Relations from the University of the Pacific, California and Intercultural Communication Institute, Oregon. Mafalda has a Bachelor degree in Business Administration, a post-graduate certificate in International Commerce, and is certified in various intercultural assessment tools. Her mother tongue is Spanish and she is proficient in conversational French. Mafalda received the Canadian Institute of Mining 2019 Diversity & Inclusion Award for her exceptional commitment to diversity, inclusion and improving opportunities for women in the mining industry in Canada.

When she is not working, she can be found serving as Director of the Social Practice Forum, and the Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Committee of CIM.