Mariana Cortés Espinoza, Digi Mart USA News (Tamaulipas, Mexico): Mariana Cortés Espinoza, a graduate of the Faculty of Commerce and Administration of Tampico (FCAT), presented her entrepreneurial project focused on making traditional Tamaulipas clothing at the UAT Book Fair. The initiative combines the business and administrative knowledge she gained in university classrooms with her lifelong passion for dance.
As part of the UAT Book Fair’s cultural activities, Cortés Espinoza shared her success story with the university community. The project began from an artistic need and now promotes the traditional Tamaulipas campero costume in several parts of Mexico and the United States.
Her involvement with the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) began in childhood, initially through the performing arts. After joining the Jazz UAT group under the direction of teacher Lupita Ruiz Ortiz, where she developed skills in jazz, urban dance and hip hop, she moved into Mexican folklore during her high school years, building a close relationship with traditional expressions.
Her entry into design and sewing came after the COVID-19 pandemic, motivated by her own experience as a dancer and the need for high-quality stage costumes. What began as a personal effort grew into a formal business specializing in the traditional Tamaulipas campero costume, inspired by the emblematic traditional cuera worn in performances of huapango from the southern zone of the state.
The young designer highlighted the distinctive features of her garments, including the use of grecas, traditional ornaments known as “barbas,” and a wide range of colors that celebrate Tamaulipas cultural heritage. She also acknowledged the fundamental support of the UAT, both through the academic foundation of her degree at the Faculty of Commerce and Administration of Tampico and through professors who guided her through the formal registration of her brand.
Thanks to the strength of her project, her creations have crossed local and national borders, being sold in states ranging from Baja California to Quintana Roo, as well as in various locations in the United States. Alongside her business work, Cortés Espinoza maintains an internationally recognized dance career.
Together with her group, she has represented Mexico at festivals and competitions in Turkey, Romania, Kosovo and Croatia, earning a notable second place in a competition held in Kosovo.
At the close of her participation in the UAT Book Fair, the graduate expressed her deep pride in representing Tampico, Tamaulipas and her alma mater on international stages, reaffirming her commitment to continue promoting Mexican roots through art and the creative industry.
Through these gatherings, the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas reaffirms its mission to foster talent, entrepreneurial spirit and the preservation of cultural identity among its students and graduates.
