Mariana Cortés Espinoza, Digi Mart USA News: A graduate of the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) has built a business around the traditional Tamaulipas folk costume, combining the administrative and business knowledge she gained in university classrooms with a lifelong passion for dance. The initiative has expanded its creations to several states in Mexico and to locations abroad.
Speaking during cultural activities at the UAT Book Fair, Cortés Espinoza shared her success story with the university community. Her project began from an artistic need and now promotes the tradicional campero costume from Tamaulipas in various parts of Mexico and the United States.
Her connection to the 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 followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivated by her own experience as a dancer and the need for high-quality stage clothing, what began as a personal effort grew into a formal enterprise specializing in the traditional Tamaulipas campero costume, inspired by the iconic traditional cuera worn for huapango in the southern zone of the state.
The young designer highlighted the distinctive features of her garments, which include the use of grecas, traditional ornaments known as “barbas” and a wide color palette that celebrates the cultural heritage of Tamaulipas. She also credited the support of the UAT, both for the formative foundation of her studies at the Faculty of Commerce and Administration in Tampico and for guidance from professors who helped her with the formal registration of her brand.
Thanks to the strength of her project, her creations have crossed local and national borders, sold in states ranging from Baja California to Quintana Roo, as well as in various locations in the United States. Alongside her business activities, Cortés Espinoza maintains an international dance career.
Together with her group, she has represented Mexico at festivals and competitions in Turkey, Romania, Kosovo and Croatia, earning a second-place finish at 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 stages around the world, reaffirming her commitment to continue promoting Mexican roots through art and the creative industry. Through spaces such as this, the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas reinforces its mission to foster talent, entrepreneurial spirit and the preservation of cultural identity among its students and graduates.
