Mario, a radical optimist, community organizer, and happiness prankster, grew up next to an active volcano in Pasto, Colombia. In 2004 he left Colombia, moved to Boston, and learned English while waiting tables, parking cars, and teaching salsa lessons. A few years of hard work and good faith resulted in a Master’s degree from Columbia University. He has held several positions on Wall Street, worked as an energy consultant in Boston, and organized anti-corruption programs in Colombia.Today, Mario is considered an international ambassador for happiness who has spread smiles across three continents and swapped stories with politicians, former guerrilla combatants, and countless community leaders. His work with Make it Happy has touched millions of lives in the private and public sectors. Mario has presented at TEDx events internationally, given a talk at Google Headquarters, spoken before a U.N. panel on happiness, built workshops for socially conscious corporations, coordinated major grassroots activations in the streets of cities worldwide, and mobilized student groups and universities around the globe.As of today, Mario's initiatives have touched the lives of 20 million people and have generated 90 million media impressions in 33 countries.