Mari D. González, MA

Owner and Founder 

I founded IXMATI with the passion for helping people from different cultures understand each other better.  Upon moving to California from Mexico, I became fascinated by the differences in communication styles, perspectives, customs and norms between Americans and Latinos.  I never thought one culture was better than the other, I simply realized they were different.  I became an amateur anthropologist and was drawn into observing and trying to understand group dynamics.  I majored in Management and Communications at Holy Names University. My favorite course was Cross-Cultural Communication.  I loved it so much that I embarked on a six-year master’s degree journey in Intercultural Relations.  I spent three years doing research on Latinos in the US.  I studied their acculturation, identity, language preferences and culture in marketing, website content and design.

After completing the master’s degree, I began consulting on Hispanic marketing and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on global marketing and social media.  I have designed and conducted intercultural training to address communication challenges related to diversity and am a licensed IDI Qualified Administrator.  I loved teaching cross-cultural communication and discovered that I was at my best when training. Given my love for studying interactions of people with different cultural backgrounds and passion to help them be more effective in their communication, I found my calling—Intercultural Communication Training!

Martha Potts

Translator

Peruvian-born Martha Potts made the United States her home after living in several other countries. She studied Business Administration at the Universidad San Martin de Porres in Peru and was the Executive Secretary to the Presidents for Marubeni Corporation and Japan Oil Company in Peru and Venezuela.

Martha designed a training curriculum, “Do’s and Don’ts of Living in America,” for foreigners coming to work and living in the US. She has worked for Chevron Corporation as a relocation consultant, Spanish tutor, interpreter, and translator.  She is a consultant with the City of Concord and coordinates its Welcome Packet program.

Her time is spent managing sustainable community development programs, providing translation, training, supporting immigrants adapting to a new culture, and being with her husband and two children.

Connie Cobb, MA

Editor 

Connie has degrees in English from UC Berkeley and the University of Colorado. She has taught English in colleges in Alabama and New York and at secondary schools in California and New York.  She joined the technology industry as a technical writer/editor and was employed by several companies in New York and Connecticut. Eventually, she was transferred by CA Technologies (formerly Computer Associates) to its offices in the Bay Area where she remained until retiring.

For 17 years, Connie has volunteered in adult education ESL programs in Oakland and Berkeley. Currently she is tutoring both adults and children in Palo Alto’s ESL program.  She fully appreciates the communication challenges faced by ESL students who have come to the U.S. from all over the globe and has worked with parents and grandparents from Yemen, Bangladesh, Iran, China, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, and Central and South America.

Connie has two adult children and six grandchildren.  Besides her family, Connie’s interests include reading, walking daily, and of course editing!