Andrea Ballesteros Danel: A Journey of Stories and Roots
- Pabla Yolanda Alvarez
- Oct 12
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 20
There are people with stories, and there are historical figures. The latter we can find in literature, cinema, or in the words of a skilled narrator.
What is fascinating is to meet, in the present, a human being who can tell us their own story with their own voice. Destiny and circumstance have brought us to Andrea Ballesteros Danel.
She tells us that she first visited Australia with her family in 1997. That trip made her fall in love with the country, and she promised herself she would return to stay if the opportunity ever arose.
Leaving her native Mexico, Andrea came back in 2002. Since then, she has walked many paths to grow professionally—as a teacher, storyteller, researcher, and more.
It would take pages to describe Andrea’s extensive and accredited academic career. Beyond the work of the heart—being a mother, a community member, a teacher, a wife, and an entrepreneur—what stands out are the milestones that place her in a praiseworthy position: her persistence and her consistency.
Research
Andrea explored the history of archaeology and pre-Columbian transpacific contacts, building bridges between Latin America and Oceania.
This academic contribution earned her prestigious awards, including the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the AILASA Prize, and the Journal of Pacific History Prize.
In 2024, she crowned her research with the publication of her book Pre-Columbian Contact Between the Americas and Oceania.
Documentary
The Raftsmen is a documentary that premiered at the Sydney Festival in 2025. In it, research, culture, and memory came together. With powerful narrative, it tells the story of the 1973 Las Balsas expedition—the longest raft journey in history, with 12 adventurers from 7 countries.
That journey marked the beginning of a relationship between Latin America and Australia. The documentary was celebrated as a tribute to the human spirit and international collaboration.
Volunteering
The Toowong Library is the space Andrea chose to give wings to her gift as a storyteller. Since 2017, she has been directing Spanish Storytime, where she finds immense joy in telling stories in Spanish to children and families—nurturing the bond that so many Latinos long to preserve: passing down language and culture to future generations.
To perfect her art, Andrea also trained at a renowned storytelling school in Madrid.
Connection with LatinOz QLD
LatinOz QLD does not hesitate to share Andrea’s story. It is our duty as a foundation to highlight community work and, above all, to keep our language and culture alive.
Andrea is not only part of our story, she helped shape it. As one of the co-founders of LatinOz QLD, she played a key role in creating the spaces that continue to strengthen our community today.
Andrea was once a teacher in our community and a member of our Committee. She later stepped away but left her mark. As she has shared, she finds places, leaves them, and returns—driven by a sense of giving, sharing, helping, and growing.
These values reconnected her with LatinOz QLD in 2025, through the Migrant Women Entrepreneurs Program, which she credits with helping her step out of her comfort zone and grow both personally and professionally.
She continues to follow our organisation’s activities closely, recognising that as the community grows, new paths must be opened for the migrants who now arrive not by ship, but by plane—carrying suitcases filled with dreams and hopes, ready to build a future in Oceania while never forgetting their roots.
We can only close these lines with the hymn Andrea once crafted in a handful of words, which sums up the way she lives and inspires:
“Balance persistence with joy. Meaningful goals require effort, but joy fuels the journey.”
Every woman’s journey holds a story worth telling. Andrea’s is one of courage, purpose, and community.
Tell us — what story are you writing today?
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