Josefina Vázquez Mota

Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota ( [xo̞.se̞'fi.na'βas.ke̞s'mo̞.ta]) (born 20 January 1961, in Mexico City) is a businessperson and politician who was the presidential candidate of the National Action Party (PAN) for the 2012 elections.

Vázquez Mota was trained as an economist and began her working career in family businesses and with various business organizations and conferences, also working as a journalist and writing books.

She began her political career with the PAN by becoming involved in Mexico’s federal Chamber of Deputies of Mexico and then in the administrations of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón.

She was the PAN's first female candidate for president.

Vázquez Mota was born in Mexico City on 20 January 1961.

Her parents, Arnulfo Vázquez and Josefina Mota, are from the Sierra Norte de Puebla region of Mexico, and she has seven brothers and sisters.

She says she is closest to her sister Lupita.

When they were children they use to sell chocolate shakes on the street with a blender Josefina received for Day of the Magi.

Vázquez Mota spent the first five years of her childhood in a working-class neighborhood called Colonia 20 de Noviembre in Mexico City, began her education in public school, and started at La Patria es Primero School, in the Azcapotzalco borough.

Her father originally wanted her to attend an all-girls high school and even paid paying a full year’s tuition in advance.

She began high school there, but she convinced her parents to let her take the entrance exam and enter Center of Scientific and Technological StudiesCECyT 9 vocational school,affiliated with the Instituto Politécnico Nacional.

She was studious in school with an affinity for mathematics.

Vázquez Mota studied at the private Universidad Iberoamericana and graduated with a degree in economics.

Other university studies included courses in management at the Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresas, as well as a program called "Ideas e Instituciones" ("Ideas and Institutions") at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.

Vázquez Mota met her husband, Sergio Ocampo Muñoz, a computer specialist, in high school.

In the 1980s, Josefina and her family moved to Chihuahua to attend some of the family businesses including a clothing store for children.

She has published two books.

The first was “¡Dios Mío!

Házme viuda por favor” (My God! Make me a widow!) It is a self-help book that she wrote while in Chihuahua and while traveling to various conferences.

It was first published in Colombia then in Mexico, as there was some hesitation over the title.

Despite editors’ desire to change the title to something less controversial, Josefina insisted on keeping it.

The book has sold over 400,000 copies.

Her second book is called "Nuestra oportunidad. Un México para todos" (Our opportunity. A México for everyone), which is a dialogue with 22 international leaders.

She did a business show for TV Azteca.

Vázquez Mota began her political career with the National Action Party (PAN) with the Asociación Coordinadora Ciudadana and a member of the Secretaría de la Mujer.

The couple married in 1984 after seven years of courtship.

The couple have three children: María José; Celia María; and Montserrat.

Vázquez Mota maintains a very strict diet and exercise regimen, as evidenced by an unusually thin physique.

She has consistently denied speculation that she suffers from either bulimia or anorexia.

Vázquez Mota began to get involved in economic conferences due to a friend of her father’s with the Cámara de Comercio de la Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City Chamber of Commerce) and has since been involved with various organizations and conferences in various parts of the world, especially Latin America.

She worked for business organizations such as the Confederación de Cámaras Nacionales de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo (Concanaco) and the Confederación Patronal de la República Méxicana (Coparmex).

For a time in her career, she worked as a journalist on economic topics for Novedades de México, El Financiero and El Economista.

In 1996, she was asked to return to Mexico City to become a representative in Mexico’s federal legislature (Cámara de Diputados), because of her economics expertise.

At this time, she met the PAN president, Felipe Calderón.

She was elected to the 2000-2003 federal legislature (Cámara de Diputados), leading the sub-coordination of economic policy.

She was then appointed as the first female secretary of Desarrollo Social (Social Development) known by its Spanish acronym of SEDESOL.

While discrete, it was known that she did not get along with then First Lady Martha Sahagún.

She remained in that position until 2006, when she resigned to work for the Calderón campaign.

In 2006, she was named campaign coordinator for Felipe Calderón.

She was not part of Calderón’s inner circle which caused some disputes during the campaign.