her former primary school, Aniceto Arce, an institute she later came to direct; she would also go on to teach at the Children of the Sun Educational Unit in Oruro. Espinoza's work in education opened paths for a career in civil service; she took jobs as a municipal agent and held a seat on her local school board, later serving as president of the Aymara Educational Council of La Paz in the early 2000s. Unionism and indigenous leadership Nearing the turn of the century, Espinoza began playing an active role in her region's trade syndicates, which had increasingly begun promoting the entry of women and the peasantry into their ranks. She served as secretary of indigenous peoples within the Unified Syndical Federation of Rural Workers of Oruro from 1992 to 1994, simultaneously holding a seat on the directorate of the Carangas Provincial Workers' Center between 1993 and 1994. Later, she joined the Bartolina Sisa Peasant Women's Federation, where she served as secretary of international relations. In 2010, Espinoza founded her own branch of the organization in the Ravelo Municipality of Chayanta, during which time she held a seat and the vice presidency of the Constituent Assembly charged with drafting the locality's organic charter. During this time, Espinoza also assumed positions of traditional authority within her Aymara community, reflecting the revaluation of indigenous customs that had begun taking place around this period. By 1984, she had reached the position of assistant corregidor, serving as an aid to the most important political leader within the ayllus. Her highest positions, however, were inherited through her marriage with Luciano Álvarez Galvan, a local traditional leader. Espinoza followed Álvarez's rise through the ranks of Aymara leadership, starting out with the title of mama awatiri of the Mallcunaca Ayllu before much later becoming mama t'alla of the Corque Marka between 2012 and 2013 and, finally, apu mama t'alla of the Jach'a Karangas Suyu from 2013 to 2015—titles denoting the maximum female indigenous authority within each respective polity. Chamber of Senators Election By 2014, Espinoza had been active in promoting self-government for Corque through its conversion from a municipality into an indigenous autonomy. The established alliance between indigenous and peasant advocacy groups with the ruling Movement for Socialism (MAS-IPSP) provided an opening for her to contest public office in that year's general election. She was nominated for a seat in the Chamber of Senators, a position she