Priestess Schulthess currently serves as the President for the Indigenous People Ancestral Spiritual Council in Costa Rica. She has previously served as a consultant in preparation for and in negotiations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the ‘Earth Summit,’ and was subsequently engaged in the monitoring and follow up of the Climate Change and Rio + 20 negotiation processes. She founded and co-founded various organisations, notably the Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Spiritual Council. In addition, she was the Executive Director of the International Indigenous Commission from 1989 to 1992.

Priestess Schulthess was instrumental in negotiations which led to the Proclamation of the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, 1993, as well as in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She participated in the revision of Convention 169 for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child. She was active in promoting the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and was appointed adviser to the UNCED’s Secretary General on Indigenous issues.

Born in Argentina, she is a member of the Kolla Nation, and for many years worked as an accountant and senior international banking official.