Lona holds a BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from the University of Calgary, two years of which she spent at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Her main research interests are social movements, women’s political participation, and sexual violence and its political implications. She has received recognition for papers on women’s resistance politics in the Southern Cone and social and judicial obstacles for Central American migrants affected by sexual violence. She is interested in how policy impacts the lives of people affected by conflict, and on policy development through a human rights lens.

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Lona arrived to Colombia in 2015 and currently lives in Cali, where she coordinates a public education program developed by the National Ministry of Education, aimed at improving access to education in marginalized public high schools. Key achievements within this role include her participation in a task force on incident response, focusing on analysis of policy in cases of sexual assault and the creation of protocols related to trauma management and psychological support in crisis situations.