Mataji Shaktiananda was born as Érika Tucker in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 26, 1961. From an early age, she showed a deep affinity for the arts—especially music—and a strong interest in the world of communication, which led her to study Social Communication.

During the 1980s and 1990s, she gained recognition as a journalist in the entertainment industry, both nationally and internationally. Her work brought her into contact with key cultural and artistic figures of the time. In the early ’90s, her television program A Toque became a prominent platform for emerging musical movements in Venezuela, establishing her as an influential figure in the country’s cultural scene.

In 1991, a deeply painful event became a turning point in Érika Tucker’s life. The passing of her mother in a car accident—while Érika herself was driving—triggered an inner search that neither reason nor conventional faith could fully address.

That experience marked the beginning of a profound personal transformation. It was a time of intense inner work, essential questioning, and quiet spiritual exploration. In the late 1990s, during a particularly meaningful meditation session, she experienced an encounter that would open the path to a new life: the inner recognition of the guidance of Mahavatar Babaji.

Since then, Shaktiananda has shared this wisdom gradually—first in intimate circles, and today with greater reach through the Divine Values School, as part of her mission to help establish a center of consciousness transformation in Latin America.