Dita Zakova is the Founder and Executive Director of Ecolibri, a community-driven nonprofit organization that has partnered with indigenous communities on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala since 2004. Ecolibri's work fosters education, provides nutrition, improves health, empowers women, and inspires creativity. A native of the Czech Republic, Zakova utilizes her background in business, medicine, architecture, and design to forge partnerships with renowned international institutions, architects, artists, and medical professionals to lead Ecolibri’s grassroots programs.

Under Zakova’s innovative leadership, Ecolibri’s successful projects support the local economy with textile design and production, sustainable farming methods, and creating construction materials with upcycled agricultural waste. Since 2020, Zakova has been collaborating with the Yale Center for Ecosystems + Architecture on the Ecological Living Network (ELN) Guatemala project for residents throughout the village of San Juan La Laguna, which seeks to develop a series of bioremediation systems for energy, food, air, and water quality. 

In 2011, Zakova created Scarfitecture, a project between female weavers in Lake Atitlán and internationally renowned architects. She led a team of 50 artisans to interpret architectural schematics and concepts through a collection of scarves, which were then auctioned in a New York City exhibition. Zakova worked extensively toward environmental design and created collections of sustainable garments and products made in Guatemala. As part of the Scarfitecture, she brought the same innovation to local weavers who now design contemporary textile products using natural dyes and locally sourced biomaterials. As a result, Zakova became committed to fair trade practices for local artisans and against the exploitation of child labor.  Nearly two decades later through Ecolibri and her other initiatives, Zakova has achieved great strides in improving the lives of thousands of Guatemala’s indigenous people.