About Cantera

Cantera is a cultural consulting and strategy firm that helps organizations navigate complexity with clarity and precision. We specialize in turning deep cultural insight into actionable strategies that strengthen engagement, sharpen narratives, and reduce costly missteps.

Where marketing firms offer reach without depth, and academia offers depth without application, Cantera bridges the two. We combine intellectual rigor with practical consulting methods to deliver solutions that are both credible and effective.

Our work ensures that institutions, companies, and communities can make informed decisions, engage authentically, and achieve lasting relevance.

Our Mission

We connect knowledge to action.

We do this through strategic consulting that leverages cultural intelligence and narrative strategy. Our work equips organizations to navigate complexity with confidence, avoid costly missteps, and achieve measurable outcomes.

Our consulting focuses on three core lanes:

  • Cultural Intelligence — Diagnostics, stakeholder research, and audits that surface risks, opportunities, and context-specific insights.

  • Narrative Strategy — Positioning, story design, and engagement roadmaps that align objectives with audiences and markets.

  • Organizational Advisory — Executive facilitation and decision support to translate strategy into implementation and results.

Core Values

  1. Coherence: Aligning ideas, strategy, and execution in every project.

  2. Continuity: Committing to themes that matter across decades, not news cycles.

  3. Constraint: Treating context and limits as creative assets.

  4. Legibility: Communicating with clarity and precision.

  5. Integrity: Choosing principles over passing trends.

Background

Founded in 2020 during a moment of global upheaval, Cantera emerged as a structure for working with complexity. The name reflects our ability to withstand pressure and shape the future with care and intention.

Team

René Carrasco — Founder & Director
René brings nearly two decades of experience in research, teaching, and strategic advising, working with institutions, communities, and audiences to navigate cultural and structural change.

Alberto Castillo Ventura — Senior Consultant & Chief Research Strategist
Alberto, as a founding associate, has been part of Cantera since its earliest stages, shaping its research agenda and public-facing strategy. He works with clients and collaborators to translate complex ideas into actionable insights, bridging critical analysis with practical application.