Celia Esther Arredondo Zambrano was born in Monterrey, Mexico. She graduated from Tecnológico de Monterrey with a degree in Architecture, and has a master's degree in Landscape Architecture from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University in England, where she later obtained her PhD in Architecture. She is Emeritus Professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico and her areas of expertise are theory, history and cultural studies in architecture, as well as sustainable architecture and urban design. She has numerous publications in the fields of architecture, both in Spanish and in English. She was the first female president of the National Academy of Architecture, Chapter Monterrey, and was granted the status of Academic Emeritus, the highest distinction awarded by the National Academy of Architecture of the Mexican Architects Society.