Macarena has a degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Chile and is enrolled in a Masters program in Rural Development at the Austral University of Chile. She has worked in ethnographic research related to forests and human groups in the Aysén region of Chile, as well as in organizational development and environmental education for rural communities.

She is currently conducting an ethnographic study related to watercraft and social transformation in Puerto Williams, in Chilean Tierra del Fuego.