Her artistic sensibility incubated in Spain, France, Brazil, Canada, the United States and her native Dominican Republic.

In the late 1980s she moved to Canada, where she worked with the best artists in that country performing regularly at the Montreal Jazz Festival and other events and venues.

Along with performing in the country and the wider Caribbean she spent the next 10 years immersing herself in the islands its folk music; founded on popular religious celebrations and Taino culture.

This work also lead Mateo to co-founding Guabancex, Wind and Water Society dedicated to the popularization and preservation of native culture.

In her performances she dons a native headdress during the singing of "Anacaona" — a song that is essentially a passion play of the Taino queen hanged by the Spanish Conquistadors.