Please check the 20 Brazilians selected to participate in theYoung Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) of 2018, a Professional Fellows Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Renata Albertim
From Recife, PE, she is co-founder of the social impact startup Mete a Colher, a platform that supports women who suffer from abusive relationships in Brazil. Mete a Colher created an app that allows women suffering from domestic abuse to communicate with each other and provide emotional support and legal advice. Renata previously worked in advertising agency. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Consumption and Social Development at the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco and has a BA in Social Communication with a specialty in Journalism from Faculdades Integradas Barros Melo.

Rubenilson Cerqueira
Com 29 anos, de Brasília/DF, é cofundador e professor do Galt Vestibulares. O cursinho social é uma organização sem fins lucrativos que atende jovens e adultos de baixa renda que desejam se preparar para as provas de admissão nas acirradas universidades brasileiras. Atendendo cerca de 480 alunos ao ano de maneira gratuita, o Galt foi fundado em 2015 e já beneficiou mais de 1.440 estudantes e hoje conta com ex-alunos matriculados em cursos de várias universidades do país. O cursinho além das aulas tradicionais com todos os conteúdos do ensino médio, oferece monitoria, atendimento psicológico, orientação individual, aulas de desenhos técnicos para provas de habilidades específicas de Arquitetura e Urbanismo e Desenho Industrial e material didático, como apostilas doadas por seus parceiros. Como bolsista no Arizona State University (ASU), Estados Unidos, estudou Liderança e Empreendedorismo, em 2014. Bacharel em Relações Internacionais pelo Centro Universitário do Distrito Federal, Mestre em Desenvolvimento, Sociedade e Cooperação Internacional pela Universidade de Brasília, atualmente é Doutorando em educação pela UnB e sonha em transformar o Brasil pelo acesso igualitário de todos os brasileiros ao ensino superior. http://galtvestibulares.com.br

Mariana Leite
Com 29 anos, de Manaus/AM, é engenheira e fundadora do Projeto Tchibum, uma plataforma para voluntários que desde 2010 leva humanização, educação e voluntariado de impacto (através de cursos para o desenvolvimento de pessoas que buscam transformação social) para hospitais infantis, abrigos para idosos e bairros carentes. A plataforma já alcançou mais de 3 mil crianças e jovens no Amazonas, atua em 5 hospitais infantis e é referência em voluntariado. (http://www.institutotchibum.com/) (www.facebook.com/projetotchibum). Mariana acredita que o desenvolvimento humano será o caminho para as mudanças sociais tão sonhadas e o seu próximo passo é potencializar o alcance do Tchibum na região norte e levar conhecimento sobre tecnologia para jovens de comunidades. Mariana também escreve sobre liderança em www.marileite.com nas horas vagas, é membro do Global Shapers Hub Manaus e desenvolve atividades em parceria com outras iniciativas sociais.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG5wWZv-dfw)

Beatriz Azevêdo de Araújo
Fundadora e presidente do Instituto Verdeluz, uma ONG ambiental brasileira que visa reconectar humanos a natureza. Verdeluz coordena projetos que elevam a conscientização ambiental e engaja jovens em suas comunidades. Beatriz trabalhou como advogada para o Departamento de Planejamento do Governo Municipal de Fortaleza e para o secretário de Meio Ambiente do Governo do estado do Ceará. É formada em direito ambiental e urbano pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais e tem bacharel em direito pela Universidade Federal do Ceará.

Wellington Santos Silva
Cofundador da Empreendescola, uma empresa social que oferece cursos para desenvolver o empreendedorismo jovem no Brasil. Em 2017, a Empreendescola treinou mais de 300 alunos e alcançou mais de 5.000 estudantes através de apresentações em escolas públicas de 16 cidades. Antes de fundar a Empreendescola, Wellington era dono da Ação Treinamentos, empresa que fornece treinamento em software para estudantes universitários. Wellington Silva possui graduação em Administração pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (PUC-Minas) e pós-graduação em Recursos Humanos e Gestão de Projetos Sociais na Universidade Federal de Itajubá.

Gustavo Alves
From Uberlândia, MG, he is the co-founder of Nagro, a company that provides credit to small and medium rural growers in Brazil. Nagro created a platform that helps farmers to look for the best credit sources outside of major banks, where wait times for loans are often too long for a business needing credit immediately. Applying technologies tools to reduce the wait and bureaucracy. Gustavo previously worked as a Finance Comptroller and Technical Assistant for Pedro Pereira United Farms. He has an MBA in Agribusiness/Management from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the University of São Paulo and a Bachelor Degree in Agronomy Engineer at Federal University of Uberlândia.

Luiz Gilberto Camargo
From Pelotas, RS, he is the co-founder and CEO of Donamaid, an on-demand house cleaner service for low to middle-income individuals. The goal of Donamaid is to provide affordable house cleaner services for those who do not have time to clean their home and cannot afford a monthly house cleaner. Luiz was formerly the Vice President of AIESEC in Porto Alegre/Brazil, the largest youth organization in the world, where he worked in the areas of Marketing and Public Relations. He is studying Engineering at the Federal University of Pelotas.

José Cardoso Filho
From Manaus, AM, he is the co-founder of Zelar Soluções, a Brazilian company that provides cleaning services for homes and businesses. Given the fact that many of its employees have a basic education, Zelar Soluções aims to provide its workforce with training that will both make them more competitive in the job market and ensure that their clients receive quality service. José has a Bachelor’s degree in Administration from the University of the State of São Paulo.

Kaio de Freitas Vieira
From Volta Redonda, RJ, he is the co-founder of Moda Limpa, the first collaborative platform for sustainable fashion in Brazil. Moda Limpa helps make sustainable fashion entrepreneurs visible to clothing companies by giving them a space where they can create their own webpage and list their products and contact information. Prior to starting his business, Kaio was the Founder and Community Leader for Rio Sul Valley and worked as a Lead Facilitator for Estilingue. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Advertising from UniFOA.

Daniel Cabrera
From São Paulo, SP, he is the co-founder and President of Vivalá and Instituto Vivalá. Vivalá have a global travel agency that works with tradicional tourism to more than 164 contries, beside produce special trips of volunteerism and ecotourism in seven states of Brazil. Instituto Vivalá, it is a NGO that helps Vivalá in its volunteerism operations, managing free professional training and selecting micro-entrepreneurs for its social investment fund. Daniel has a Master’s degree in Innovation and Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Marketing.

Ester Athanásio
From Curitiba, PR, she is the Founder and Manager of Depropósito Comunicação Integrada, a Brazilian communications firm. Focused on serving organizations that run social impact initiatives, Depropósito Comunicação offers communication support by providing the media tools, training, content production assistance, and consulting necessary to ensure its clients’ causes are visible and well received. Ester has worked as a Press Officer for Página 1 Comunicação and is currently a professor at the Federal University of Technology-Paraná. She has a Master’s degree in Communications and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Federal University of Paraná.

André Osna
From Curitiba, PR, he is the co-founder ELEVANTE, a Brazilian innovation company. ELEVANTE works with companies to improve relationships with the public and their own collaborators through value creation, marketing and branding, storytelling, copywriting, and by developing an innovative company culture. André is also the Founder of the startup BandTripper, a platform designed to connect musicians looking to schedule gigs and cultural exchanges and has worked as a journalist for the State of Paraná’s news agency. He graduated with an Associate’s degree in Movie Making from Centro Europeu and has certificates in Advertising and Marketing.

Gustavo Pugliese
From São Paulo, SP, he is the co-founder of ACES, a non-profit organization based in Campinas, Brazil. ACES was dedicated to promoting science literacy and social justice by providing STEM education in marginalized schools. Currently, he is doing his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Sao Paulo and he works at Foreducation Edtech, a Google partner company, as teacher trainer offering professional development in educational technology for educators from all over Brazil. He was graduated from the University of Campinas, where he earned two Bachelor’s degrees (Biology and Portuguese Language) and a Master’s degree in Science Education.

Rafael Raoni
From Rio de Janeiro, RJ, he is the Founder and CEO of Hazel, a Brazilian startup that provides a cloud based platform for monitoring industrial equipment. Its goal is to prevent accidents by helping companies better understand equipment data. Rafael has also worked in the Process Engineering department for PROJECTUS, an engineering consulting company, and on active integrity management issues with Bureal Veritas. He has a PhD’s degree in Risk, Master’s degree in Industry Process Simulation and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, all from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Paloma Lecheta
From Curitiba, PR, she is the co-founder of PeaceLabs, a Brazilian social enterprise that helps large corporations monitor and invest in social projects. PeaceLabs organizes digital portfolios with data on the impact of NGOs. The portfolios are easily accessible to large corporations that use this data to determine which projects they want to invest in. Paloma has also worked with the organizations such as OpenBrazil and CodeForCuritiba and she is a lead organizer of the Social Entrepreneurship Meetup in her hometown.

Shirley Schneider
From Santana do Parnaíba, SP, she is the co-founder of Projeto Joule, a Brazilian non-profit organization that, since 2015, connects low-income young workers with professionals from big companies for free mentoring. Shirley previously worked for the Supply Chain and then Projects division for Dell Computers. In 2017, she received the Best Young Entrepreneur of the Year award from Laureate Universities, becoming a member os the international group YouthActionNet.org. Also, she acted as mentor at the NGO Junior Achievement, and was leader of the Tiny Tuckies Fraternity at the University of Darthmouth in the U.S. and is a volunteer of the Mãos que Ajudam cause. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Administration and International Business from the Pontifical Catholic University.

Karin Colantonio
From Diadema, SP, she is the founder of Social English, an organization that provides quality English instruction to young Brazilians who cannot afford traditional courses. As English becomes more important in Brazil’s professional world, Social English strives to help disadvantaged youth gain skills that will make them more competitive. Karin has worked for several other companies, including General Motors, BASF, and Lactalis. She has a Master’s degree in Marketing and Sales from the Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Universidade Metodista de São Paulo.

Gabriel Bonifacio
From Curitiba, PR, he is the Founder and Managing Director of Trippple, a digital marketing agency in Curitiba, Brazil. Trippple works closely with small and new businesses, providing them with online marketing, consulting, and web development services. Gabriel has previously worked in banking services for HSBC Global Technology and in technical support for VEGA I.T. and Wtechsys. He has an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration from the Universidade Positivo.

Fabio Cendão
From Rio de Janeiro, RJ, he is founder and partner of Faria, Cendão & Maia Advogados (FCMLAW), and an innovative law firm focused on startups. FCMLAW provides legal services through methods, tools and technology that simplify the understanding of Law. Fabio is also founder of YourBase, a legaltech startup incubated in FCMLAW, founder of Legal Hackers Rio’s chapter, organizer of Legal Hack 2017 (Legal Hackathon) and creator of Legal Canvas for Startups Methodology. He also works with entrepreneurial education and participates in many initiatives as an investor, teacher, lecturer, mentor and evaluator of startup projects and programs. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law (UFRJ), a LLM in Corporate Law (IBMEC) and is Master Degree candidate in Intellectual Property and Innovation (INPI).