Project Manager, Communications Coordinator, ESG specialist, fundraiser with experience in the third sector. 29 years old, Brazilian living in Santos, São Paulo.
I come from an academic background as a teacher and researcher, with a master's degree in social sciences, especially gender studies. But my professional journey took a turn when I found my passion in project management and communication coordination for non-profits.
Being on the ground, in the Amazon biome with Indigenous communities, or knee-deep in the mud of mangroves with Quilombola communities, opened my eyes to what truly drives me: working on what I believe in. I love combining media, writing, and art with community engagement.
My time with organizations like RAIN, Eden People + Planet and SamaÚma has shaped my current path. Now, I am a postgraduate student in project management focused on ESG, and I get to create documentaries and write stories about real people. I manage projects with traditional Brazilian communities and coordinate communication efforts in the socio-environmental sector. Through it all, my desire to keep learning and growing never fades.
RAIN is one of those incredible organizations that genuinely believes in community-led projects and takes real action to make them happen. Every project is based on the decisions of the communities involved, ensuring that their voices and needs are at the forefront. My role with RAIN was to organize and structure these initiatives, from the initial idea to detailed proposals, so that others could see the potential and impact I saw firsthand. My main focus was on developing a strategic approach for Brazilian and UK/US stakeholders, which involved brand analysis, value proposition, and market research.
As a Communication Coordinator, I handled the media we shared, created pitch decks for B2B engagements, produced content about our projects and the communities we worked with, and led the rebranding of the organization, including shaping the voice we used. As a Project Manager, my primary task was to balance community mobilization processes with the expectations of external partners. This included organizing concept notes, planning field trips, studying our stakeholders, coordinating tasks for our volunteers, planning how to secure the best national and international grants, and identifying key selling points, often conveyed through videos and mini-documentaries that I love creating.
My journey with non-profits began with Eden Reforestation Projects. Before joining Eden, I had experience in PR, writing for periodicals and newspapers, and content marketing. However, my role at Eden went far beyond writing. I dove deep into the lives of Quilombola, Indigenous, and riverside communities. This immersion taught me that community mobilization requires more than hard work; it demands active listening and a genuine interest in understanding each community's unique needs. I also learned about forest monitoring and spent a significant amount of time living in Maranhão.
Some of my key responsibilities and achievements included: Gathering national content: I coordinated the collection of stories and information from across Brazil, ensuring diverse voices and perspectives were heard; Producing documentaries and stories: I created documentaries and wrote stories that highlighted the resilience and strength of local communities; Brazilian marketing strategy: I was responsible for aligning our marketing strategy in Brazil with the organization's global goals, connecting our local efforts to a broader audience; Reporting: I compiled detailed reports on our activities and progress, providing transparency and accountability; Fundraising and sponsorship: I developed materials and assets in the field that helped raise funds and secure sponsorships internationally; PR management: I managed public relations, serving as the contact for stories in prominent publications like the NYT and local media.
Through these experiences, I discovered my passion for combining media, writing, and art with community engagement. My work at Eden allowed me to grow both professionally and personally, and it deepened my commitment to making a positive impact.
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Below are some of the projects I've been involved in, including videos/documentaries where I had a role in production:
Community-led reforestation in Brazil:
My Experience with SamaÚma
I have worked closely with the founder and director of SamaÚma, James, for several years and have a deep belief in the projects he develops and manages. SamaÚma has incredible potential and can help many more people. Since 2021, our team has planted over 12 million trees. Today, more than 800 hectares are undergoing restoration, with over 8,000 hectares available for future projects. From the start, my focus has been on branding and storytelling, sharing our journey that has involved more than 200 people from traditional communities in Maranhão, Goiás, and Piauí.
Some of my key contributions include: Developing our logo and brand identity, capturing the essence of our mission; Writing content and designing our website: samaumaprojetos.com; Implementing SEO strategies to reach the impact investment market; Managing our social media platforms, engaging with our community; Conducting market research to better understand our audience and opportunities; Handling administrative tasks, organizing contacts, stakeholders, and processes; Mobilizing local communities, fostering strong connections and collaborations; Designing and writing proposals and concept notes for socio-environmental projects.
The Maranhão Project: Connecting Ecosystems and Stories was born from the opportunity to work with the interconnected ecological restoration of two threatened ecosystems, mangroves, and transitional areas of the Legal Amazon, in the state with the highest poverty rate and vulnerable quilombola communities in Brazil. As we began our field research, we realized that by following the trail of social disharmony, we are met with further unchecked degradation, improper exploitation, lack of resources, and communities with restricted access to health, basic sanitation, and education. We believe in reforestation initiatives driven by communities, by those who rely on their environment to survive. From our experience in Brazil, we conclude that Maranhão is one of the few places in the world where we can develop a Landscape Restoration project of over 3,000 hectares, connecting mangrove and transitional areas with the Amazon.
Kalunga: Voices of the Cerrado is a transformative initiative that echoes the resilience of the Quilombo Kalunga and its profound connection with the Cerrado, Brazil's second-largest biome. Our mission is inspired by the voices of the community, who have inhabited these lands for over 300 years, in the heart of the Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás, having this space not only as a source of life but also of belonging. We seek to align traditional knowledge with innovative regeneration practices and the implementation of agroforestry programs, encompassing an extensive and vital area of over 200 hectares within the Kalunga Territory.
Our nursery is overseen by the University of Espírito Santo and managed by Impactando Vidas (Impacting Lives), training inmates of the prison system in pro-social skills. They helped us grow 50,000 saplings that have been planted for natural flood management and agroforestry systems, now being cared for by Indigenous nations and state municipalities.
We’ve also connected Indigenous musicians with talent from the favelas of Vitória and now we are ready to scale up.
Paraim Ecological Corridor is a 68,000+ ha restoration project in Northeastern Brazil that would be a missing link in a 2.9-million-hectare mosaic of national and state protected areas in the state of Piauí. By restoring this link, we aim to create habitat connectivity and protect water resources amidst an expanding agricultural frontier. This multi-stakeholder project includes Rangel State Park, the Paraim river corridor, Lake Paranaguá, and the legally required permanent preservation areas (APPs) surrounding them on private land.
