I believe that education is the key to change the world. I am an education passionate and enthusiast. I came from a poor neighborhood in Brazil, but I had the scholarship to study in a good school. Unfortunately, it is not the case for many friends and neighbors. Education helped me to live in the country for the first time and be in contact with other cultures and amplify my view. This is why part of my social work is building towards helping people like me, coming from poor places, to have good educational opportunities. I produced action in an Elementary school, that consisted of having artists paint the patio, so the kids could have a better environment to study, and we are currently working to build a playground and a sports court. I am also part of an organization that helps people to apply for graduate schools around the world. The way education changed my life - it helped me to understand better who I am and my role in this world, I want people to have the same (or better) opportunity. It is not only about jobs and positions (necessary tools for living, I will not deny) but it is to take a veil from the eyes and see how and why disparities and inequalities happen in the world. It is to have tools to emancipate yourself.

I like Tiffany Aliche, The Budgetnista, Rakuten, and SaverLife.

My favorite place to buy online is Amazon. But I also buy at Target and Walmart.

My greatest achievement was to get approved at the University of Texas in Austin. I came from a poor neighborhood in Brazil, and there were not many opportunities for Black girls like me. I was lucky and privileged for having parents that believed in education as emancipatory and a way for a better life. For my high school, I had to do several tests and I got a scholarship for a good private school. Unfortunately, I had self-esteem problems and I was not accepted into a good college. Although I was not studying where I wanted, I studied hard towards having good grades. I worked for a while as a journalist but accepted a better job offer in a construction company. I had to leave work when my daughter was born. She was a severe premature and needed special care during her first years. Years later I was unhappy because I did not have a job or any professional perspectives. My older sister got accepted to a great university in Brazil to get her Master's degree. It was the first time I realized that an academic career was possible for us. I started going to workshops and summer courses, and every time I was in a university, I had more certain about what I really wanted to do in life. I applied and got accepted to a summer course offered by UT Austin and an organization in Brazil. This course was life-changing. I met amazing people, Brazilians, and Americans, and I not only learned a lot, as I could do good projects with them. With another Brazilian Journalist we created a blog and a space to talk about Women around the world, and with an American friend, we created a project to improved schools in risk areas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I am so proud of what we did together, and I could work with those projects forever in my life. In the following year, they were the ones that encouraged me to apply to UT Austin. Deep inside I still believed that it was not for me. Imagine, a Black woman, a single mother, from a poor neighborhood in Latin American? But even so, I tried, I had worked so hard in the last years that I deserved a chance. I cannot describe how happy I was when I received UT's letter. I did not know if I cried or laugh. To be honest, I did not have much time to process everything because I had to prepare for my move into the US. It was a long process, I needed my friends and family help towards raising funds to pay for the applications and my expenses to travel. In August of 2019, I arrived in Texas with my daughter. It was our first time leaving the country and to live! People used to say I was brave and had the courage, but I believed it was the right and natural thing to do. I say it was our big adventure. Just us two, in a different country, speaking a different language and making new friends. Today I can still say it was the right thing to do. I learned so much about myself, and especially, it helped me to improve my self-esteem. It is not easy, graduate school is tough, but I can do it, I can go through the process and succeed. And most of all, inspire other women and girls to do the same. Even if it is not to come to a US University, but to believe that we also deserve great things and we can do great things. I still want to be a researcher and intellectual, I want to spread the word and teach. And I want to keep doing my projects in poor communities. My main goal is to be a bridge for people like me to reach their dreams. Most of all, I want my daughter to believe that she can do whatever she wants to. We need that. We deserve a better world.