I was born and raised in a Favela near the North Zone of São Paulo, Brazil. There, I was privileged enough to have access to private education but poor enough to understand hunger in practice. I would often hear the stories of when my mother could only eat a handful of rice, but also of the times when she said: "Son, it is only in the dictionary that you will find success before work. And if there's one thing that can change your future, it is your education." So, I took her advice seriously. When I was only sixteen years old, I joined the leadership board of SP Invisível, a Latin American NGO fighting extreme poverty, and helped raise USD 1 Million to support underprivileged communities. I published a book, A Pandemia que Ninguém Vê, which was later exhibited internationally by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Soon, my work was featured in Forbes, CNN, and BBC, amplifying awareness of poverty in Latin America. By the time I was eighteen, I was sponsored by a group of Brazilian billionaires (Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles, and Beto Sicupira) to study Economic, Political, and Behavioral Analysis at Minerva University, recognized as the world's most innovative university. Studying through a global rotation program across seven countries - San Francisco, Taipei, Seoul, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Berlin, and London - I have been able to analyze systematic inequalities over distinct financial models across multiple different continents, witnessing firsthand how economic structures determine people's access to opportunities. As I continue to pursue this career as an undergraduate student at Minerva University and a Research Assistant at Harvard's Computational Cognitive Development Lab, these educational experiences have reinforced my drive to work against social inequality, particularly at the World Bank, where I can help design economic policies that uplift marginalized communities. Being a first-generation college student means rewriting the script of my family's history. It means navigating unfamiliar paths while carrying the weight of my parents' sacrifices - as I know that my dreams and aspirations remain bound to my deep sense of identity tied to the Brazilian favelas. But more than that, my journey as an international student proves that where I started does not define how far I can go. Higher education gave me a future - and I intend to use it to ensure that access to opportunity is dictated not by circumstance but by ambition and hard work.