Amanda Luz

Sponsoring Rotary District: 4420
Worked in: Brazil, United States, Germany
Degrees from: Universidade Federal da Bahia
Future plans: "I plan to work in the design of leadership development initiatives focused on youth, women, and minority groups that leverage technology and education to provide tools and space for more collaborative, grassroots, and civil-society-led solutions in peacebuilding."

Amanda Luz is a journalist from Sao Paulo, Brazil and has worked for prominent publications in her country for more than 10 years. As editor-in-chief of an online publication called MdeMulher that had more than 11 million female readers monthly, she was able to deliver stories to people among various ages, backgrounds and regions in Brazil. These stories and projects on gender and women's rights led her to present panels in national and international events such as South by Southwest 2015.

Over the past years, she started working with innovation methodologies, social impact and educational projects for a variety of not-for-profit and community sector organisations. She has undertaken multiple projects that included advocacy and communication strategies across a range of topics, specifically gender and education. More recently, she has been part of the development of different educational projects by Tellus Institute, a Brazilian NGO that works with innovation and public services design. In the project Area 21, she collaborated to build makerspaces in Brazilian public schools so young students can learn 21st-century skills. The project was mentioned in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas 2019. She also was part of a team that developed a new program to improve early childhood public education in Sao Paulo, in partnership with other non-profit institutes and city government.

Amanda has a particular interest in collaborative design and education methodologies, with a focus on the intersection of information and democracy. Throughout her studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she hopes to amplify her background and experience in journalism and education to develop new possibilities that promote dialogue and transformation to strengthen peace and democracy.