Joana

 At just 15 Joana is already a powerful voice for girls’ rights in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Raised by her mother in Lomba do Pinheiro, one of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, Joana turned personal and collective pain into action.

After a friend confided in her about being sexually abused—and was met with silence when seeking help—Joana founded the Luísa Marques Collective: a safe, girl-led space for listening, healing, and resistance. Named after a beloved reading mediator, the collective now operates in schools across Porto Alegre’s outskirts, offering storytelling rooted in Black and Indigenous literature, menstrual health workshops, and sexual violence prevention. 

Over 1,300 girls and non-binary youth have already been reached, and more than 300 cases of abuse were brought forward after school visits. Joana dreams of turning this grassroots effort into a national movement, with a digital platform that schools across Brazil can use to replicate the work. For her, change begins when girls are heard—and believed.