Meet the 25 Social Leaders of the First Fellowship Impactus Cohort

There are heroes without capes who are transforming the lives of millions of girls, boys and teenagers around the world. This is the case of the leaders of nonprofit social organizations who have joined efforts through programs and initiatives to face challenges such as access to education, poverty and inequality, three of the main problems in Latin America.

For this reason, at Impactus Ventures we set out to find the leaders of social organizations working to solve the social and environmental problems that affect the development of childhood and youth in Latin America.

After a successful call and a long selection process, we chose the 25 social leaders with the greatest impact to be part of the first cohort of Fellowship Impactus. It is a community of high-impact leaders who have become change agents thanks to their work in different institutions for the benefit of the development of girls, boys and teenagers in the Latin region.

The admission process was carried out in three stages. In the first, social leaders applied; in the second, we interviewed each applicant to learn more about their organization and the impact it creates; and finally, we selected the members of the cohort.

We received applications from different parts of Latin America, which let us discover heroes without capes who work with great social commitment to make this world a better place to live. We reaffirm our purpose of accelerating the impact of organizations and startups to mitigate the social challenges Latin America faces.

A boost for vulnerable communities

Social organizations have become an engine of change and play an important role in solving problems in the region, especially in vulnerable communities. Remember that Latin America and the Caribbean remains one of the most unequal regions in the world.

For example, 3.6 million girls and boys aged 3 to 4 do not have early development appropriate for their age. Only 6 out of 10 receive education in early childhood. And that is not all, since 63 million girls and boys were affected by extreme weather and disasters in the last 30 years, according to data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

That is why Impactus Ventures supports the work of these organizations, so that together we can contribute to improving the living conditions of this population.

The members of the first cohort of Fellowship Impactus will be part of a high-level, two-month program designed to help them accelerate the social impact of their organizations. With this program they will be able to lead social innovation processes in their organization, implement digital technology, improve their results, increase impact, explore opportunities to reduce costs and take their institution to the next level.

As part of this program, the Fellows (members of the cohort) will have live classes, personalized advice to address the challenges of each organization, networking with entrepreneurs and other social leaders in Latin America, mentoring on leadership, licenses for technology solutions and the chance to apply to the Childtech Challenge 2023, which gives access to funding of up to 30 thousand dollars.

Impactus Fellows

It is time to meet the 25 social leaders who are part of the first edition of Fellowship Impactus. Here they are:

David Leal, Executive Director, ONG Innovacién Chile

Executive Director of ONG Innovacien, a Chilean foundation whose mission is to drive innovation in education systems by creating high-impact learning processes supported by new technologies. The aim is to form citizens prepared for the educational and job challenges of the future.

His daily motivation is to help build a fairer society, more integrated in the opportunities tied to innovation and technology.

Paula Pisaneschi, United Way Brasil, Brazil

Specialist in nonprofit management. 17 years of experience in the third sector, in national and international organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation and CCR/CEBRAP, in the areas of health, reproductive rights, education, income generation and community development.

Since 2003 she has been part of the United Way Brasil team as Project and Volunteering Manager, where she is tied to early childhood and youth programs.

Luzía Torres, Instituto da Infancia, Brazil

Graduated in Psychology from Universidade Paulista. Postgraduate degree in Business Administration and Organizational Psychology (PUC-SP), specialization in the Mother-Baby-SP-Tavistock Model. She has served as Superintendent of Instituto da Infância - IFAN since 2000, working on intersectoral models and social innovation technologies for Early Childhood and Childhood in rural and urban areas of Northeast Brazil, focusing on the main themes: Parenting, Children-Cities-Environment and Early Childhood Governance.

Brenda Bernaldez, Enseña por México, Mexico

Brenda has a long and successful track record implementing national and international educational programs in Mexico and Central America, as well as experience in program design and management, needs analysis, communication schemes and administrative areas of educational projects, and in training education agents.

For 5 years she has been part of the Enseña por México team, where she first served as Early Childhood Program Director and is currently Director of the Leadership Program.

Adriana Yaffar, Enseña por Bolivia, Bolivia

She holds a degree in Political Science and a Master’s in Business Administration, and has broad experience in the business and social sectors. She took part as a volunteer teacher for one year in San Ignacio de Moxos, a vulnerable rural area in the Bolivian tropics. Her work at ExB focuses on implementing the program by building relationships with the Teach for All Network, contact with potential funders, allies and potential board members. Since 2016 she has led the institutional management of Enseña por Bolivia.

Rafael Moyano, Fundación Colunga, Chile

A special education teacher with a bachelor’s degree in Social Pedagogy, a master’s in Children’s Rights and ESADE’s Executive Program in Leadership and Social Innovation. He has more than 15 years of experience in the social sector, with special emphasis on development cooperation, philanthropy and social investment, with experience in Spain and Latin America, in organizations such as Asociación Barró in Madrid, América Solidaria Peru and Chile and the Corporación Escuelas del Cariño.

He currently runs the social investment area at Fundación Colunga, is a certified coach (ICF) and supports people and teams in achieving their goals by connecting purpose with their personal goals, and is a contributor to the newspaper El País in the 3500 Millones section, where he has published opinion pieces on poverty, inequality and development cooperation.

Camila Perez, Fundación Con las Manos, Colombia

She has more than 8 years of experience leading and carrying out innovation and development strategies in the technology sector focused on solving society’s problems, in both multinationals and startups. She is passionate about development topics, particularly those tied to education, gender, technology and sustainability.

She has managed to bring her passions together through several simultaneous projects. She is co-founder and director of Fundación Con las Manos, an organization dedicated to facilitating learning spaces for developing socio-emotional and math skills in girls and boys from vulnerable areas and in young people in Colombia. She is also co-founder and co-author of the blog Siete Polas, with which she has amplified the message and purpose of feminism and demystified the concept.

Marcela Rivera, Alianza Empresarial para el Desarrollo - UW Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Political scientist with a Master’s in Project Management, from Costa Rica. She is currently Advocacy Coordinator at the Alianza Empresarial para el Desarrollo, where she leads the public-private alliances for Education, Youth Employability and the Business Alliance for Early Childhood Care. A professional with more than 15 years of experience working with nongovernmental organizations in the management, follow-up and monitoring of highly complex environmental and social projects.

Franco Dagnino, Fundación Aptus, Chile

Industrial civil engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, with training in leadership and management of social organizations. Experience in the public sector as director of the advisory area of the general education division at MINEDUC. From civil society he currently works for Fundación Aptus, leading the area of advising principals of vulnerable schools. An important part of this career has had to do with defining outcome and process indicators in the schools advised and using technology to make the progress achieved with the schools visible.

Gabriela Castillo - Executive Director of Ingeniosas: Science and Technology for All Women

Gabriela is a journalist from Universidad Diego Portales. Her professional career has been tied to the world of social organizations, collaborating in strategic communications, project execution and management, among others. In this context she began working on gender topics and the importance of narrowing the gap, joining Ingeniosas in 2019 as Communications Director.

Today she has been Executive Director of this organization for a year, which promotes science and technology among girls and teenagers in Chile and Latin America, with the aim of getting them to change perceptions, break down stereotypes and inspire them to look at these areas with new eyes.

Alicia Núñez - Executive Director, Fundación Deacero, Mexico

A mother of three, promoter of children’s rights, companion to women willing to practice their profession and mother without the guilt on top.

Dreamer and catalyst of ideas, lover of teaching and learning. Direct observer of the power that comes from organized civil society, believer in the social transformation generated from conscious nonconformity.

Director of Fundación DEACERO, active member of the State Breastfeeding Committee in Tamaulipas.

Victoria Alfaro - Director of Territories and Networks

Independent, proactive professional with excellent interpersonal skills and a clear focus on social issues. Commercial Engineer, Universidad de los Andes, with experience leading teams nationwide. She seeks to be a mobilizing agent of change and interconnection within the organizations where she works. With experience and interest in education, social responsibility and human resources. Speaker of courses on effective communication and entrepreneurship. Creator and teacher of the ArteInterior Mosaic Workshop in La Serena.

She currently serves as Director of Territory and Networks at Fundación Familias Power.

Leticia Boggio - Fundación Techo Chile, Chile

A teacher, Uruguayan, living in Chile for 18 years, mother of 3 young people.

She currently has a meaningful job at Fundación Techo Chile, where she serves as Head of Corporate Partnerships, helping form close and effective teams.

She loves connecting people. She likes helping organizations and professionals through strategies that let them find each other and connect.

Adan Montes - Fundación Deacero, Mexico

Psychologist from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León with experience in designing and implementing community programs.

Since 2021 he has been part of the Fundación Deacero team, where he is currently Head of Community Projects.

Marisabel Umaña - Fundación United Way Guatemala, Guatemala

Guatemalan, international relations specialist, with a master’s in development and globalization from the University of Antwerp. Marisabel has 10 years of experience working in development and sustainability. Specialist in value chains and in developing strategies to strengthen small and medium-sized businesses. She has designed, implemented and coordinated corporate social responsibility programs, marketing strategies, communication and public-private alliances to generate development in rural Guatemala. Her experience covers topics related to environmental management, rural development, innovative marketing strategies, value chains, early childhood, food and nutrition security and women’s economic empowerment, among others.

She is part of the United Way Guatemala team as Resource Development and Communications Manager

Cecilia Rodríguez - Fundación Abrázame, Chile

Accountant Auditor, MBA, social entrepreneur, full-time mom.

Executive Director of Fundación Abrázame for five years, her daily motivation is to improve the quality of life of all the girls, boys and teenagers who are in protection residences in Chile.

Daniela Castaño - Fundación Capital, Colombia

A professional in Government and International Relations from the Universidad Externado de Colombia. She did one year of master’s studies in International Public Management at SciencesPo Paris and has focused on managing social enterprises and international cooperation.

She has broad experience in developing and leading teams, high-level public relations and fund management. In addition, in recent years her focus has been on managing digital products and social programs that involve developing technology applications, as was the case with Bive App at the social enterprise Bive, and Igualdapp and Apptitude at Fundación Capital.

Daniela currently serves as Product Manager for the latter two digital products.

Verónica Carrillo - Fundación United Way Chihuahua, Mexico

Psychologist with a master’s in Social Sciences for Public Policy Design, with experience coordinating social projects in the area of intervention and community development. She is currently Director of Community Impact at Fondo Unido-United Way Chihuahua, impacting more than 1 million people with programs, projects and donations, benefiting more than 200 civil society organizations and more than 400 public education schools every year.

Anderson Vargas - Cafam, Colombia

Graduate and master’s holder from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional with nine years of experience in schools with high-quality certification. For five years he has belonged to the family compensation funds Colsubsidio and Cafam, where he has acquired skills and competencies toward closing social gaps and supporting communities that have specific technological and social needs.

For three years he has been part of Cafam’s education management team, where he served as technology coordinator for the four schools, and his mission has been to promote and manage new tools and possibilities so that education in the schools is at the forefront of technology, in both infrastructure and human talent, from training the whole community on different digital platforms to technology solutions for specific needs.

Lorena Avilés - Comfama, Colombia

Bachelor’s in Journalism from the University of Málaga, Spain. Master’s in Humanistic Studies from Universidad EAFIT. Currently, director of Selecu at Comfama: a strategy for designing immersive experiences in education. Teacher at Universidad EAFIT and Universidad del Tolima. Consultant for projects with transmedia design as the core, and in social innovation and educational innovation processes.

Cristina Vargas - Fundación Prodeocsa, Colombia

Specialist in Management of Cultural Projects, with experience leading social projects and programs with an emphasis on culture and environment. She is currently Director of Fundación Prodesarrollo del Occidente de la Sabana - PRODEOCSA, whose mission is to promote the social, economic and environmental development of the Occidente de la Sabana community through research, guidance and coordination of institutional programs, with a track record of 20 years.

Daniela Retamales - Fundación Prótesis 3D, Chile

Daniela is a social entrepreneur and engineer, Co-Founder of Fundación Prótesis 3D, advisor to the International Convention for the declaration of digital rights of the UN, represents Chile through the Red de Chilenos Creando Futuro, and is an Advisor to Pixed Corp and XP Latam. Daniela has been recognized as a leader by the United States Department of State, by the Women Economic Forum and by the 100 Women Leaders of Chile award. She also takes part as a speaker at different international events and talks such as TEDx, on entrepreneurship, social inclusion and women’s empowerment.

Daniela Grau - Fundación Corpaliv, Chile

Executive Director of Fundación Corpaliv, an organization whose mission is to support and develop to their full potential girls, boys, young people and adults with multiple disabilities.

Paula Lantaño - Fundación CONIL, Chile

Psychologist with more than 9 years of experience as a university teacher, head of social projects, coordinator and area manager in social organizations.

She is currently in charge of projects at Fundación Conil, an organization that supports children and teenagers with cancer in La Araucanía (Chile).

As part of the program, they will develop a project for their organization where they can apply what they learned, with the chance to be part of the Childtech Challenge 2023.

If you have also developed solutions, programs or initiatives to improve the lives of girls, boys and young people in Latin America, we invite you to stay tuned for our upcoming calls. At Impactus Ventures we are actively working on creating an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that makes it possible to scale projects and ventures through support in expansion, investment and impact generation.

Fellowship Impactus is possible thanks to the support of Fundación FEMSA.