Carolina Moreira Oliveira

Congratulations to Carolina Moreira Oliveira, one of our 2020 Pass It On Award Winners. 

Carolina is the co-founder of Brazilians in Tech Community and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Federal University of Paraná. Her passion for STEM began at a young age.

I was always a curious kid, who loved taking things apart to see how everything worked. I used to drive my mother crazy, because I took all my toys apart to see how they worked, and of course, they did not work afterward. At that time, my father used to assemble computers to sell. I was amazed to see him building a machine that only worked after putting several parts together.

That childhood curiosity and a desire to create things lead Carolina to computer science. She has a deep desire to automate everything and constantly asks herself, “what can I do to make this task faster?”

Along her tech journey, Carolina has realized the power of having role models and sharing your story.

I like to share my knowledge and my journey. I do this because I recognize that having information access can make a big difference. I feel that I had to discover many things on my own, I understand that support at that time would make a lot of difference in my life.

As a 2019 GHC Scholar, Carolina had the opportunity to connect with people from different cultures and learn so much.

Attending this conference was very important to me, it gave me different perspectives for my future. It connected me with women who also advocate for an inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all. I came back amazed by the things I saw in GHC, I learned the meaning of representation and the importance of having women who inspire and support each other.

It was there that Carolina met Mariana Carvalho and Ana Solorzano, who she later partnered with to start the Brazilians in Tech community. 

Together, we saw that we needed to do more for our community, we could take our experience, not only from the conference but from personal, professional, and academic projects to other Brazilians women, and show that computing should be an inclusive and diverse space. It was with the desire to welcome and encourage women to pursue their paths in STEM that we founded Brazilians in Tech, the first platform to gather all the relevant information on Science and Technology and provide resources to Brazilian women studying and working in STEM.

Building this platform and community is a real point of pride for Carolina. She shares this advice for others considering careers in tech.

There will be countless people saying that you cannot do something, but only you know where you came from and where you are going. You should never forget who you are, and what your reasons are for having a career in technology. Do not be afraid!

Congrats again to Carolina and all our 2020 Pass-it-On Award winners!