Mariana P.

2018 Anita Borg Systers Pass It On Award Winner
Project Title: Financela — The First Brazilian Female Crowdfunding

Mariana is a Brazilian woman passionate about technology and everything tech can do to change the world. After receiving a degree in Marketing in Brazil, she came to the U.S. to pursue her dream of studying computer science. She is a women’s advocate, and believes in a world with more social equality, race equality, and gender equality. She fights for the empowerment of women through the development of their business.

Mariana was a GHC 17 Scholar, and, through GHC 17, she got a full-time job offer. She now works at Dell-EMC as a Presales Engineer, where she is able to combine both her passions: technology and business.

Mariana is a GHC 18 Scholarship Reviewer, helping other girls accomplish their dreams of attending the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. She’s a member of Systers, NCWIT (National Center of Women & IT), and Latinas in Computing. Her personal blog (hellomariworld.com) details her experiences in the computing world.

Financela is a platform to help girls and women in Brazil to fund their businesses in any area. Thousands of girls have creative and powerful ideas to change the reality in Brazil, but in most cases they don’t have enough money or support to build their projects. Financela serves as the bridge between women’s hidden ideas and people who wants to support them. Financela will be the first Brazilian crowdfunding platform exclusively for women.

The team will be composed by women (development of the website, logo creation, tech support, financing support, and crowdfunding support). The team will create a holistic ecosystem which, in the beginning, will be built BY women, FOR women. In the medium-term period, other people will be able to work in the team, regardless of gender.

Financela will provide major exposure to tech-related and social impact-related projects. Financela will give voice to Brazilian women’s projects and businesses, and it will be also a space for financial, professional/career, and technical coach for those women.  By empowering other women in growing their business, these women can succeed and provide to their families with the profits from their OWN business.