Laurent Troost
Laurent Troost has been a Belgian architect based in Manaus since 2008. He is the co-founder of an artistic residency platform in the Amazon called “Labverde” and of two architectural offices (“Laurent Troost Architectures” and “Troost + Pessoa Architects”). In addition to his practice, Laurent was also Director of Urban Planning at the Manaus City […]
Vanda Witoto
A young leader of the Witoto people on the border with Colombia and Peru, Vanda grew up on the outskirts of town, without the right to demarcated land. She works in public health, fighting against endless health emergencies. She is the director of social policies and technologies at the Rede Foundation, a political coordinator for […]
Valéria Paye Pereira
Originally from the Parque do Tumucumaque indigenous land, between Pará and Amapá, Valéria is a social scientist and an important leader in the indigenous movement. She was responsible for coordinating the Amazonian indigenous movement with other regions of the country and for dialoguing with representatives of the government and other powers based in Brasilia. She […]
Ellen Fernandes
Singer, songwriter, ethnomusicologist, social scientist and art entrepreneur, Ellen from Manaus dedicates her life to valuing art as an instrument of social transformation. In addition to her own musical work – in 2020 she released the album Batelão da Amazônia, based on the cultural tradition of the region – she has worked to promote and […]
Vitória Pinheiro
A climate activist, communicator and trans entrepreneur from the black and indigenous community of Zumbi dos Palmares, on the outskirts of Manaus, Vitória is the director of Palmares LAB Ação and PerifaConnection. The first of her riverine family to go to university, she was Brazil’s youth delegate at COP26 and COP27 and is currently the […]
Tainá Marajoara
Tainá is a cook, cultural director, curator, teacher and thinker, descended from the Aruã Marajoara people of Pará. She is one of the main voices in the fight to preserve Brazilian and indigenous food culture, against what she calls “neoliberal gastronomy”. The chef talks about food sovereignty to ensure that traditional peoples have their cultural […]
Francisco D’Elia
Francisco is a geographer and head of the Bioverse group, the first private operation focused on delivering non-timber forest inventory as a service. This service serves the emerging bioeconomy of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the Amazon Basin. In addition to promoting efficiency, these efforts strengthen regional supply chains and empower the communities that occupy […]
Valcléia Solidade
A native of the Murumuru quilombola community in Santarém, Pará, Valcleia is a public manager specializing in innovation and technological diffusion. She has been implementing socio-environmental projects in the Amazon for almost 30 years, in partnership with social movements. She is currently superintendent of sustainable community development at the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS).
Jander Manauara
Rapper, activist and cultural organizer, Jander from Manaura has been shaking up the hip hop scene in the North for 20 years. He was the creator of the Origenas Collective and produces events such as Virada Sustentável Manaus and the FAS creativity fair. It is an agent of transformation active in networks of connections throughout […]
Mrs. Nice
Maria Nice Machado Costa, better known as Dona Nice do Babaçu, has been working with babassu coconut since she was a child, together with her mother and other women in the community. In 1987, she founded the Interstate Movement of Babassu Coconut Breakers, an organization that fights for the rights of the breakers to continue […]