SIM Alumni

Maria Carolina Marum Zemella

Born in São Paulo, Maria Carolina volunteered since a young age teaching a variety of classes to children and teenagers. Her professional path however took her in a very different direction - after graduating from University with a Chemical Engineering degree, she worked more than eight years executing industrial projects in the private sector.

Her desire to lead a life with a positive impact on society led her to taking a sabbatical in 2015, exploring different options such as a Meditation Course at Art of Living, doing an Apprenticeship at Saúde Criança SP, and finally becoming a Social Innovation Management Fellow at Amani Institute in the founding class in Brazil.

After graduating, Maria took her social innovation prototype to the next level with 3 other Amani Fellows by co-founding Brazil Tomorrow, an organization to map, connect and democratize all the social innovation initiatives in Brazil. She also worked with Juntos Com Vc, a crowdfunding platform that supports social and environmental projects.

As of September 2017 she is working with Amani Institute taking care of our finances and operations for Brazil.

She believes in the power of leading by example, inspiring people through experiences, building empathy daily, and in our responsibility to act against social injustice. She likes a Sunday walk on Avenida Paulista, having a beer with friends, sports activities that take her out of her comfort zone.