"Las historias transforman al otro individualmente, pero nuestra historia también puede transformar colectivamente"

Originally from Pernambuco, in the northeast of Brazil. Ainoã Oliveira, 16 years old, VLB5 Alumni, is passionate about many topics. She transmits her essence to others through her actions and constant curiosity to understand herself and the world around her. She is currently a middle-level student, she has 3 projects that she is actively developing, and she began to be a part of the LALA Storytelling team in May 2021.

The first is called Project Cognoscente, in which she and her twin sister spread social, environmental, and cultural issues to fight against social inequalities through social networks: “we can only act on social inequalities when we know our reality.”

This need to expand consciousness comes from his own reality with her family, in which she noticed how they did not have so many opportunities and how this made them not have more perspectives on everything they are and can do. The fact that each one of them sees themselves and understand the light they have and how much they are capable of: “Sometimes I think that I cannot talk about a subject because I do not have so much knowledge about it, but LALA has shown me that I always know something.”

For her, LALA was a very important point, both personally and academically, where she understood that it was really possible to impact other people’s lives by doing minimal things, such as expressing her art: “when I decided to really go for what I like, I could see myself much more as a leader.”

In addition to her work in the Cognoscente Project, she makes her art known through an Instagram account and sells handmade notebooks in which she reflects her love for it and inspires others to be protagonists of their art. She also has a reading club where he encourages people to broaden their perspectives and connect with stories, allowing themselves to explore, discover, and open up to a new world in each book. She mentions that “Art is a means by which one can express oneself and help transform other people’s lives, and books bring you closer to understanding your story, leading you to understand your own story.”

She comments that since she was little, she had that curiosity about the world, to understand and transform it somehow. She feels that everything she lived, her reality, and everything that makes up her story was what lit the flame within her to impact socially, but first, she had to see herself and love unconditionally what she is to be able to do it in other people, even if they are minimal things, these are what generate revolutions in the future: “History transforms the other individually, but our history can also transform collectively, today I can say that my story inspires me, and LALA was the one who helped me see that. “

After these months that she was in the organization, Ainoã found a family in LALA, which helped her to grow and see the light that exists in her and in others and believes that being part of the Storytelling Team can transform the lives of others people through their unique way of telling stories, and inspiring others to look at yours differently. From LALA, we are inspired and proud of her for everything she is doing and wants to get to do in the organization.

These stories are written and edited by the Storytelling Team, an alumni-lead team that collects stories with the objective of recognizing and celebrating the wonderful work that volunteers, staff, and alumni do for LALA and also showing how the organization has impacted their life.