Juana Villamil: social impact through well-balanced food

Juana Villamil is a 17-year-old girl from Cali, Colombia. She believes that “an ideal world is one in which diversity is visible, and people have the opportunity to show the light that is within them. That’s what LALA does.” Juana carries that light with her in her search for a more accessible and sustainable diet in Latin America and the world.

Since she was little, she brought delicious delicacies such as cookies and cakes to her school, which she gave away. Her cooking was balanced and low in sugar, as her grandfather had diabetes and inspired her to do so. People liked her delicacies so much that she was encouraged to sell them, so she created her venture with which she, until recently, made shipments on request. This business motivated her to take an interest in good food, and she thought about how to help others.

At the end of 2019, she was admitted to a LALA bootcamp in Peru, which took place in February 2020, one of the last ones before the start of the pandemic. Juana maintains that thanks to LALA, she improved her communication and teamwork skills. In addition, she learned to “sell her ideas”, so in July 2020, she carried out a project that achieved the social impact she longed for: with the money she had saved from her pastry business, some donations, and the support of the COVenture19 project, Juana and her team managed to distribute nearly 1,000 lunches in a community dining room. The young woman provided food to mothers who are heads of the family, police, and community leaders in the Aguablanca district of Cali, one of the most vulnerable areas affected by violence.

Juana, happy to have made her contribution and with a perspective of impacting her work in the future, says, “the environment that surrounds you influences everything you are as a person and all the opportunities you have in front of you. So the fact that you know that you have a plate to eat greatly reduces stress and that inequity.”