NextGen Women Leaders Fellowship | Community Impact Spotlight
Paula Luiza | Brazil 🇧🇷
At United Leaders Global, we believe leadership is developed through action. As part of the Class of 2025 Fellowship, each Fellow designs and implements a community-based impact project that addresses a real need within their local community.
Paula launched Tech in Your Pocket, a 3-month, hands-on digital literacy and coding initiative serving girls aged 10–13 from underserved communities in Brazil.
In many low-income communities, girls rely primarily on mobile phones, have limited exposure to structured technology education, and rarely see STEM as a realistic or accessible career pathway. This digital divide contributes to low digital confidence, restricted academic opportunities, and long-term underrepresentation in technology fields.
Through weekly 1-hour interactive sessions over 12 weeks, Paula teaches foundational digital skills and introduces beginner-friendly coding platforms such as Scratch and other accessible tools. The program is intentionally designed to use devices the girls already have access to, removing financial barriers while making technology practical, creative, and empowering.
The program includes:
• Hands-on digital literacy training
• Introduction to basic coding concepts
• Creative tech challenges and mini-projects
• Ongoing feedback and simple pre/post assessments to track growth
• A final project showcase where participants present what they’ve built
Her first cohort will engage 10–15 girls, helping them build confidence, strengthen problem-solving skills, and begin to see themselves not just as technology users — but as creators.
Beyond implementation, Paula is also developing partnerships with local schools and community organizations to ensure sustainability and future expansion.
This is what leadership through the United Leaders Global Fellowship looks like — mentorship-driven, locally grounded, and globally impactful.