Kelly Santiago worked for many years in the field of Business Administration but always had a passion to work in the social service field. She is a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor. She has consistently displayed the compassion, vision and dedication to work with underprivileged children and families in Brazil with a goal of ensuring the basic conditions to live with dignity. She is one of the founders of Vila Isabel Society in 2006, the prior organization to Holding Hands With Brazil. Her incredible commitment and leadership has played an integral role in how far the organization has come, currently serving over 500 children and families. Kelly is focused on developing support within the Brazilian community in Vancouver.
Graduated in Business Administration and Postgraduate in Strategic Planning, she worked for 12 years in the Armed Forces of Brazil. She also volunteered in social organizations that carry out projects with children.
Currently retired from the Armed Forces, she volunteers with social projects in Brazil supporting low income families.
Elisabete Ferreira is focused on carrying out research on social projects that fit into the HOLDING HANDS WITH BRAZIL FOUNDATION mission. In addition, she seeks partners who can contribute to the Foundation’s actions in the struggle against social inequality in Brazil.
Graduated in Industrial Design with over 20 years of professional work in graphic design in the automotive industry. He lived in Canada between October 2017 and July 2018. During this period he had the pleasure of meeting people who were part of the Holding Hands with Brazil Foundation dedicating their time to help others in need. He did not hesitate to accept the invitation from Kelly Santiago and Thais Della Nina to volunteer for the foundation as a graphic designer. He has created the Logo, multiple graphic pieces and publicity materials for the organization. He intends to continue helping them for a long time…
Mariana is a Web Developer (Front-End) based in Vancouver, Canada, passionate about Education.
She has been performing enhancements related to responsiveness to the website and has also implemented new functionalities, such as a new donation system and a user subscription management.
She believes that we are all responsible for playing our role in the mission of offering better opportunities for our future generations.
Thaís Della Nina has more than 10 years of experience in the Marketing and Communication field. In Brazil, she studied Social Communication and got her Bachelor Degree in Journalism and Advertising. She lives in Canada since 2011, where she started work in Marketing for the International School for foreign students. In 2013, she started her own Exchange Agency: Hi Bonjour . Last year, she met Kelly Santiago and she was really enthusiastic about this beautiful project “Holding Hands Brazil” (previously “Vila Isabel”). Thaís wants to help the organization to grow and achieve its goals, supporting more and more families each year in Brazil.
Paula is an enthusiast of transmitting and exchanging information – i.e. communicating – be it a marketing plan, a story or an experience. Having worked for the past 10 years in marketing & communications, ranging from advertising agencies to arts centres, she has a passion for bringing people together towards a purpose. She believes in the work Holding Hands develops and is very happy to see people doing good when the world (and Brazil in particular) needs it so much. As she gotten to know the organization, she is excited to help out in their communications planning so they can reach as many people as possible.