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CAROLINA
ALMEIDA CRUZ
“I am a woman of the world, I’m a seeker and I try to be a doer.”
I WHO
AM AM
Carolina Almeida Cruz Carolina Mendes de Almeida Cruz is not only a name, it is an ideology, it is a sign of positivity, and it is a vision. Born in Lisbon on Dec 23, 1985, Carolina went on to complete education in Psychology from Portugal. Carolina continued to learn and grow throughout her illustrious career, acquiring executive education in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Social Change from the University for Peace, UN; followed by a course in Financials for Stewardship for non-profit from Harvard; a course on Positive Leadership from the University For Peace – UN, Costa Rica; and finally, ALLMBA by Seth Godin, Class 10. Carolina believes that grooming and educating oneself is a continual process that should extend throughout a person’s life. Carolina is a woman with a mission in life, she states her mission as to “Empower each person to their best ‘sustainable’ version.” And her vision is commensurate with the nobility of her mission, i.e., “To redefine the concept of value/profit – and to optimize the existing economic system into a more conscious and sustainable one.”
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CAROLINA STORY Carolina Almeida Cruz is an out of the box thinker. Along with her academic education, she also strived to gain on, as she terms it, an “alternate to academic path.”
This alternate path included training, workshops, and other coaching programs that added another dimension to Carolina’s versatile personality. The training included: IES – social entrepreneurship (boot camp) from Portugal; SCOAP (coaching) from the Netherlands; WTR (Johanna Macy; Training of the trainers) from the UK; INSEAD (ISEP) from Portugal IHCOS – Humanistic Coaching Certification from Portugal. Much said on Carolina’s “Hard Skills,” now let’s shine some light on the equally great “other side of the coin” or her soft skills. Describing her most memorable achievements and milestones in life, still makes her proud. She mentions the launch of her very first business at the mere age of 13. She recalls that it was a wonderful experience to feel what it means to be an entrepreneur. In addition, she is very proud to mention her humanitarian services with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2009. In this regard, she specifically mentions her time in Nepal, Tibet, and India in 2010, where she had the opportunity to work with women who had suffered sexual abuse, who had worked as sex slaves and the orphans.
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Moved by the experiences of her travels, Carolina developed a very basic and important concept that “All NGOs should be financially self-sustaining and not dependent on donations or external funding.” This was the moment (2012) that gave birth to SAPANA (Social Entrepreneurship as an Opportunity System).
For the concept, Carolina in collaboration with Filipe Castro Soeiro and Rui Teixeira Santos authored a paper in 2013. This paper was based on the methodology of self-sustaining NGOs. Working on the concept, SAPANA became financially self-sustaining in May 2015, a truly great and groundbreaking achievement for the pragmatic Carolina. And it did not stop here, SAPANA received the REN award in 2016. SAPANA services of corporate training’s revenues exceeded 200k by 2017, and “Breaking Bars” was recognized by the UN as a case study in 2018. SAPANA also made it to the top 3 finalists of the INSEAD 2019 awards. In addition to her on-field achievements, Carolina has taught 2 subjects (Finance and Economy and Management) to master’s students at the University of Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics from 2017 onwards. Carolina’s greatness and strength of vision were reflected in her decision to resign as the CEO of SAPANA on 31st Dec 2018, as she believes that a successful leader is one who enables their team enough to the point that he/she becomes useless.
Important link to watch: “Breaking Bars” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW85x34kDBA
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I love the human race, and my inner belief is the biggest we should solve in the world, at least it is my battle, it is a skills waste—each individual not living up to their fullest / best version.
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BreakTHROUGH
What was your life before your breakthrough? I have always been a blessed, fortunate girl. My parents and my family love me, I’m healthy, and I had the opportunity to try whatever I felt like – sports, travelling, good friends, among many other things. I earned my degree in Psychology and my life was gradually evolving up until 2009, when I decided to travel as a backpacker and volunteer to Nepal, India and Tibet. This journey has been itself not only my breakthrough but more than that – a crossroads. I returned to Portugal 10 months later as “another” Carolina. These countries have a totally different civilization, different values, and a different way of living. That had a huge impact on a western girl like me, and the inevitable question came up: was I returning indifferent to all that I’d lived, seen, interacted with, and felt there? Or instead – would I do something with all that was inside of my heart and soul?
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Carolina is all set to make a difference in the world as we know it. Her pragmatism is clear from her motto:
“I am a woman of the world, I’m a seeker, and I try to be a doer.”
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“I’ve returned to Portugal 10 months later, as “another” Carolina. “
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INSTALifestyle What happened that made you have an epiphany and breakthrough/transform your life? I answered the above question and acted on it ever since. The shape of the answer was SAPANA.org, an NGO I founded in 2012, whose main purpose is to work towards our best version as human beings, in the broadest sense. It became my mission. I truly believe the biggest waste in life is the skills waste; in other words, it is the lack of self-awareness. It is us not knowing what we are capable of, which inner talents we have or what we need to develop while alive.
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Why when you were bo
Recognition of Global Shapers from World Economic Forum of atGlobal Palacio de Belem with Cavaco (President Recognition Shapers from World EconomicSilva Forum at Palacio of Republic at that time) de Belem with Cavaco Silva ( Presidente da Republica at that time)
fit in orn to stand out? Dr. Seus
g in e B
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Carolina
How did you become successful? There are no right or wrong formulas to succeed, but I truly believe that we need to have a point of balance between our mind, heart, and actions. A congruency between the three is the path to a state of wholeness. This way of being and acting is part of my day-to-day activities and reveals itself in the way I interact with others.
Integrity – Authenticity – Warm-Heartedness – Intuition.
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INSTALifestyle How is your life since the breakthrough? What did you achieve after your breakthrough? When you deeply, truly know your mission and you act on it, the Universe “conspires.” Everything unfolds in a natural way. Below are some of my achievements: a. International Labour Organization (ILO, UN) – 2009 b. Nepal + Tibet + India (by myself, 1 year, working with women who had suffered sexual abuse, with sex slaves and orphans (Dhalit)) – 2010 c. Developing the Back to Basics concept: all NGOs should be financially self-sustaining and not dependent on donations or external funding – 2011 what gave origin to SAPANA (Jan 2012) d. “Social entrepreneurship as an opportunity system” paper was pub lished, which was written by me, Filipe Castro Soeiro and Rui Teixeira Santos – 2013 (this paper is based on our methodology and our first group of unemployed) e. Ashoka Changemaker (Turkey) – 2013 f. Muhammad Yunus Young Challenger (Mexico) – 2014 g. SAPANA financially self-sustainable – May 2015 h. SAPANA REN award – 2016 i. SAPANA services (Corporate training) revenue exceeds 200k – 2017 j. Breaking Bars was recognized by UN as a Case Study – 2018 k. SAPANA is on the TOP 3 finalists of INSEAD award (the final is at the end of January 2019) l. Teaching 2 subjects for master’s students (Finance, Economy and Management) at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, 2017 – onwards m. December 31, 2018 – my resignation letter as CEO of SAPANA. It is one of my major achievements; it is living proof that my team is capable and that I’m no longer needed. I think each leader should become “useless.”
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“I’m an earth girl, but I belong to the ocean. That’s my element.” Carolina Almeida Cruz
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Tell us how it is a day in your life? How do you plan your business day?
At Work: To-do list for everything. I stick to my plan until something more interesting gets in my way. I consider myself a fast worker, in the sense that I try not to procrastinate to much. When I travel: I love to travel, and I love to do it without an agenda and a plan; without time. I’m a go with the flow girl, you know? What is your daily pattern that you consider essential for your daily life? Asking myself if I’m happy and fulfilled in that day / each day. Trying to be my best version. It is challenging. Where do you go for lunch? It depends on where I am working, If I’m with clients, and which part of the city I am In. I love “tascas” – Tradicional Portuguese restaurants Where do you go shopping? That’s not something I consider a ritual or a habit, but online or wherever is nearby or I am passing by. What do you do to release the stress and nurture yourself? Massage, relaxing by the sea (I live pretty close), and walking/Pilates. What can’t you live without in your daily day life? Love and freedom.
“I consider myself a fast worker, in the sense that I try not to procrastinate too much.”
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“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
Confucius
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How can others be like you and be a change to the world as well? Wow. Please be not. My grandma used to say: – “Carolina don’t give any kind of advice, people should find their way with their choices.” I couldn’t agree with her more. To sum up and as I’ve mentioned before, if you are aligned with your mind, heart, and soul, then your actions will unfold naturally once they are embodied with truthfulness and integrity. And your uniqueness shows itself to the world.
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“Your uniqueness shows itself to the world.” Carolina Almeida Cruz
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“I admire people; I can even look up to them, but I don’t become a groupie. I’ve never had an idol. I’m overwhelmed by people stories, eye-to-eye connections and love-talks.”
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I LOVE WHAT I DO I don’t like fake. I love to read people that open your minds and hearts. I would love to die tomorrow knowing and feeling what I feel today: fulfillment. I’ve been all or nothing but my decisions drain me to the bone. I’m not impulsive.
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I strongly believe in the famous saying of Muhammad Yunus:
“Poverty does not belong in civilized human society. Its proper place is in a museum. That’s where it will be.”
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WHAT IS THE S LAB IMMERSIVE THAI? The S LAB – Immersive Thai is a emotional intelligent workspace aiming to promote more self-aware individuals in the different areas of their life. Among everyone involved, from facilitators to participants, we co-create solutions that lead to achievement of personal goals and societal goals, through the development of personal and social skills.
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In a “World Within” and “Outside World“ journey, we have an immersive program that tests and develops the elasticity of the comfort zone on a physical, intellectual and emotional level. On a 15-day trip to Thailand we propose you to embrace the traditional culture of this country, from its rich gastronomy and its strong spirituality to the conviviality with this genuine and smiling people, who approach us spontaneously with a sincere look in a transforming experience. At the end of this trip we aim to create more responsiveness to the following questions:
| I identify my talents | I have new goals | | I identify my strengths | I have a new action plan | | I am closer to my best version | The S LAB - Immersive Thai is a Certified Training, resulting from a partnership between SAPANA/Volunt2Thai in 2017 aiming to optimize the know-how and competences of both organizations and to continue the commitment of SAPANA to keep contributing to the growth and sustainability of Volunt2Thai.
METHODOLOGY The Training Program methodology is designed in such a way as to require active participation and exchange among participants. It is based on the participants’ own experiences and is based on concrete actions for the future. The methodology is based on the fundamental principles of the cycle of experiential learning and non-formal education. The training will be developed and planned throughout the journey, accordingly with the participants and the local context. This methodology brings strong insights to self-learning and community, specifically developing initiative, entrepreneurship, and social and civic skills. WHEN DOES the S LAB – Immersive Thai START? June 22nd to July 6th of 2019 WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Anyone between 18 and 65 years old, provided they are open to their deconstruction and transformation, with a flexible spirit and adaptability (or who seek to develop it).
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SUMMARY
Dates: June 22nd to July 6th, 2019;
Accommodation: 5 nights’ accommodation in a double (or multiple) room, bed and breakfast, hostel, hotel, guest house or local lodging, 7 nights in a double room (or multiple room) at Volunt2Thai Village, 1 night camping and 1 night on a train in 2nd class bed compartment; Meals included: 12 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 7 dinners; Limited availability: 16 people; Included:
Accommodation 14 nights + 24 meals + Local transport for group trips + 9 sessions of Personal Empowerment (estimated duration between 3 and 5 hours per session) + Volunt2Thai volunteer activities + Follow up by 2 SAPANA.org facilitators;
Not included: International Flights (reference value: 750 €) + Travel Insurance (mandatory) + Optional visit program * in Chiang Mai (reference value: 100€); Investment Program: 1.400€. * Optional program – in order to make the trip more accessible to all, certain activities are not included in the price of the program. Nevertheless, they must be pre-organized; that is, whoever wants to access the activity should confirm while making the registration. So on the days off, everyone does what they want. They can also book this activity on the spot, but always depending on availability and prices at the time.
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What is your last message for the readers? “Never underestimate the power of your vulnerability because it’s by acknowledging it that you accept yourself unconditionally and start an authentic life.”
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InstaLifestyle THANK uYOU ch Very M
Thank you my beloved readers and followers for reading InstaLifestyle and most of all thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you very much Carolina Almeida Cruz for being a valuable part of this project and for being so supportive.
INSTAlifestyle was developed and created by digitalldesign with the collaboration of Carolina Almeida Cruz. For any enquires email: info@digitalldesign.com.au Follow us on Instagram: instalifestyle_lux and digitalldesign_lux