Is From: Pereira, Colombia
Lives in: East Hampton, NY
Went to: St. John's University; Florida International University Graduate School of Business
Works at: Aceneth, LLC
Attended programs in:
- Brazil 2009
Johanna first met Service For Peace through a connection at her alma-mater of the Florida International University Graduate School of Management. Having recently co-founded Aceneth, LLC., a multi-media services company founded on the principle of social entrepreneurship, Johanna jumped at the opportunity to participate in the Global PeaceMakers Brazil program in 2009, serving the Community of Peace of Alagado da Suzana, Brasilia.
Participating as a volunteer, Johanna also filmed the entire experience using only Flip cameras. She and her Aceneth team, including Gloria Camacho and Jenny Ramirez, then went on to produce several shorts and a feature documentary about the program. The documentary follows several GPM participants and their experience on the program. You can find all of Johanna and Aceneth's footage from the trip as well as their other work on their you.tube channel at Aceneth TV or on their website.
Johanna says:
I’d love for all young people to learn from my experience and become aware of the kinds of things that they too can do in order to make a difference. Doing good doesn’t have to happen abroad. It starts at home and then it grows. For my brother and I we decided to go abroad because we wanted to see how the rest of the world lives. This made us become more appreciative of what we have at home. I think the best part of this program is that it focuses on young changemakers. This is how I believe we will produce impact in the world, by getting more and more young people involved in changemaking, getting them to see how they can help create communities of peace around the world.
My biggest learning lesson from the Brazil trip was seeing young people in action. One of the leaders of the program was in her young 20s, and her motivation and compassion made the team succeed. Seeing her lead was the best learning lesson for me. I was one of the oldest in the group and she taught me how to lead. I’ve been in charge of large teams inside large corporations, and this leader taught me more than I had ever learned before. I was able to bring patience, compassion and gratitude into my life on a whole new level. I've brought that back home and increased it 10-fold and more!”