Lorena’s Rise: Occupying spaces not designed for her

Growing up in São Bernardo do Campo, an industrial medium-sized town in great São Paulo area, Lorena Fernandes grew up knowing that opportunity would not come easily. Her parents had only a basic education, and the family's financial means were limited. She is a wheelchair user. The spaces she aspired to – universities, corporate offices, leadership rooms – were rarely designed with people like her in mind. 

She went anyway.  

Today, Lorena is the Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator at Unilever, one of the world's leading consumer goods multinationals. Her path there began with the One Million Opportunities (1MiO) initiative from UNICEF Brazil and Generation Unlimited, which connected her to Unilever's Young Apprentice programme. She entered young, she says, with "simple dreams and a huge desire to learn." 

What the company gave her was more than a job. "I have a visible disability, but in the eyes of Unilever this has never been a hindrance to anything," she says. "I even saw another Lorena, besides the one with the wheelchair. I really found a place for everyone." 

For Lorena, the internship deepened that transformation. She developed communication, strategic thinking, planning, and negotiation skills, building the confidence and autonomy that now anchor her professional life. She became a contributor to her family's wellbeing. And she began to understand the weight of occupying a room and of being visible in spaces where people like her are still rare. 

"I remember entering restaurants and places where I previously didn't have access and realising that bodies like mine are still rare in high leadership environments and at the top of organisations. This realisation moves me." 

The 1MiO initiative, launched in October 2020 as a Public-Private-Youth Partnership by UNICEF and partners, aims to create skills development, employment, and participation opportunities for vulnerable young people.  

In Brazil, youth face a persistent employment gap. While the national unemployment rate stands at 5.1%, youth unemployment (ages 18–24) remains significantly higher at approximately 14.9%, limiting access to skills development and economic participation.

Since 1Mio’s inception, 680,300 opportunities (apprenticeships, internships, and formal jobs) have been filled by vulnerable youth (ages 18–29). 1Mio has received support from various strategic partners including the Education Above All Foundation.    

In Lorena’s case, as Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, she now creates the pathways she once needed. Her ambition is to become a senior leader within a multinational, not only for herself, but to make visible what has long been invisible. 

"That girl who dreamed small, today dreams big. She dreams of being a strong leader within a multinational. And, more than that, she dreams of paving the way so that other talents can arrive, occupy, and remain in these places that were denied to us for so long. My journey began with an opportunity. That's why I insist on creating and advocating opportunities for those who come after me," says Lorena. 

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