Spirit Companion: Cat
Fav Quote: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde

Veronica Veloso is a young ecofeminist from Brasilia, Brazil. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations, with a Specialization in Development of Social Projects and Public Policies and Justice of Gender in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her first interaction with civil society activism happened dring her teenage years, when Veronica directed a group on environmental sustainability at her school and volunteered for a large international organization. “I grew older, and I came to understand that the struggle for the preservation of the environment goes through the feminist and anti-racist struggle,” she says. Through forming a research group on women in the Middle East, she studied feminism in college. Veronica co-founded a women’s collective, MARIAS, and organized several events that focused on the discussion of human rights issues. Afterwards, she worked for the United Nations in the Free&Equal campaign, on the LGBTI population and in the UN Women facing violence against women. In addition, she has organized women’s circles on self-care, believing that activism is only possible if we think about care among women on the front lines. Veronica likes being in nature, especially near the waterfalls. “As I live in the city, I cultivate my own nature, and I love taking care of the more than fifty medicinal plants that live with me,” she says. She loves to cuddle her cat and do Ashtanga yoga, and her true passion is being among women. Veronica speaks Portuguese, English and French fluently.