Ivone Maria Pires da Cruz
IVLP Impact Award Project: S.E.E.D. (Skills Empowered to Entrepreneurial Development)Portugal
Ivone Maria Pires da Cruz is an entrepreneur with a mission to lead other entrepreneurs to success. She is a self-proclaimed organizer and moderator of professional events, and a booster of projects and talent. After years improving her skills in human resources, projects and management, in 2016 she started a new cycle of her professional life by opening LINK, the biggest co-working space of Viana do Castelo, designed to be the professional home of any person or company, national or foreign.
She is currently attending a specialization course in Project Management at Tecminho (University of Minho) / Associação Portuguesa de Gestão de Projetos, aiming at International Project Management Association certification. She also has a passion for managing cultural, musical, sporting, and professional events. Ivone is a trainer, mentor and speaker focused on entrepreneurship, remote work and professional communities.
IVLP Impact Award Project: S.E.E.D. (Skills Empowered to Entrepreneurial Development)
The S.E.E.D. (Skills Empowered for Entrepreneurship and Development) project planted the seeds of entrepreneurship and leadership among 60 socially disadvantaged youth ages 6 to 10 in Darque. In addition to the sessions, an interactive e-book was produced that, through storytelling, addresses resilience and persistence, a positive attitude, overcoming obstacles, achievements and failures, in a logic of empowerment and awareness. By the end of the project, children were sharing ideas for entrepreneurial ventures such as creating a machine to transform old clothes into new clothes, reducing waste, and providing protection so that children do not get hurt when they fall.
Project S.E.E.D Website and E-Book
"[The impacts] will certainly be valuable and a great stimulus for positive change." - Ivone Maria Pires da Cruz
IVLP Exchange Experience
Ivone participated in the IVLP Project Youth Leadership, organized by the U.S. Department of State and World Learning.
Ivone's exchange experience led her to develop her IVLP Impact Award Project: "With focus organizations in St. Louis, Teen Feed in Seattle, and Americorps in Washington D.C., I had the opportunity to wake up to the importance of the impact caused by projects aimed at suppressing the needs of underrepresented populations."
U.S. Communities Visited
Washington, DC; St. Louis, MO; Seattle, WA