Maria Cecilia Lins is a social entrepreneur and educator with over two decades of leadership in community-based education. She founded and has led Instituto Pró-Saber SP in Paraisópolis since 2003 and holds a doctorate in Education (PUC-SP), with additional executive education programs at Stanford and the Center on the Developing Child (Harvard partnership). She serves on nonprofit boards and is a director within Grupo Mulheres do Brasil. With deep experience teaching in low-income communities, she is now focused on bringing practical and technical expertise to public policy improvement. Since 2023, she has engaged in intensive anti-racist learning to advance more equitable education systems.