Elisa Maria Campos grew up in the periphery of Rio de Janeiro, specifically in Praça Seca. Her love for reading and leadership skills were evident from an early age. At 13 years old, she created and was elected director of the local school newspaper. On the weekends, she used to join her family’s social work within the favelas of the region.

Her family was deeply engaged in charity activities, and they used it unconsciously as a strategy to overcome the murder of Elisa`s grandpa in front of their house. 

Within the years, she understood that information is the most powerful tool to change lives, find solutions, engage community  and avoid that new families and children need or prefer to choose criminality as a life path.

As a result, she became a journalist and decided to especialize in information for social change.

Since then, she has self-learned different languages, lived in Brazil, Italy, South Africa, India, and Germany and worked for relevant international organisations in projects using communications, information management and social sciences skills. She has work experiences in countries like Brazil, the US, Finland, Thailand, Malawi, Angola, Mexico, and Mozambique.

Her focus on human-centered projects led to her to a passion for behavioural sciences and tech4dev to amplify the impact of her work.