In this episode of our Changemaker Series, I had the great privilege of talking with my changemaker friend, Sandra Lima Argo. I call her a “chameleon” because she has an amazing ability to adapt well to any circumstance and to help others do so. Much has changed in the world since we sat down for this interview back in the spring, but as you will see, as always, Sandra has embraced the challenge as an opportunity to change and grow and to take others with her on an exciting and fulfilling journey.
Sandra has many roles putting good use to her unique experiences and expertise as a Brazilian educator now living and working in the United States as CEO and Founder of her company Liaison America, Director of Education for the Museum of the Bible and Director of ABRACE (Association of Brazilian Cultural Education). She tells her story using the Blue Roads Changemaker Framework, Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World.
Watch, listen and read below to hear her perspectives and how she is cultivating changemakers by developing lifelong liaisons for building connections between her home country and the United States.
Homegrown Sandra
Sandra was born on an island in northern Brazil. She credits her family and her teachers for having the most influence on her life. From her entrepreneurial father, she gained the spirit of hard work and from her mother, she learned self confidence with messages like, “Believe in who you are and what you can bring to the table.”
One particular beloved teacher provided wise words she has never forgotten. “Every room you are in, you are going to be part of the conversation. So make sure you are there entirely. ”
These are things that I bring with me wherever I go. I think I can add to the conversation. If the conversation is related to subjects that I'm involved in, I really want to help people in that context. It's because I had those wonderful people in my life that influenced me to think like that.
“I really come from nature. I say this to all my friends, because nature is a big part of who I am.”
Solution Focused Sandra
Whenever a problem or issue arises for Sandra, she thinks of her hardworking and determined father who developed these same characteristics in her. She's not one to give up easily or give energy to the possibility of defeat.
When I lived an issue in my life, I always thought about what I could do to get out of that context.
Whether what she faced was personal or professional, Sandra looked for ways to address the issue head on. The solution sometimes required a willingness to relocate for greater professional or educational opportunity. She moved from her island home to the southern region of Brazil where more technology was available to her as an educator to support her peers, her students and the teachers she supervised as a coordinator. She traveled across her country to study and develop her skills so she could do the same for others. Later as her interest in international education increased, she traveled abroad to Canada, the United States and the UK to enhance her experience and expertise.
She missed her children during these travels, but Sandra knew she was making an investment in her life and theirs by doing so. Thankfully, her mother was there to take care of the children and support her daughter to become all she could be as a learner and a leader.
All of this added to her “portfolio of experiences”.
I think it really molded me, framed me, and gave me a new frame of the world because I went outside my little box… I never saw issues as blocks or obstacles. Issues are opportunities for me to do something different and maybe something better.
Instead of focusing on problems as obstacles, Sandra tends to take her mind quickly to “What I did to get out of that?”
Sandra's Patchwork
I never did anything alone in my life that I can remember.
Working with others across a diverse spectrum comes naturally to Sandra. She values the perspectives gained through friends and professors who've helped guide her and develop her proficiency with the English language and various cultures in which she's lived and worked.
We know it's challenging to work with people that are different from us. We have to really be able to listen, to understand, to put ourselves in their shoes.
She says it wasn't always easy listening well and letting others be different from herself. Over time, with necessity and good examples from others, she began to recognize the great value in doing so.
It was difficult to navigate different worlds and meeting different people so learning how to listen to them was a big, big lesson in my life. Learning how to grow together… Learning that I'm not growing alone.
When I'm listening to someone and when I'm giving myself the opportunity to really understand where they come from with the problems or the situations or the questions that they ask me, sometimes they're coming from a place of “let's grow together in it”. It was hard to listen to that and to read between the lines.
I think today my life experience has been around people that are so different from me, but I'm more open to them. When I open myself to them, I see them putting their guards down…I have a blessing to work with a team of people that are also very well equipped with emotional intelligence. When I cannot articulate something with someone that I need, I check with my peers…
In this way, Sandra brings humility and openness to the process of communication and turns negotiations and conversations over to her colleagues when she knows they can work best with the situation. She celebrates the discovery of “wonderful ways of being with people that are different from me and accomplishing something together.”
We are here to grow together. You grow when you step back. You don't grow only when you step forward.
Changemaker Sandra
Sandra created Liaison America in 2011 with the intention of helping young people develop their greatest potential to impact the world. She wanted to bring Brazilian students to the United States to showcase their talents to American universities. Educators were inspired to ask for opportunities to travel to the U.S. to expand their own learning as well. When she brought the vision of these educators into reality, she found that U.S. educators were in turn very interested in learning travel experiences in Brazil.
Then we started creating this network of, what I call, liaisons, which are people that are connected. The word liaison is so important for us. At Liaison America, liaison is the person who connects.
The educators who work with Liaison America's “To Be” program connect online and in person, traveling and learning together and often staying connected for years. Likewise, the high school students who participate in LA”s “Triple L Program” become fast friends as they work on “Leadership, Learning and (the skills to be) Liaisons”.
We propose that they create a project that will impact their community . . . their school, their street, their neighborhood, their state, their city.
I've had students impacting the whole world and the universe, as you can imagine. ..
Sandra helps the students understand that they can start to have that impact and be changemakers in the NOW. (Be sure to watch the video or listen to the podcast at the link below to hear loads of examples of the changemaker-students Sandra has inspired and encouraged in their work.)
Sandra has partnered with secondary schools and universities in both countries to provide these rich opportunities for the participants of her programs. Liaison America has always prepared participants for their travel programs by working first in an online environment to prepare for the trip and get them started on the projects they will present to audiences of influential leaders as they travel.
With restrictions on travel in 2020, Sandra's work has had to transition again. Liaison America is offering more e-learning experiences for educators to exchange ideas internationally. She's also begun working to create powerful cross cultural learning experiences through online programming in her newest roles as Director of Education at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC and Director of ABRACE.
As you can see, Sandra's capacity to adjust to changing circumstances and to work cross culturally continue to serve her well as she serves the world in a big way as a changemaker who fosters the abilities of changemaking in others.
To create impact, you don't have to wait until you figure out what career you are going to have or in what field you're going to work.
Sandra's life and work are a testament to that. Whatever the circumstance in the world or in your own life, we have the capacity to make a positive change that ripples out and affects the world in beneficial ways. Take a look at the UN Sustainable Development Goals listed below. Can you see how Sandra's work is having an impact on #4 Quality Education #10 Reduced Inequalities and literally ALL of the others because of the way she encourages her students to step up and take action on issues that matter to them? I surely can.
What about you? What are you doing to create change from your own circumstance in the world? Get in touch below and let us know.
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