Celebrating Women: In Conversation

Description

At Portugal-US Chamber of Commerce, we’re celebrating International Women’s Month with an in-person conversation spotlighting some of the Portuguese women who make a difference in the US, from different fields and career stages. 

On March 17 at 6 PM, Catarina Carvalho (UN Women), Ines Ayer (Google DeepMind), and Joana Almeida e Sousa (Amazon) will share their journeys, insights, and lessons learned, helping inspire more women to take the leap to the US. We will also have the honor of welcoming the closing remarks of the Consul General of Portugal in New York, Luísa Pais Lowe. 

Spots are very limited, so we encourage you to RSVP early. If your plans change, please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer your spot to someone on the waitlist. A valid ID is required to access the building, and only registered attendees will be admitted. 

Get to know the speakers: 

Catarina Carvalho (UN Women) 

Director of the Intergovernmental Section at UN Women, she has over 25 years of experience in multilateral institutions, including within the UN and EU systems. She served as an official at the Permanent Missions of Portugal, Spain, as well as at the Delegation of the European Union to the UN. 

Before joining UN Women, she was the representative of International Planned Parenthood Federation at the United Nations, where she led the organization’s offices in Geneva and New York. 

Prior to that, she worked as a Policy Adviser to the Task Force on the International Conference on Population and Development and, in earlier roles, conducted research on recommendations from the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and on United Nations Development Fund for Women programs in Latin America, as well as supporting the development of Guinea-Bissau’s National Gender Equality Policy. 

A Portuguese national, Catarina holds a master’s degree in Political and Social Sciences from The New School in New York. 

Ines Ayer (Google DeepMind) 

A humanist designer with a 360º approach to problem solving. Inês uses design as a shifter of society, through visual identity, concept and community. Recognized by Forbes for the list of 30under30. Born in São Miguel Island in the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America, she graduated in 2016 from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon in the Communication Design course, where in the final year she was part of the development team of the finalist exhibition and collaborated with the atelier TVM designers. In 2017 she left for Berlin to do an internship at Superunion.

After this period in Germany she decided to embark on a volunteer project at a school in Thailand. On her return to Portugal, she came back with greater motivation to invest in new social initiatives such as Decoding Creativity Barcelona, High Potentials ADCE, The Design Kids Lisbon, OFFF Academy powered by Adobe, Próxima Geração Apolitical Academy, Girls in Tech Columbia University and United Nations SDG. Programs that influenced and defined her path to build her independent design atelier, founding Studio Ayer in 2019. She has also pursued a Post Graduation program in Applied Management and Economics at the NOVA business school in Lisbon to reinforce her leadership skills. She holds an MFA in Design Entrepreneurship from School of Visual Arts and Master in Design for Distributed Innovation, a Worldwide experience from Fab Academy and Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. 

Currently she is based in New York working as a Creative Manager at Google Deepmind, having worked previously at AKQA, Instrument for Google projects and at Pentagram. She keeps her scope of interests broad with a keen interest in culture and engineering biotech. Advocating to generate discussions about democracy, climate change and social equity. Inês is also a member of Global Shapers Lisbon, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. 

Joana Almeida e Sousa (Amazon) 

Joana Almeida e Sousa is a Principal of Entertainment Economic Development Policy at Amazon. She works across Amazon’s global entertainment businesses, including Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Music, engaging with governments at all levels and building relevant partnerships and programs for our entertainment businesses. 

Joana has twenty years of experience in public policy and now leads Amazon Studios Economic Development Policy, for Mexico, Latin America, Spain and Portugal. 

Before taking on this role, and for the past 5 years, Joana was leading Public Policy in Brazil, for Amazon Brazil. Joana joined Amazon from Telefônica, where she was Regulatory Affairs Consultant. 

Prior to Telefônica, Joana worked at Bialer & Falsetti Law FirmLaw Firm (BFA), where she worked with internet, media and telecom public policy related issued and providing counseling to BFA clients; and prior to that, she served the DG CONNECT (former DG INFSO) at the European Commission. Joana joined the European Commission from Vieira de Almeida Law firm, she worked at the Telecommunications, Media and IT department. Joana holds a B.A. in Law from Coimbra University.