Graciela Selaimen, Latin America Lead

Graciela is a journalist who has been exploring multiple ways to tell stories to foster social justice. She believes women can heal the planet and stories can alleviate suffering, beliefs that led to her specialization in gender and local development and a master’s degree in communication and culture from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Graciela is based in Brazil and is proud of being a pioneer woman in the field of Internet and digital rights in the country.

As a Senior Program Officer with the Ford Foundation, Graciela developed strategies and programs in the areas of Technology and Society, Creativity and Freedom of Expression, and Civic Engagement and Governance, crosscutting gender and race perspectives. Her work has contributed to consolidating the field of digital rights in Brazil and to bolster the independent investigative journalism ecosystem. She has also worked to strengthen collaboration between arts and culture initiatives with social justice and socio-environmental organizations.

Prior to joining Ford in 2013, she was a co-founder and director of the Nupef Institute, a research and advocacy organization on digital rights and internet governance, whose work influences national and international policy and debate. From 2008 to 2013, she was editor in chief of the poliTICs magazine, the first publication dedicated to digital policy and rights in Brazil.