The Natura Ekos Hackathon ended almost a year ago, but it continues to inspire many people. Back in early 2016, we gathered 32 individuals from various places and different backgrounds for a marathon of open innovation and prototyping in the heart of the Amazon. The challenge was to find solutions to help connect Nature and the Amazon to people's daily lives, but the meeting yielded much more fruit.
When she arrived in Belém, Marcela Porto was an economics student with no experience in programming or history of participating in innovation marathons. "When I signed up, I didn't really know what a hackathon was. What caught my attention was the opportunity to go to Pará, get to know the dynamics of a large company with riverside communities, and think of innovative ways to change the relationship between man and nature," she recalls.
At the end of the four-day experience, Marcela not only became one of the winners of the Hackathon as a member of the Quintal Mágico Group, but she also discovered a new passion. Today, she is in San Francisco, United States, learning to program. A demonstration of how open innovation has the potential to win minds and hearts. “It’s time to participate in more hackathons, learn a lot, and dive even deeper into the world of innovation,” she asserts.
From here in Brazil, we wish Marcela many new learnings and take this opportunity to invite you to check out her full testimony and get inspired as well.
“When I signed up to be part of the Natura Ekos Hackathon, I didn’t really know what a hackathon was. What caught my attention was the opportunity to go to Pará, get to know the dynamics of a large company with riverside communities, and think of innovative ways to change the relationship between man and nature.
For that reason, I think I will never forget my feeling of shock (and slight despair!) when two people from the MIT Media Lab showed up, talking about generating technologies and programming. Huh?
I wasn’t the only one. The group chosen to be part of this experience was very diverse. Thankfully, we had support from the Natura team, the MIT Media Lab, and the guys from Fab Lab Belém! The magical backyard, my beloved group's project, was the winner, and we even received opportunities to venture with the idea after the win.
I came back from this trip completely intrigued by the power of technology. I had never seen the transformative potential of innovation in this way, in practice, in the making. I felt inspired and empowered like I rarely have in my life, and this technology thing stuck in my mind. I thought to myself, "wow, I can be more than just a user of technology, I can create with it, and the possibilities are endless!". Yes, I arrived a little late to the party, but ready to not let it pass me by!
So I decided to give a chance to my curiosity and enchantment, and after taking a basic Java course and seeing that it is possible, I left everything I was doing in Brazil and today I am in San Francisco learning to program! The course is a bootcamp, aimed at turning people with no prior experience into junior developers. It’s also time to participate in more hackathons, learn a lot, and dive even deeper into the world of innovation!
Not bad for someone who, at the beginning of last year, was just an economics student who had no idea what Ruby, Python, or Arduino was, right?”
Feeling inspired by Marcela's story? Stay tuned to our blog because we will soon bring more news about her experience in the USA.
