From growing up in a small rural community to leading a multi-million-real sanitation initiative, Letícia Puras’ journey is a powerful testament to the transformative force of education. As the first in her family to attend university, she carried both the weight of uncertainty and the determination to create change.
What began as a personal dream soon evolved into a mission to improve living conditions in vulnerable communities — a mission propelled onto a national stage and strengthened by Puras’ time in the Crossroads Emerging Leaders Program, the predecessor to the Aspire Leaders Program.
Transforming Lived Experience into Impact
Born and raised in a rural community located within Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, Puras was the first person in her family to access higher education. Her experiences as a first-generation college student instilled in her a drive to seek opportunities that would expand her horizons and open more doors. In 2022, Puras’ journey intersected with Aspire — a turning point that would reshape her path.
“When I was accepted into the Aspire cohort and began the program, my life took a new direction,” she said. “I was the first in my family to attend university, full of dreams but also uncertainties. Through this experience, I was able to turn an idea into something tangible.”
Puras’ budding idea came from her own lived experience. Growing up, she witnessed how unsanitary living conditions impacted the families in her community. Limited knowledge regarding proper sanitation practices opened the door to social vulnerability and health struggles.
In her research, she discovered that low-cost, high-efficiency sanitation solutions already existed — solutions capable of transforming rural communities like her own. Determined to improve the lives of her fellow community members and those beyond her hometown, Puras began working on a way to implement these practices across different areas of Minas Gerais.
Puras founded Sustainability and Health in Action, which was first approved as a research scholarship project at Universidade Professor Edson Antônio Velano (UNIFENAS). Its goal was to bring environmental education and basic sanitation technologies to rural communities in Minas Gerais — Campo do Meio and Alfenas. Her innovative project also played a decisive role in her acceptance into the highly competitive Master’s program in Public Health at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), one of the most renowned research institutions in the world.
While continuing work on her initiative, Puras achieved her most significant milestone yet: the approval of her project under the Watershed Revitalization Program, submitted in partnership with Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL). Sustainability and Health in Action secured an investment of R$ 5,790,514 to serve rural communities across 11 municipalities surrounding Lake Furnas in southern Minas Gerais, bringing essential sanitation solutions to underserved populations.
Education is Key
Throughout Puras’ journey, Aspire played a fundamental role in strengthening her self-confidence, expanding her global perspective, and helping her structure her project methodology. Pursuing the dream of transforming her reality and the reality of others required skills she had fostered in the program: resilience, courage, and a deep commitment to social impact.
“Education transformed my life, my family’s life, and now it is transforming my community,” she said. “Being able to return to my territory with technical knowledge and contribute to improving people’s living conditions is deeply rewarding. I truly believe that we can only break the barriers of inequality through education and the opportunities it creates.”
Puras stands as an inspiring example of resilience, leadership, and innovation, demonstrating how access to education can drive lasting and systemic transformation.
“I remember looking at my family, who never had access to the same educational opportunities, and realizing that I was at a university, participating in an international program connected to the best university in the world. It was incredibly emotional,” she said. “Aspire gave me not only technical knowledge, but also global perspective and a sense of belonging. It showed me that I could occupy spaces that once seemed impossible.”
Puras’ experience with Aspire was also instrumental in enabling her to take another important step: founding her own project development and consulting company.
“Aspire was not just a program — it was a turning point in my life.”
