LydiaSimas

Lydia Simas is the Solidarity Program Officer for Brazil at Grassroots International. Since joining Grassroots in 2013, she has worked closely with Brazilian partners, and she has taken on a variety of roles prior to her current one. These include managing grantmaking systems, coordinating a Grassroots Feminisms collaboration, managing special programs initiatives, and leading delegations.

Lydia’s commitment to social justice and internationalism was shaped by being raised biculturally (with a Brazilian father and mother from the US) and spending her early childhood in rural Brazil. In 2002 and 2003, she had the opportunity to attend the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where she got her first exposure to Latin American mass movements.
She feels incredibly honored to get to work so closely with Grassroots International’s movement partners, continually learning from their wisdom, analysis, and vision, and accompanying their work through listening and strategizing for effective grantmaking and solidarity social action.

Before joining Grassroots International, Lydia was a domestic worker organizer at the Brazilian Women’s Group in Boston. She also worked in retail for many years, taught English to speakers of other languages, and organized community-building retreats.