Hi. This is Paul Zellizer, and welcome to another episode of the Awarepreneurs podcast. On this show, we dive deep into wisdom from some of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Our goal is to help you increase your positive impact, your profitability, and your quality of Before we get into today's topic, I have 1 request. If you could hit subscribe and do a review on your favorite podcast app, It helps more people learn how to have a positive impact through a values based business. Thanks so much for considering it. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce you to Juliana Gutierrez, And our topic is regenerative initiatives in emerging economy. Juliana is a transdisciplinary leader with 15 years of experience In things like corporate social responsibility, microfinance, urban planning, sustainability, climate change, and regenerative development.

Her work has been recognized as in won awards by organizations such as Ashoka, Echoing Green, and UNESCO. Juliana, welcome to the show.

Hi, Paul. Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm I'm really excited to join you today, because not only because I've been very inspired by the just recently, but also because, I I just love to Have conversations and learn from other people. And and I guess that in any, encounter that we have, we had the chance to learn a lot. So this is, a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me.

It's such an honor. And listeners, full disclosure, Juliana and I got to meet in person. I was recently in Colombia, most of the Time in Medellin, a little bit of time in Bogota, and my wonderful brother, Craig Zelizer, some of you know him, put together an impact leaders brunch. Juliana and I got to meet at that brunch, and I get to hear about your work, Juliana. And, I just was so touched by what's happening in Medellin, and we'll touch on that. I also have some other episodes coming up soon. So listeners, hopefully, you won't get Sick of me, like, just raving about Medellin and what's happening in Medellin, but Julianna is part of a whole amazing Ecosystem of impact leaders in Colombia and especially in Medellin, so I want you all to know what's going on. And I was just So impressed both by you, Juliana, but also this whole ecosystem of what's happening.

It really is quite incredible. So, Julianna, to get us started, one of the things I'd like to help our listeners do is just get a little bit of sense of, like, who is this person and How did you get into the work that you do now? And one of the things as I was doing my homework, we we have to kinda Give acknowledgement to the generation that came before you. Your parents, had a big influence on your life and some Significant role in the career path you chose. Is that fair to say?

Yeah. Yeah, Paul. I like to tell a story related to that. And it's the during my childhood, I had the opportunity to accompany my parents on their Voluntary medical admissions to rural and very poor poor areas. And while my parents were, You know, taking care of the medical needs of the community, I spend my time playing and interacting with kids my age, Typically between 6 to 8 years old. And those moments were filled with an immense joy, and it felt as At the at that moment, I it felt like we were all equals, united by a simple pleasure as childhood It's it's what I said. But as I grew older and revisited those places as a teenager, I realized my friends From those early days, we're facing really hard realities. Many of them were forced into child labor, some other word, deprived, or or the educational opportunities, or they even, You know, they were struggling to have their basic human needs met.