Julia Gomes Maia

Julia Gomes Maia

Brazil

When I was 13 my dad used to work as a school bus driver in the richest zone of my town, Rio de Janeiro, and through the bus window I could feel inequality slapping my face. Big schools with 2 libraries and swimming pools; students would either talk about international trips or outstanding opportunities. They would never understand the feeling of not having opportunities just because you are a child or teenager from the periphery. Then, my eagerness to change that reality spoke louder: I would study in a school where I could make a new reality of opportunities for myself and other low-income students.

Since then, studying at Pedro II has become my biggest goal. However, when my greater inspiration was gone my world stopped: losing my father one week before the school entrance exam was like losing hope. Still, I decided I would dignify the endless times he called me brave, and I took the audacity to do that entrance test even though I was still in mourning. I wasn’t doing that only for me, but also for my dad and those hundreds of young people from the periphery.

My dream of becoming a singer needed to evolve into something more befitting to my reality: Using my own voice to expand the voices of my community. From a public school, I tell the story of how I got accepted at Pedro II and bring hope and inspiration to my peers. I keep leading my fellows to what I call victory, the ambition of making their own dreams come true. Now I understand, my life is not about singing alone on a stage. Instead, my voice is my own way to help people to get up on their stages.