Congratulations to Cecília Lopez!

The Ladies of Liberty Alliance would like to congratulate Cecília Lopez on being named the October 2018 LOLA of the month! Cecília is LOLA Brazil’s Chapter Director and Chapter Leader of LOLA Rio de Janeiro. Cecília was chosen for this honor for her unwavering dedication to supporting LOLA’s mission to create an empowered network of libertarian women.

In a few short months, Cecília’s hard work and determination has allowed for LOLA to form chapters in 6 states within Brazil, with another chapter coming soon. Keep an eye out for that exciting announcement! Cecília explains that only 11.7% of the liberty movement in Brazil is composed of women, and she’s working hard to balance the scales.

(From left to right: LOLA Pernambuco and LOLA Rio de Janeiro)

We asked Cecilia about her experiences in LOLA thus far. Here’s what she had to say!

How did your involvement with LOLA begin?
I started getting involved with LOLA after the LibertyCon 2017 conference in Washington D.C. I saw LOLA’s table and simply loved LOLA’s mission of empowering and educating women in the liberty movement. I wanted to bring that back to my country in Brazil. I started a LOLA chapter first in my state, Rio de Janeiro, and in a few months we managed to expand the organization to other regions of the country.

Why is LOLA important to you and women in Brazil?
The absence of women in the Brazilian liberty movement is enormous. Our state leader of LOLA Pernambuco, Deborah Bizarria, did some research and found that only 11.7% of the movement here is composed of women. LOLA Brazil is not only important to change this terrible ratio, but also to build a more respectful, comfortable and friendly environment to classical liberal and libertarian women. LOLA is important to Brazil as a whole to show that we can fight for more respect and less sexism without being from the left. Most of all, LOLA Brazil is important to me because it brings a real opportunity to change women’s life’s through the ideas of liberty. I’m glad to be a part of it!

(LOLA São Paulo)

You started the first LOLA Chapter in Rio de Janeiro, how have you been able to expand LOLA in 6 more states in Brazil? What’s your secret!?
There is no secret! Being able to expand LOLA so quickly is a direct result of both the hard work of the ladies I was able to recruit early on and LOLA’s inspirational vision. By spreading the word about what we want to achieve, we were able to quickly engage more people and bring them into our organization. When we announced that LOLA was coming to Brazil, a lot of women from all over the country were interested in the idea, we just gave all the necessary tools – like helping with social media, looking for more women in there states and sending materials – to help them start a chapter. Now, we are spreading to the seventh state in Brazil, to be announced soon!

(LOLA Santa Catarina)

How do you balance being a LOLA chapter leader with the numerous roles you in daily life?
In addition to being LOLA Brazil’s chapter director, I’m a local coordinator of SFL Brazil, president of Clube Liberal Isabel Paterson (a libertarian group in my university), member of Livres (a political movement that supports classical liberal candidates) and a student of economics in one of the most pro-market universities of my country that also follows Chicago school of economics. It’s hard to reconcile all the activities, but it is definitely worth it. The secret is to have an organized agenda and make a schedule to take care of each activity. I wouldn’t be able to do all this without the help of LOLA Leaders, my amazing professors, and all my partners at Clube Liberal Isabel Paterson. It’s all about friendship and cooperation!

Cecilia told us, “My favorite part of being LOLA Brazil’s chapter director is having the tools to help classical liberal and libertarian women to empower themselves and have an impact on the liberty movement. I’m glad to see more women getting involved in the fight for a freer society because of LOLA.”

Stay up to date with LOLA Brazil on Facebook and Instagram @ladiesoflibertybrasil or @ladiesoflibertyalliance