Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela

Think Change Academy is a learning space dedicated to educating, connecting, and empowering people to take action to create healthy and sustainable environments for all. We are designing courses for anyone who wishes to get engaged; from those who need to start from the basics to those looking to increase their positive impact.

We believe that:

• Everyone has the power to learn, engage, and drive change;
• We must reconnect with ourselves, the human and non-human beings that surround us, and the man-made and natural environments that nurture us all;
• While individual and mindset changes are a very important part of the process, we need big systemic and structural changes;
• The time is now and you can do it!

Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.

Paulo Freire

Hello there! I am Juliana Zanotto, founder of Think Change Academy. I am an architect and urban planner by training, educator by conviction, facilitator by passion, entrepreneur by choice, and social justice advocate by need.

For over 10 years, I have been teaching college students about social, environmental, and urban problems and solutions. I have also published papers on inequality, environmental preservation, neoliberalism, and urban planning practice. I am passionate about bringing awareness to the problems we face as a global society and critically thinking about the changes we need to make. I am specially interested in helping young people engage in creating the world they want to live in.

I hold a bachelors in Architecture and Urbanism, a Masters in Science of Architecture, a Master in Community Planning, and a PhD. in Planning, Policy, and Design. At the University of California, Irvine, School of Social Ecology, I coordinated the Empowering Sustainability initiative, which created a space for a activists, practitioners, and scholars from over 30 countries to come together, share knowledge, and support each other.

What else? I was born and raised in Brazil and moved to the United States in my early 20s. I have been a dancer since a little child and was part of a dance crew. In my teenage years, I practiced both dance and horse jumping everyday. I was also a member of some theater groups and completed a degree in Theater. I have been a vegetarian since I was 5 years old, I love yoga, I have two little kids who keep me very busy, and I am married to a frenchman. I am working hard to focus on what is important and what I can control. I am a people person. I love to get to know people, to get people together, to facilitate conversations. I love that you are here and can’t wait to welcome you in our courses.