Melina Lopez Advances Equity in the Workplace
On May 3, 2023, Melina Lopez, GCL 2023 alumna from Brazil/Argentina and Product & Inclusion Marketing Manager at Google, received the 2023 Excellence Award from Out & Equal in recognition of her efforts to accelerate bold and innovative pathways to generate equity in the workplace.
The award ceremony took place in Sao Paulo as part of Brazil’s premier LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion conference, which this year shifted from a country to a regional focus to incorporate diverse perspectives across Latin America.
“Last week I had the honor to receive this recognition in the company of other professionals I admire and whose work in Brazil and Latin America has inspired me and many others.”
Finalists were nominated by colleagues and underwent a highly competitive process alongside other leaders from the social and private sectors. During the ceremony, Melina read a passage of Bad Girls from Camila Sosa Villada, the writer fighting for transgender rights in Argentina.
In her role as Product & Inclusion Marketing Manager at Google, Melina focuses on supporting underrepresented communities through corporate programs she develops (such as a project she led in Bahia, Brazil), her podcast Listen Louder (having reached the top 5% most shared podcasts globally on Spotify during 2022), and her work with the trans community (she has organized Google's internal trans employees' conference since 2020, and she has worked to make Google Photos more inclusive for the trans community).
We congratulate Melina and the rest of the finalists (Pablo de Luca, CCGLAR, Antonia Moreira, CI&T, Edmar Moreira Homem Júnior, J.P. Morgan, and George Xavier Pereira, Pinheiro Neto Advogados) for their personal commitment to creating more equitable workplaces across the region.
Melina reflected on her recent GCL program experience and the lasting connections that she forged with other members of the 2023 cohort during her time at Georgetown:
“I left D.C. with a great feeling of accomplishment and the creation of a network of friends I will have for a lifetime, and that in itself is something worth thanking you for.”
In addition to the project she presented as part of the GCL 2023 program aimed at combating cultural biases of fatphobia, Melina is now collaborating with another GCL 2023 alumna from Peru, Monica Ramos, to conduct a workshop on inclusion and the future of work within the educational platform Musa (Monica’s GCL 2023 project).
“GCL was definitely a step forward in my career as a changemaker and the foundation I needed to make anything possible….I know this is only the beginning of the multiplier effect.”
Parabéns, Felicitaciones, Congratulations, Melina!