Steve (host):
Welcome to the 31st Wonderspace journey. It's great to have you on board. My name is Steve Cole and since September 2020 I have been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. The questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station 250 miles above Earth where we see everything from a different perspective.

Steve (host):
This week our orbit will take us from North America to Brazil and to experience these views with us in this ultimate window seat we welcome Daniela Barone Suarez who is the CEO of an asset management company called Snowball. They are wanting to see a world where every investment creates positive impact for people and planet. A shorter version of this episode together with footage of this journey from North America to Brazil can be found at ourwonder.space I start by asking Daniela from this seat 250 miles above earth, which place, city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

Dani:
Well, for me it would be Lensóis Maranhenses, which is in the north of Brazil. I flew over it 20 years ago and stayed there for some time. It is actually sand dunes cut by oases of water and green. And the reason it is possible that it looks like an amazing freak of nature is that there is a basin of rivers just beneath the surface of the dunes. So when it rains, these oases appear and cut through the white sand.

Dani:
And I often remember this place for its beauty and the simple and hospitable people who live there. And it is as if I'm there. And I remember the quote from Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese poet that I love, and it says, Life is what we make of it. The travels are the travelers. What we see is not what we see, but what we are.

Steve (host):
Daniela, give us a glimpse into your life story so far, with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Dani:
I have lived half of my life in Brazil where I was born and the other half abroad in in various places but mostly London. I started my career in venture capital and private equity investing and then moved to the world of impact about 20 years ago in a whole variety of guises in NGOs, in government, in tech and in investment. My resume is a garden of experiences and experiments and impact, I would say. Currently I lead Snowball Impact Investments, which is a disruptor in the fund management industry. We believe that finance should be at the service of people and planet and not the other way around.

Dani:
And that business can be a contributor to solving the climate and social emergencies with its power of reinvention and innovation. And So at Snowball we also believe we have an obligation to see the full outcome of our activities. And in our case as an investment fund, it means evaluating the risk, the return and the impact of every investment. And finally, we think that everyone, if given a chance, would prefer to invest according to their values, and that's why Snowball wants to democratize impact investing. So all the building blocks are ready and the momentum is growing, which is fantastic.

Dani:
Our fund just grew over 50% in less than 6 months. So we're really happy about that. I'm a trustee of the Institute for the Future of Work. And basically, again, it's very compatible with Snowball. What they look is to put people first.

Dani:
And they're looking into finding ways of enabling us as a country, so it's focused in England, enabling us as a country to evolve with the technology but not to leave people behind, especially with the gig economy and with many ways that people are putting flexible work, which is fantastic, but making sure that it's also fair and with dignity.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

Dani:
My place of reset is Guarujá. That's the beach where I used to go every weekend from child to adulthood. And recently during the pandemic I went to visit my parents and ended up spending a lot of time there. And it really recharged me. Every day seeing the sunrise over the waves and going for a walk on the sand and the warm water was lovely.

Dani:
And also here in London, the mini, mini garden on my roof, where I can see spring coming and each flower beginning to blossom and the really small nature of this little world. So those 2 are really places where I recharge.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

Dani:
I love nature and I love the splendor of big nature, like the mountains and valleys around Vancouver or the vastness of the Grand Canyon. But I always, always go back to the sea. It is the sea that in its constant movement reminds me that everything is constantly changing. The sea is the bridge to continents, countries and islands. And the sea is also where I like to play, scuba dive and sail.

Dani:
And where I also go for contemplation. I love the sort of rhythm and the movement of the sea. It really leads me into silence. So for me it's always the sea.

Steve (host):
Daniela, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own about a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world?

Dani:
Thankfully there are many stories of hopefulness. I'll share 2. The first is Inner Space, a non-profit meditation center in Covent Garden, which offers well-being courses and meditation, all free of charge. Before the pandemic, they offered the courses on-site and also had many outreach projects in the community. The pandemic really increased the need for their activities and they responded, accelerating their offering despite being run and staffed only by volunteers.

Dani:
Now they get 300 to 400 people a day logging in for courses like stressless and guided meditations. For me, it's a great example of kindness and compassion at a time of need. The other is PAS, a social business working in refugee camps. They train refugees on cloud computing, digital marketing and data science and broker their employment with tech firms here in Europe. PAS is a startup that is run by a really passionate leader, Leticia, and their main goal really is to create job opportunities and connections outside the refugee camps so that they not only give dignity to people in refugee camps and activities but they remunerate those refugees so they can start planning for a future life.

Dani:
Both PASS and the refugees are paid by the tech companies which employ them. So for me a great example of a social business that is contributing to solutions.

Steve (host):
Finally, as we prepare to re-enter, what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Dani:
The wisdom I'd like to share with you, I guess it's a reflection, a personal reflection at this time of uncertainty and fear, loss and anger that we are witnessing, I think. And our individual lives are finite, but our humanity is unlimited. I believe in the fundamental goodness of the human spirit, individually and collectively. I think it's this time is calling us to find our way to reconnect to the source of our power the source of our kindness and humanity.

Steve (host):
To find out more about the work and vision of Snowball, you can go to Snowball.im. Daniela also talked about Paz who are unlocking refugee tech talent in Europe and more information can be found at paz.ai The centre in Covent Garden that Daniella refers to can be found at innerspace.org.uk To listen to the previous 30 Wonderspace interviews the website is ourwonder.space I want to thank Daniella for joining us on this Wonderspace and I hope

Dani:
you