Hi everyone! I’m Tatiana Bertolucci, and I’m thrilled to step into the role of Co-Director for the HASTAC Scholars program and to join the Futures Initiative team. I’m looking forward to collaborating with all of you.

I’m a Brazilian feminist who, in my 40s, decided to return to academia to pursue a PhD—a dream I’d held for a long time. My journey began with an undergraduate and a specialization in Social Communications in São Paulo,  which is where “home” is for me. After a few years working in this field, I decided to go back to academia. I pursued a Master’s in Latin American Studies, in Madrid, where I started focusing on public policy, human rights, development, and humanitarian work. A scholarship sent me to Indonesia for 6 months to work with the UNDP. This experience opened doors for me to shift my career towards the development, humanitarian, and human rights sectors—a path I pursued until 2021. This work allowed me to connect with diverse social movements, communities, and leaders worldwide, and to see firsthand how people are both affected by and resist the structural injustices of racial heteropatriarchal capitalism. Witnessing the rise of far-right in Brazil and globally also raised new questions for me about these structural injustices. I knew it was time to return to academia once more, to reflect deeply and process these lived and shared experiences. And here I am, in my second year of the Cultural Anthropology program.

I’m excited to be part of the Futures Initiative and the HASTAC network, and to explore how education intersects with the many different paths people take in life. I’m passionate about building connections between social justice and the research and science done within and outside the walls of academia. I’m eager to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations and connect researchers and thinkers from around the globe. I can’t wait to meet all of you—current and future HASTAC Scholars—and see what we can learn and build together!