Isabella Nascimento Silva Pinto ’25 was recently named a Rise Global Winner. She was one of 100 Global Winners from 43 countries to be named to the 2023 Rise cohort. 

Each year, Rise works to identify and recognize “promising young people,” ages 15 to 17, through an extensive application and review process; fewer than 10% of all applicants are named Global Winners. Founded in 2019, Rise is the flagship program of a $1 billion commitment by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent and encourage service and learning by providing support through four-year scholarships (including a living stipend), career services, and funding opportunities, including opportunities to apply for seed money and grants for projects, and opportunities to work with other Global Winners.⁠ Rise collaborates with more than 60 partners from around the globe to identify and nurture talent from communities worldwide.

“We are excited to welcome a new cohort of 100 passionate young people to the Rise Global Winner community,” said Wendy Schmidt in announcing the 2023 honorees. “Their ideas—from helping rice farmers transition to renewable energy to creating a biodegradable plastic from cassava starch—are the sparks that we hope will ignite a lifelong commitment to each other and to a better future for us all.” 

In recognizing Isabella as a Global Winner, Rise acknowledged her passion “about the intersections of social justice, art, politics, and youth activism. Raised in a vibrant Brazilian community, she believes in service and collaboration as tools for social improvement.” Rise cites Isabella’s work as head of graphic design at an NGO, her roles as tutor and student leader at Taft, her efforts to introduce low-income Brazilian students to extracurricular opportunities, and her status as an alumna of Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Studies and a multi-gold medalist in national Olympiads as predictors of her ability to significantly impact the global community throughout her lifetime as she continues to “leverage her knowledge and learning opportunities to uplift the lives of others.” 

Each Rise applicant is required to dedicate themselves to a passion project. Isabel’s project, "Cores do Brasil," is an organization that supports elevating queer Brazilian individuals through sharing opportunities and fostering community. Isabella hopes to apply her artistic skills to help fight for social causes through visual storytelling and art.________________________________________________

 Rise is an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust; it is the anchor of the Schmidt’s $1 billion commitment.

About Schmidt Futures

Founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that finds and connects talented people across fields, generations, and geographies to harness their collective skills for public benefit. 

Photo courtesy risefortheworld.org