We are thrilled to announce that our Gold Team Leader Maria Nemy Lou Rocio was selected to be part of the 2021 cohort for GivingTuesday’s Starling Collective program, joining grassroots organizers, activists, artists and changemakers representing 29 countries.

Starling Collective is a global learning community and innovative fellowship that provides a 6-month coaching program and access to a peer learning community and offers grants to catalyze grassroots generosity worldwide.

Nemy applied for this program to help her Facebook group Migrant Writers of Hong Kong achieve its mission to provide a social media platform for talented and aspiring writers to freely share their thoughts through writings. They hope to connect the gap between domestic workers and the locals of Hong Kong through their writings. One of their visions is to provide workshops that will foster their community’s artistic, intellectual, and personal growth.

She learned about this program through Dr. Julie Ham of The Hong Kong University, who conducted and supported their writing workshops. “We are on our second month now and we still have four months to go. Through Giving Tuesday’s leadership program and peer community support, I hope that I will be able to have a deeper insight into being a community leader and organizer. I hope to gain more knowledge and utilize these new learnings to help my fellow domestic workers and together make our goals achievable”, Nemy shared.