Francesca R.
Biography
Originally from Madagascar, I transferred from the Northern Virginia Community College with an Associate Degree in Psychology and graduating in Sociology and Entrepreneurship at Brown University.
During the Summer of 2019, I founded Omena after being selected as a CGIU commitment maker by the Clinton Foundation.
Omena is an international award winning non-profit organization committed to increasing emotional abuse awareness by providing social emotional learning tools for students to combat and stand up to abuse. The project was initially focused on solving the problem in Madagascar but we quickly learned that this is a global issue to solve. Through our program, we empower children and young adults with the social and emotional intelligence tools to nurture a generation with greater self-esteem and inner strength capable of fostering healthy relationships and thriving in their societies.
Through Omena, it is my honor to currently lead and work alongside an army of 200+ volunteers. Our global team consists of 100% of women from 13 different countries, including Canada, Peru, France, Morocco, India, China and more, and we are all united in our commitment to breaking the cycle of emotional abuse around the world.
I'm a TEDx speaker, and was named RI Inno's 25 under 25. Our work has been featured by MTV, UNICEF, The Boston Globe, supported by the Clinton Foundation and Forbes Under 30. In 2021, Omena won The Davis Project For Peace and competed for the TigerLaunch Pitch competition Final rounds at Princeton University.
We were recently one of the top 8 in the Brown Venture Prize and runner-up winner for the Bay Area Global Health Challenge 2021. We went through the SEG accelerator, we were a Mass Challenge finalist as well as a Business Today Impact Challenge finalist.
To learn more about our work:
omenamovement.org
