New coordinators for 'Frauenpower in Mitte' and the communications team

After a year and a half, Joanna Fatorelli concludes her tenure as coordinator of Frauenpower in Mitte (FIM) / (Re)descobrir Journalist Adriana Meyge takes over the project, while Camila Polido assumes coordination of the Communications & Marketing team. We spoke with all three about their journeys and what lies ahead.

by Beatriz Dacar

Joanna Fatorelli took on the coordination of (Re)descobrir in 2025, bringing with her a background spanning project management, international cooperation, and scientific research. During this time, she worked on the planning and development of the programme, building partnerships and developing methodologies focused on the professional paths of migrant women in Berlin.

Read the interview below, in which Joanna reflects on the challenges of coordinating the programme, the methodological choices made during this period, and what she takes away from the experience.

What were the main challenges and achievements during your time coordinating FIM?

JF: One of the main challenges was coordinating a project that supports highly diverse migration journeys — shaped by differences in language, race, generation, and neurodivergence — while maintaining methodological coherence without erasing these differences among the participants.

“I joined FIM at a point when methodologies had already been developed by Janainas — orality, welcoming, recognition, and the horizontal exchange of knowledge — and I continued along that path. My scientific background leads me to test different formats and seek coherence between objectives and outcomes, but a social project is not a laboratory: above all, I valued having the freedom to experiment within the scope of FIM.”

We structured the workshops around three main areas — lived experience, the German labour market, and professional practice — with literature serving as a methodological thread: Conceição Evaristo in 2025 and Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus in 2026.

I leave the project with deep gratitude to the team, the facilitators, and, above all, the participants who trusted us with their stories.

You brought literature and theatre into discussions about immigration and work. How did you arrive at this format?

JF: It grew out of work that was already in place — Janainas has always had a strong connection to orality, art, and recognition, and I sought to bring these dimensions together with tools from my own background.

Literature, through Carolina Maria de Jesus, creates a necessary distance: it can be difficult to ask directly about discrimination, but a work of literature brings a third element into the room. Theatre came in more practically — interviews and meetings have a performative dimension, and we used educational theatre and role-playing to rehearse these situations and develop our own repertoire.

These tools created different entry points to the same themes.

Joanna Fatorelli - Foto: Edi Fortini

ConectAção, an event created during your time coordinating (Re)descobrir, brought people together for conversation circles to share their experiences and build support networks. How did the idea come about?

JF: The idea came from a concrete observation: many opportunities circulate through networks and informal conversations, something that is difficult to rebuild after migration.

We created a space for small groups that would bring participants together with women from different backgrounds and with different professional journeys — showing real-life paths, including pauses and new beginnings, so that the structural dimension of these challenges could also be acknowledged alongside the individual one.

The value of ConectAção lay in creating the conditions for encounters that generated connections, information, and concrete points of reference — small but tangible outcomes.

In what way did bringing in speakers connected to Janainas contribute to the project?

JF: Janainas is made up of migrant women with very diverse backgrounds and cultural experiences. Many of the facilitators share this experience with the participants, which allowed knowledge already present within the network to circulate. The participants themselves also brought professional experience and knowledge from other countries, so when it made sense, we also invited professionals and external organisations. The encounters became richer when these different forms of knowledge could interact with one another.

What do you take from this experience into your life and career?

JF: FIM deepened my experience in coordinating social projects funded by public funds — in this case, by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF Plus) — involving planning, indicators, and reporting, alongside the more qualitative work of designing workshops and supporting groups.

This broader understanding of professional trajectories — which are not always linear and are shaped by education, language, networks, and concrete circumstances, rather than individual choice alone — was already part of my own experience, and it deepened as I observed the stories of the participants.

And I take the relationships with me: I am grateful to the women who built Janainas before me, to the team, the facilitators, and the participants who entrusted the project with their stories.

Would you like to leave a message for the new FIM coordinator, Adriana Meyge?

JF: I wish Adriana a wonderful experience at FIM. She is taking on a project with a long history, built by many women, that is still alive — and will therefore continue to change. I hope she feels comfortable knowing that a social project is never completely finished.

I have great affection for the project and for the people I worked with. I will remain close by, now from a different place, grateful for the time I had here.

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Adriana, New Coordinator of Project (Re)descobrir/ FIM

Adriana Meyge

After coordinating Janainas’ Communications & Marketing team since the beginning of 2026, journalist Adriana Meyge is taking on the coordination of FIM. She has lived in Berlin for nine years and holds an interdisciplinary master’s degree with a focus on Politics, Media, Cultural Studies, and Migration from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She has also worked as a communications consultant for the International Labour Organization (ILO).

During her time in Janainas’ Communications team, Adriana built a new team of volunteers and expanded the organisation’s presence on social media, helping its events reach more women.

The experience also gave her the opportunity to learn more about other areas of the organisation and contribute to expanding the volunteer network and securing funding for projects.

For Camila Polido, she leaves a message of encouragement: to take the opportunity to learn, experiment, and meet people, without putting pressure on herself to do everything. After all, even with limited resources, the collective work of women volunteers can turn ideas into reality.

Read the interview with Adriana about her new role at Janainas:

What led you to take on the challenge of coordinating FIM / (Re)descobrir?

AM: Organisations for migrant women, such as Janainas, Carlotas, and Frauenalia, played a fundamental role in my process of self-discovery and empowerment in Germany. That is why I have always wanted to contribute more actively to projects that share this purpose.

When the opportunity to coordinate (Re)descobrir came up, I found a project that was aligned with my values, offered room for creativity and autonomy, and allowed me to work closely with people.

I am very honoured to take on this challenge and to accompany so many women on their own journeys of rediscovery.

How can your experience in communications contribute to this new phase?

AM: In coordinating communications projects, I had the opportunity to work with partners, funders, and a wide range of topics, including social impact initiatives. This experience taught me to listen, to look at things from a broader perspective, and, above all, to bring people and ideas together. I believe these are skills that will make a difference in this new phase.

In addition, since joining Janainas in February last year, I have been learning more about project development and getting to know Berlin’s ecosystem of migrant and feminist organisations better. This knowledge and network will also be important for this new challenge.

What are your expectations for (Re)descobrir?

AM: When we migrate, we bring with us skills, knowledge, and dreams that we are not always able to translate into the German labour market. Through (Re)descobrir, we want to create spaces of support and empowerment where participants can recognise the value of their stories and keep moving forward.

This year, we will introduce new formats, such as lab-style workshops, coworking sessions, and an expanded programme of one-on-one guidance. I also want to strengthen cooperation with employers and other migrant organisations.

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Camila, New Communications & Marketing Coordinator

Camila Polido

Born in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, and professionally raised in São Paulo, Camila Polido holds a degree in Social Communication, with a focus on Advertising.

Throughout her career, she has worked at advertising agencies, a production company, a startup, and a big tech company, mainly in Account Management and Project Management, as well as Operations and Production.

Passionate about people, art, music, and photography, she arrived in Berlin almost five months ago and chose the city for its creativity and energy. “I first came as a tourist and felt at home.”

Although this is her first experience working for an NGO, Camila has always been drawn to social projects and found in Janainas a way to combine her professional experience with her desire to create impact.

Her goal?

“To reach as many women as possible with important information in a creative, accessible, and transformative way.”

Welcome, dear Camila!