Fe Cortez is an environmental activist and founder of Menos 1 Lixo, an educational platform that advocates for responsible consumption to reduce sea litter in Brazil and beyond. In 2017, the UN Environment Programme appointed her champion of the Clean Seas campaign following five years of her work to reduce marine litter.

Cortez recalls the day she awoke to the problem of waste in the ocean. “I was watching a documentary on the issue during Rio’s Festival, and what shocked me the most was the Great Pacific garbage patch [a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean],” she said in her appointment at Clean Seas. “Then, I decided I had to change my consumption habits.”

Aside from her activism, Cortez has also been a TV presenter and magazine columnist. Find her on instagram.