Mrs. Marina Taniguchi Former First Lady of Curitiba City - Brazil

Mrs. Marina Taniguchi is Brazilian, holding a university degree in Business Management and in Sociology, from the Economics and Management Faculty of Curitiba (Brazil). She is a specialist in Organization and Methodology from the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Mrs. Taniguchi has been a businesswoman for the past 30 years, participating of the Parana State Industry Federation, where she was the President of the Graphic Industry Employers Union. At the Parana State Commerce Association, she was one of the founding Members of the Businesswomen Council, and the first woman to chair a Board after 92 years of leadership by men. She was also a founding Member and later President of the Women’s Bank, an NGO established for granting microcredit to low-income women.

As for her action in the Public Area, Mrs. Taniguchi was Curitiba’s First-Lady for 8 years and also the President of the Social Action Foundation (Fundação de Ação Social), the organ in charge for the coordination and execution of the Curitiba Municipality social policies, focusing at women and children in risk, women and elderly victims of violence and in professional training to more than 35.000 persons per year. Per year, the Social Action Foundation had about one million attendances.

As the President f the Pro-Citizenship Institute (Instituto Pró Cidadania), NGO responsible for the support to Curitiba Municipality social policies, she built 12 daycare centers for 130 children each, distributed more than 1.000 tons of food, 500.000 clothes, blankets and diapers, besides furniture, sowing machines and other items for low-income families to promote self-sustainability. She also developed community capacity-building and leadership programs in low-income areas.

She was one of the founders and later President of the Social Assistance Managers Council, comprehending the 399 cities in Paraná State. She was also one of the founders and later Vice-President of the Social Assistance Managers National Council for the Brazilian South Region, for 7 years. Mrs. Taniguchi was also the President of the First-Ladies Association for Curitiba and Metropolitan Area, and the founder and President of the Parana State First-Ladies Association.

Mrs. Taniguchi is also a Member of the Curitiba Branch of Rotary International and a Member of Soroptimist International, besides being an active consultant to the National Union of the Associations for the Protection of Motherhood, Childhood and Families of Brazil (UNAPMIF) and a consulting Member to Associations affiliated to UNAPMIF.

Mrs. Taniguchi lives in Curitiba, Brazil. She is married and has two children.