Born and raised in Bolivia, Carmen “Piña” Pozo developed a passion for sports at a young age. When she was 11 years old, she began participating in track & field and volleyball. Every day she was either practicing or competing as a part of her city’s teams, and through both sports developed valuable life skills, such as work ethic, discipline, and responsibility.
After competing throughout her youth, Piña knew she wanted to pursue a career in the sports sector. Aware of the challenges that lay ahead in a sector dominated by men, Piña set out on a trailblazing journey. With a positive and determined outlook, she utilized the skills she had gained as an athlete to become the first female sports journalist in Bolivia.
Piña worked on different TV programs until she decided to create her very own, Las Super Poderosas (The Super Powerful), which gave voice to all athletes, not only the most well-known, and was the first and only TV program of its kind in Bolivia. Las Super Poderosas was a success, airing for nearly five years, giving sports organizations access to learn about aspiring athletes and help them advance their careers. After the program ended, Piña started a sports magazine of the same name with similar ideas and values, writing articles about Bolivian athletes. The magazine’s coverage over the past five years has established Piña as one of the most knowledgeable sports journalists in Bolivia, earning her the title, “Amateur Sports Queen.”
Even with the success of the magazine, Piña felt that there was still work for her to do. Knowing the opportunities that sport had provided her, Piña wanted to find similar ways to help people in her community. She decided to open the first soccer academy for girls in Bolivia under the now widely recognized name, Las Super Poderosas. Piña invited former players to become coaches, making the academy the first of its kind to have an all female staff. Parents trusted the work Piña and her team were doing, and it became more accepted that girls could play soccer. Starting with just 14 young athletes, Las Super Poderosas is now a prominent organization in Bolivia and has become internationally known. Piña had the chance to take players and coaches to Germany, South Korea, Brazil, and the U.S., to participate in different soccer events, including the Julie Foudy Soccer Camp.
In 2017, Piña was chosen to be part of the Global Sports Mentoring Program (GSMP) where she met a group of inspiring women from around the world who were working to create change in their own countries, women ready to conquer the world. Mentored by Romina Bongiovanni and her team at Saatchi & Saatchi, Piña gained a renewed sense of self-confidence and realized she could impact even more girls’ lives through soccer and her magazine. She was able to visualize a mission for her soccer academy that went beyond the field and recognized that soccer could equip girls with the necessary skills to become leaders in their communities. “Because of the GSMP, I believe in myself more,” she says. “I am not afraid of letting people hear my voice, and the athletes in my country realize that and allow me to be their voice.”
Piña Pozo has laid the foundation for a more hopeful future for girls and women in Bolivia. She leads as a strong, female role model, teaching young girls that they have the power to determine their futures, achieve their dreams, and empower others along the way.