Where are they now? Catching up with 2014 FSC General Assembly Youth Correspondent, Tony

Do you remember Tony Mendonça from our last FSC General Assembly held in 2014? He served as the Youth Correspondent, reporting to a younger audience.


Back then, Tony was a Social Communications student from Venezuela. He found our advertisement to recruit a Youth Correspondent on Facebook, sent us his application, and was selected a few weeks later. Tony was chosen based on his academic performance, the quality of articles he had already written and his fluency in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Becoming our Youth Correspondent was actually his very first job related to his studies. Tony wrote six main articles on meetings he attended during the general assembly, and then he went back to Venezuela.

We have caught up with him recently to find out what he is up to now and his reflections on his week at the FSC General Assembly 2014…

  • How did you feel when you heard you were selected as the 2014 Youth Correspondent, Tony?

I felt really excited! I kind of felt that this was a great opportunity that would change my life, and it totally did! Being honest, knowing that I was selected among many other young people from the whole world amazed me, and at the same time I felt like I was chosen for something that implies a great responsibility.

  • What was the experience like, if you had to sum it up in 3 words?

Amazing, rewarding and life-changing.

  • What did you learn/experience at the event that still sticks with you to this day?

I think I won’t forget the passion of the people in the Assembly. You can totally feel that forests are their life. Also, all the amazing people from different backgrounds and countries that I met! It’s incredible the cultural richness that you take with you in this event.

  • Did the experience improve your communications skills?

It definitely did! I had to deal with topics that were not that usual for me, and then try to explain them for people of my age, and then deliver the article on a tight deadline to be published right on time. I think I improved my ability to summarize and digest complex topics.

  • 2014 feels like a lifetime ago! Where are you now and what are you doing?

I am no longer a student! This year, I received my Bachelor’s degree in Communications. Currently, I am living in Washington, D.C., in the United States and working as a Communications Consultant in the Inter-American Development Bank.