Helena's background is in computers - she has a degree in Management Computing and works for an insurance company as a programmer. She also has a strong background in dance - she studied ballet for 10 years and her dream was to become a professional dancer. Her life shifted when she was diagnosed with a rare and incurable autoimmune disease called Scleroderma, also known as Systemic Sclerosis. However, Helena describes that although the diagnosis changed her life, she made a decision that her passions, not this disease, would define her as a person. She volunteers with the Portuguese League Against Rheumatic Diseases as the Coordinator of a patient group with Scleroderma. And, in 2019 she organized a charity 6-Hour Spinning® event to raise awareness of this disease - an event she hopes to host again in the future.
Helena's favorite flower is the sunflower, and her words below explain why:
"I believe that we cannot completely change the future, but we can draw the way we are going to walk and how we want to walk it every day. There are no impossible things, and the sunflowers symbolize the philosophy of life that I try to maintain, to go in search of the sun, the warmth, the light and the positive energy, always looking for what is good in life and in people."
