Meet ALL STARS, the global creative community of Converse

The Converse All Stars program is an ecosystem focused on community. The brand aims to create mentoring, guidance, funding, and co-creation opportunities for young creatives and empower them worldwide.

Over time, the iconic All Star sneakers have appeared in moments of revolution and progress, change and creativity; they are a true canvas for creative expression.
In 2018, Converse recognized an opportunity to play a more intentional and two-way role with the communities that have always been connected to the brand through creativity, basketball, and skateboarding. Just as the iconic All Star serves as a canvas for creative actions that drive progress, the Converse All Stars program aims to break barriers toward progress for a new generation of cultural gamechangers in Brazil and around the world.

As of 2021, the All Stars community consists of over 3,000 emerging creative leaders from more than 30 countries around the globe, driving both global and local progress through sports, art, and culture.

As part of the All Stars program, Converse also sponsors various projects in key cities, specifically focused on supporting the actions of emerging creatives from underrepresented groups and marginalized communities.

In São Paulo, the All Stars community has more than 100 members. Meet some names from the local community who are driving progress:

@PEGGE_
Born in the East Zone of São Paulo in 1997, Pegge is a visual artist and musician. His inspiration focuses on his own experiences as a young Black man. Aiming to showcase the rise and present of what he lives, hears, and sees alongside those around him, Pegge often paints self-portraits and inspiring canvases, positioning himself as a spokesperson for all he feels, creating a new perspective for the future diaspora and a reference in contemporary art for Blackness.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CInmvbinuyx

@DJSOPHIA_
DJ Sophia is the new representative of turntables in Brazil. She began her career in 2015 after participating in the project The Future of Hip Hop. At 20, Sophia explores universes that combine music, poetry, cinema, and fashion. In addition to being a Beatmaker and the official DJ for MC Soffia, Preta Rara, and Souto MC, she directs the films '4 Por 4' and 'The Hip Hop By Us', is a poet for the 'Sarau das Prê', and also a resident of 'Sem Classe A Festa.'

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNvb9O8nbOT

@NOSMARCELOROCHA
Marcelo Rocha, 23 years old, hails from Mauá, a metropolitan area of São Paulo. He is a photographer, advocate for education, Blackness, and climate change. An activist with Fridays For Future Brazil and FFF MAPA (Most Affected Peoples and Areas). He was one of the Brazilian voices at COP 25, nominated by the UN as one of the 100 most influential young Black individuals in the world. He primarily operates in the peripheries of São Paulo, where he conceived the Festival Favela em Casa and the Emergency Fund to Support Artists and Collectives from Favelas, for which he was a finalist for the 'São Paulo International Music Week 2021' and 'PPM 2020' awards. Additionally, he received the Arcanjo de Cultura award for the show “QUEBRADA: São Paulo, through the eyes of the 'cria'." In the field of science, he works as a researcher on Climate Racism and spoke at TEDx on the theme "Favelas and Climate Change."

https://www.instagram.com/p/COWZ3ebHeIq

@KEKE_BP
Aniké Pellegrini is 20 years old, a writer, social media manager, interviewer, and digital content producer. From São Paulo, she is a literature student at UFMG. Today, she has a column called "Afrofuturist Reporter" on the Capricho magazine website. She also writes for the Clube da Preta website. She has had articles published in Marie Claire online, Elle online, and Revista Claudia, and has been categorized by MOOC in GQ magazine as one of the 108 Black powers of Brazilian creativity that are helping to transform the market and society. She participated in Ocupretar as the editor-in-chief of the digital magazine, content producer, and media manager. She is responsible for the social media of Latinidades Pretas, Festival Favela em Casa, Feira Preta, and Preta Hub.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CL-W5z0nxhM

@THE_KPETA
Lucy Eclipsa, a.k.a Akira Cascavel, 22 years old, is a visual artist, poet, model, and producer of Transarau – where she has produced more than 30 editions that have gone through various SESCs and cultural spaces. In the visual arts, she works with self-portraits and illustrations through @pademonia, bringing reflections on the intimate, thinking about possibilities of other realities and identity construction. Poet in the Anthology Trans 30 trans and non-binary poets. She illustrated album covers for Mc Dellacroix and Natt Maat. She participated in a mural painting 'Women in the Campo Limpo Cultural Center'. She has a photo exhibition at the NGO Ação Educativa with the series Sobre-Vivências. She created the illustration for the cover and interior of the book 'Travessia - Lua Lucas and Thabata Wbaloja'. She also acted as an actress in the video clip Coming Out - Iconoclast and in the HBO series 'Todxs Nós'.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN5vpgAnl_l

@ROCIOMARIE__
Rocio Marie Cabrera is a multifaceted artist from the Bronx, New York, who creates with purpose and intention. "Being as honest as possible about my life and how it relates to my work is important because young Black girls can see someone who looks like them doing what I do." And, as an artist, she is constantly trying to break the barriers she has created in her own mind. "Despite the doubt that comes so naturally and feels so familiar and comfortable, I have no choice but to keep working and move forward because art is the only thing I have ever wanted." She enjoys painting but is also a sculptor, jewelry designer, and content creator. She believes she wouldn't be able to start her own business without the collective power of her community. "Here in the Bronx, we protect and help each other during these tough times. We can truly lean on the people around us."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNxxMtjDAYo

@SOTHEFIZZ
Sofía Ramirez, a visual artist and photographer from Chile who loves creating different forms of art since childhood, learned to adapt to sudden changes to overcome challenges, drawing strength, growth, and hope from difficult situations.
An active member of her community, she works hard to break the barriers that hold us back as a society. "As a woman and an artist, I often face all these rules that I shouldn't break because society tells me so," she said. "We live in challenging and critical environments, but it's important to be true to ourselves, allowing others to see that power." She continues, "Because of this, I felt really lost with my art for a while. I felt like I wasn't enough and compared myself to others. I just let myself feel that way – and I don't know exactly how – but I was able to recover and believe in myself again."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFKia2_Jm1H