An (Imagined) Letter from the Future by a Young Portuguese Woman
What if we could hear from the future we’re working toward? In this “Letter from the Future,” I imagine what my future self, Leonor Rothes in 2036, might reflect on in my first ten years with Futura Foundation. At Futura, we use imagination and future-thinking to help us bring to life visions for possible futures. We find that imagining these futures helps us start to see them and believe in their possibility, and this is the first step in making something reality.
A Letter from the Future
Lisbon, Portugal;
June 2036
Dear World,
It’s 2036, and I have been working at Futura Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal for ten years now. Before that, I was living on the other side of Europe, in Georgia, the country, working at an NGO by day and appearing on a talk show as a vox pop by night. I was playing tennis on the weekends, dancing every chance I got, and I was truly happy. But something was shifting for me. I just didn't know what it was yet.
My name is Leonor Rothes. And this is the story of how I met Futura.
I grew up in Porto, Portugal, but I spent eight years living abroad between Prague, London, Kutaisi, Tbilisi, learning languages, cultures, and different ways of seeing the world.
I am, at my core, a performer and a dreamer. Someone who genuinely, maybe naively, believes the world is full of possibility.
But after 5 years in Georgia, I was ready. Ready to go home.
I didn't know what I was looking for. I just knew I was looking for something. And then Futura found me.
Or rather, we found each other; and it felt like Cinderella finding her own lost shoe.
Fast forward 10 years, I can't believe what we’ve built. 120 fellows, amazing projects and inspiring people. I saw fellows becoming mentors, becoming investors, and becoming friends. We supported each other's ideas no matter how crazy they sounded. Futura gave us a platform, a structure, and a community. People who came to Futura looking for support turned around and became the support for the next woman behind them. Watching that cycle and being part of that cycle has been life changing.
I remember our fellow Francisca was living in London for a while; she started saying that she wanted to do something like West End Live but here in Lisbon - Terreiro do Paço Live where all theatre, every musical, every theatre company, every young performer in the city steps out onto the square. Thousands of people gathered to feel the culture, art, and creativity.
You know, I am a performer so I was all in from day one. I could live her passion and inspiration through mine. Truth is it’s been four years and Terreiro do Paço Live is a huge success! We bring thousands of people for a day to live and feel the music, the dance and the acting. Children and young people are now wanting to pursue arts and performances. It ignited their imagination and opened their world of possibilities.
This was something that started as a dream, and now it’s real. And that is what Futura is all about – voicing big dreams for the future and imagining what at first might seem impossible.
As a young Portuguese woman in my late twenties, I came back to Portugal not knowing what I was looking for. I just knew my country was calling me home, and hoped there might be a place here for me to continue to grow into my power and potential.
I found that place, and my people, in Futura. A community of dreamers and doers who made my horizons wider simply by existing, by sharing their projects, their courage, and their ambition. I came in as employee number one. I became part of something I could have never imagined or built alone.
I am a performer, a dreamer, and someone who believes, genuinely, completely that the world is going somewhere beautiful if enough of us are audacious enough to shape it.
Ten years in, I am more certain of that than ever.
And we are just getting started.
Warmly,
Leonor Rothes, 2036
