Once upon a time, there was a girl who would not be contained. Mérida was constantly moving. She climbed trees, jumped fences, and built forts. Her knees were always scraped, and her clothes were always mud-stained.

She grew up in Tampa, Florida, where the sun shone as brightly as her buttercup-blonde hair. She was enchanted by the outdoors and spent her time chasing lizards and scooping up crabs along miles of sandy beaches. Her favourite cartoon was The Magic School Bus, and she lived by the motto of one of its characters, Ms. Frizzle: ‘Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!’

When Mérida was 11, her family moved to a small town in rural Virginia. The climate was way different from Florida, and she jumped at the chance to explore every inch of her new home. Inthe summer, she waded into rushing creeks and ran through lush fields. During the winter months, Mérida snowboarded in the steep, snowy mountains.

That impulse to explore is why she founded Project Fearless when she grew up. Project Fearless is a nonprofit after-school program in Amsterdam that teaches courage and confidence to young girls. Through fun and challenging projects, girls get their hands dirty solving real-life problems. They’ve made a documentary film about female skateboarders, designed their own AR filter, and used 3D printing technology to inspire climate action. And Mérida cheers them on the whole time. Her goal is to open the world up for them, and then let them decide where to go next.

‘I wanted to create a space where a girl can discover her voice on her own terms’, Mérida says. And she’s done exactly that.