This started with a woman
trying to feel at home.
Maria Lucia Romero founder of Seeds for a Better World asbl, nonprofit Luxembourg
From a podcast to a movement for children's education
In 2023, I started the Brilliantly Branded Podcast because I needed a space where women in Luxembourg could speak, be heard, and feel like they belonged.
Episode by episode, Women from different countries, different industries, and different stories, all finding something in common. The feeling that what they were building mattered. That their voice deserved to be heard.
130 episodes later, that community was real enough to fill a room.
In July 2025, we held our first live event in Luxembourg. Sixty people. Five women on stage, each sharing their work, their leadership, and what it had taken to build something in a country that was not always easy to call home. I interviewed each of them. The room was alive.
At the end of the evening, the ticket proceeds, every cent a voluntary donation from the people in that room, totalled €1,400.
I knew exactly where it needed to go.
My father was born in Arbeláez. A small village in the mountains of Cundinamarca, Colombia, in the Sumapaz region. My great-grandfather spent his life there believing that education was the one thing no one could ever take from a child. That belief passed through generations of my family, quietly and practically, in the form of support for the children in those mountains.
In this area around Arbeláez there are ten small schools and two larger ones. The small schools serve between 8 and 12 children each. The larger ones, more than 200. The children who live higher in the mountains walk down every morning to reach the closest school. Sometimes a long walk. Always determined.
When a child has education, they have choices. They can decide who they want to become. Without it, life makes that decision for them.
We sent the €1,400 to those schools. Weeks later, 50 children had uniforms and school kits. That was the moment Seeds for a Better World asbl became a registered nonprofit association in Luxembourg.
A nonprofit built to grow beyond borders
We are building this carefully, honestly, and with full accountability. And we are building it to last.
Seeds for a Better World is registered as an ASBL in Luxembourg, We have three founders, a growing community across Europe, and schools in the mountains of Colombia that know our name.
We are starting in Colombia because that is where our roots are. We are not stopping there. The belief behind this association is universal. Every child deserves access to education. Every child deserves the right to choose their own future. That is true in rural Colombia. It is true everywhere.
We are building this carefully, honestly, and with full accountability. And we are building it to last.
Founders
María Lucia Romero
She built the Brilliantly Branded Podcast to create belonging for women in Luxembourg. She built the community to create visibility. And she built this association to make sure that energy reaches the children in the mountains where her family has always been. Seeds for a Better World asbl is where her personal history, her professional work, and her values became one thing.
Contact her on Linkedin
Founder, President
Philip Grother
Focused, approachable, and driven by results, Philip was the first person to believe in this before it had a name. His years building businesses bring the structure and strategic thinking that keep the association grounded. And his network in Luxembourg and worldwide opens doors that take most nonprofits years to reach.
Contact him on Linkedin
Co Founder and Vice President
Co Founder and TreasurerDavid Scharschmidt
David has spent his career building and leading teams across industries. He knows how organizations work, how people work, and what it takes to make something last. He joined Seeds for a Better World because that is the kind of person he is. Someone who sees something worth building and shows up."
Contact him on Linkedin