When I began writing “The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia,” I knew I wanted to create a character who embodied wisdom, compassion, and the fierce determination to fight injustice. One of the people that I found that inspiration in was Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría, whose extraordinary life story became one of the driving forces behind the character of Sophia in my book. I met first in 2018 when she was Vice President of Costa Rica.

Meeting a Real-Life Force for Change

Ana Helena’s story first captured my attention through her groundbreaking work with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). But as I learned more about her journey, I discovered something far more profound than policy innovation—I found a woman whose personal tragedy had transformed into a global movement for justice.

Ana Helena’s activism began in the most personal way possible. When her youngest daughter was born with Down syndrome, she experienced firsthand the discrimination and barriers faced by families with disabled children. As she told the Washington Blade, “I began a fight against discrimination against people with disabilities, especially for people with intellectual disabilities. I then began fighting for other human rights that were being violated.”

This resonated deeply with me as I crafted Sophia—a character who appears throughout my book as someone who “has been crying” and “has been so sad,” yet becomes a powerful force for transformation. Like Ana Helena, the literary Sophia’s pain becomes her strength.

From Personal Pain to Revolutionary Change

What struck me most about Ana Helena’s story was how she channeled her personal experience into systemic change. Long before entering politics, she helped create Costa Rica’s first non-governmental organization for people with Down syndrome and later established an inter-American NGO for people with disabilities.

Her approach was revolutionary: rather than focusing on limitations, she emphasized possibilities and dignity. “We are not focused on what they can’t do,” she explained about her employment practices. “What we tell the employer is what they can do—’He’s very good in public relations’—not what they can’t do. It’s a different way of seeing disability.”

This philosophy of seeing potential rather than deficits became central to how I conceived Sophia in my book—as a figure who helps others see beyond surface appearances to recognize the inherent worth and possibility in every being.

A Political Leader with Purpose

When Ana Helena served as Costa Rica’s Second Vice President from 2014-2018, her leadership style remained deeply rooted in her personal experience. In her own office, she actively employed people with disabilities, ensuring that four of her nine staff members had various disabilities, including a human rights lawyer in a wheelchair, a blind colleague, and someone with Asperger syndrome.

This commitment to walking the talk inspired how I wrote about Sophia’s interactions with both the powerful tiger and the delicate butterfly in my story. Like Ana Helena, Sophia creates space for all voices and recognizes that true strength comes from inclusion, not exclusion.

Revolutionizing How We See Poverty

Perhaps Ana Helena’s most transformative contribution—and the one that most directly influenced my writing—came through her pioneering work with multidimensional poverty measurement. As Vice President, she led Costa Rica to become the fastest country in the world to develop and implement a national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

The breakthrough was both technical and philosophical. Rather than measuring poverty solely through income, Ana Helena’s approach recognized that poverty encompasses education, health, living standards, and human dignity. Under her leadership, Costa Rica’s poverty rate decreased from 21.7% in 2014 to 18.8% in 2017.

This revolutionary way of “counting” and measuring human experience became a central theme in “The Songs of Sophia” section of my book. In the poems, Sophia uses numbers and counting not as cold statistics, but as tools of compassion—helping “the rich to see the poor” and creating understanding between different worlds.

Literary Translation of Real Impact

In my book, I wrote:

“The number Sophia counts
That paints a vivid picture
For the rich to see the poor,
That says that there is much to do
And many ways to help.”

These lines were directly inspired by Ana Helena’s work developing measurement tools that make poverty visible and actionable for policymakers worldwide. Just as the literary Sophia brings together different worlds through understanding, Ana Helena has spent her career building bridges between policy and human experience.

The themes of alliance-building that run throughout my book also reflect Ana Helena’s real-world approach. She consistently created partnerships—between government and private sector, between rich and poor, between the powerful and the marginalized. In my story, this becomes the alliance between the tiger and the butterfly, united in their care for Sophia and their commitment to protecting the vulnerable.

From Inspiration to Recognition

Ana Helena’s impact extends far beyond Costa Rica. She now serves as Senior Advisor on Public Policy and International Relations at OPHI, where she leads educational programs for high-level officials across Latin America and the Caribbean. She holds the honorary title of Inaugural MPI Ambassador, recognizing her exceptional leadership in positioning multidimensional poverty measurement as a global policy tool.

When I was writing about Sophia as a figure who “returns again and again, counting again and again for all to see progress,” I was thinking of leaders like Ana Helena who dedicate their lives to sustained, patient work for justice.

Why This Story Matters

I included Ana Helena Chacón prominently in my book’s dedication because her story embodies the kind of wisdom and compassion I wanted to capture in the character of Sophia. She shows us how personal experience, when channeled through courage and vision, can create transformative change that benefits millions.

Her journey from advocating for her daughter’s rights to revolutionizing global poverty measurement demonstrates that the most powerful changes often begin with the most personal struggles. Like Sophia in my book, Ana Helena teaches us that true wisdom comes not from avoiding pain, but from transforming it into a force for healing others.

Continuing the Mission

Five percent of the proceeds from “The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia” go to Sophia Oxford —to support work to end Multidimensional Poverty. 

For Sophia I was drawing directly from the example of Ana Helena Chacón—a real-world figure who shows us that wisdom, when combined with action, can indeed change the world.

---

“The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia” is available through Rugido Mágico publishing, with illustrations by Lina Cabrera and Spanish translation by Viviane Lazard Sobral. To learn more, visit RugidoMagico.com.

How Latin American Business Leaders Inspired a Story of Wisdom and Transformation

When I set out to write “The Tiger Trilogy,” I never imagined that the powerful symbol of the tiger would find its perfect embodiment in two remarkable business leaders from Guatemala. Today, I want to share why Luis Miguel Castillo (1973-2023) and Juan Pablo Mata, CEOs of Grupo Mariposa, have become the living models for the tiger in our story, and how their journey represents everything we hoped to capture about courage, wisdom, and transformational leadership.

I got to know Grupo Mariposa when they asked Wise Responder to bring the Oxford University-developed Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) methodology to their company to help them better understand all their employees—that’s over 15,000 people across multiple countries.

The Tiger’s Roar: Luis Miguel Castillo’s Legacy

Luis Miguel Castillo was, in every sense, a tiger in the business world. Like the tiger in our story who declares “My soul does magnify Sophia,” Luis Miguel’s entire career was devoted to something far greater than profit—he was building prosperity for an entire region whilst protecting the environment that sustains us all.

When Luis Miguel took cbc from being a Central American bottler to becoming the first company in the region to issue bonds on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, he wasn’t just expanding a business. He was proving that Latin American companies could compete on the global stage whilst maintaining their commitment to social and environmental responsibility. His $1.1 billion ESG bond issuance at 5.25% wasn’t just financial innovation—it was a roar that declared: “We are here, we are sustainable, and we will not compromise our values for growth.”

Like the tiger who tells Sophia, “I will have no forest, no land, no dominion without Butterfly,” Luis Miguel understood that true business success is symbiotic. His commitment to zero waste to landfill, science-based carbon reduction targets, and with Pablo Mata to the “Creciendo Juntos” programme for employee development showed a leader who knew that environmental and social health were inseparable from business health.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that Luis Miguel chose to name their holding company “Grupo Mariposa”—Group Butterfly. This visionary choice speaks to his understanding that transformation, like the butterfly’s metamorphosis, requires both patience and profound change. In recognition of this profound symbolism, the second story in our trilogy became “Tiger & Butterfly”—a tribute to Luis Miguel’s understanding that the most powerful forces in nature work in harmony.

The Tiger’s Evolution: Juan Pablo Mata’s Vision

When Luis Miguel passed unexpectedly in October 2023, the question became: could the tiger’s roar continue? In Juan Pablo Mata, we see not just continuity, but evolution. Juan Pablo embodies the tiger who “pads along in love, sniffing out my fellow mighty.”

Juan Pablo’s journey from Human Resources Chief to CEO of Grupo Mariposa demonstrates the systematic grooming that creates transformational leaders. But what makes him a true model for our tiger is how he has amplified the ESG agenda whilst taking it global. His participation in Davos 2024, speaking on “The Alliance for Equitable Transition,” shows a leader who understands that the fight for sustainability must be collaborative and inclusive.

The USAID partnership in El Salvador, supporting 44,000 local merchants, exemplifies the tiger’s mission to use power “to end a drop of suffering.” Juan Pablo’s recognition as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum isn’t just personal achievement—it’s the tiger’s roar being heard on the world stage.

The Sophia Figure: Rosa María Frade’s Guiding Wisdom

But no tiger succeeds alone. In our story, the tiger finds wisdom through his relationship with the butterfly and with Sophia, the embodiment of wisdom herself. In the real world of Grupo Mariposa, this wisdom has been channelled through Rosa María De Frade, Director of Corporate Affairs, who has served as the Sophia figure for both leaders.

Like Sophia in our story, who “gently holds our hands” and helps us “count and number things” that matter, Rosa María has helped both Luis Miguel and Juan Pablo navigate the complex intersection of business success and social responsibility. She has been the one ensuring that as the company grows, it never loses sight of its commitment to the communities it serves.

Rosa María has embodied Sophia’s role of creating “an alliance of rich and poor who understand one another.” Through her guidance, Grupo Mariposa has maintained its commitment to the UN Global Compact, women’s economic empowerment principles, and science-based environmental targets. She has been the wisdom that ensures the company’s growth translates into genuine social impact.

When Poetry Meets Purpose

The connection between our story and these real-world leaders became beautifully tangible when I had the opportunity to read the first tiger poem to Juan Pablo and Rosa María. Their reaction was so profound, so immediate, that they asked me to film the reading. What happened next moved me deeply—they shared that film at their annual manager conference, using our story to help communicate their vision to their leadership team.

This moment crystallised for me why these stories matter. When business leaders see themselves reflected in tales of tigers who fight for wisdom, butterflies who enable transformation, and Sophia who guides with compassion, we create a shared language for the kind of leadership our world desperately needs.

Why These Stories Matter

“Tiger & Butterfly” isn’t just a children’s story about a tiger with a butterfly on his nose. It’s a tribute to leaders like Luis Miguel and Juan Pablo who understand that true strength comes from protecting the vulnerable, that real power lies in lifting others up, and that sustainable success requires wisdom, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to something larger than yourself.

When the tiger in our story declares, “This is my daily hunt, a charging fight of love for wisdom herself,” we see Luis Miguel’s pioneering work in sustainable finance and Juan Pablo’s global advocacy for equitable transition. When the tiger says, “I will have no forest, no land, no dominion without Butterfly,” we see leaders who understand that business success without environmental and social sustainability is ultimately hollow.

The Sophia Legacy

Most importantly, both leaders have understood what Sophia teaches in our story: that true measurement of success isn’t just financial. It’s about counting what really matters—the reduction of poverty, the protection of our environment, the empowerment of communities, and the creation of opportunities for the next generation.

Rosa María Frade’s role as Director of Corporate Affairs has been instrumental in translating this philosophy into action. Like Sophia who “returns again and again, counting again and again for all to see progress that delights rich and poor alike,” Rosa María has ensured that Grupo Mariposa’s sustainability commitments are not just aspirational statements but measurable, accountable actions that create real change.

As Juan Pablo continues to carry forward Luis Miguel’s vision whilst adding his own global perspective, we see the tiger’s story continuing to unfold. The roar that began in Guatemala now echoes in Davos, in sustainability forums around the world, and in the daily operations of a company that proves business can be a force for good.

These leaders didn’t just inspire our story—they’re living it every day. And with the wisdom of Rosa María Frade guiding them as their Sophia figure, they continue to show us what it means to be tigers in the truest sense: powerful, protective, and eternally committed to the flourishing of the ecosystem they inhabit.

The tiger’s roar continues, and the world is listening.

---

Jamie Coats is the CEO of Wise Responder and the author of “The Tiger Trilogy” and “The Songs of Sophia.” Five per cent of the book’s proceeds support poverty alleviation through Sophia Oxford.

---

The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia is available at RugidoMagico.com

When I wrote “The Songs of Sophia,” I co-dedicated it to both Sabina Alkire and John Hammock, the co-founders of the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford. Having written previously about Sabina’s inspiration, I want to focus here on why John Hammock’s name appears alongside hers in this dedication—and what his unique journey brought to their transformational partnership.

From the Field to the Formula

What captivated me about John’s contribution to OPHI was the extraordinary path he traveled to reach Oxford. Unlike traditional academic poverty researchers, Hammock arrived with mud on his boots—literally and figuratively. His 30+ years leading organizations like ACCION International USA , Oxfam America, and Feinstein International Center at Tufts University gave him intimate knowledge of poverty’s lived reality.

When I wrote the lines about Sophia kneeling “in the dirt at the unshod feet of the poorest of the poor,” I was thinking of John’s career. He spent decades in villages, slums, and refugee camps, witnessing firsthand what my poem describes: families cooking with dung, children with fever when hospitals are unreachable, entrepreneurs counting coins that can’t cover basic needs.

The Practitioner’s Eye

The probing questions throughout my poem mirror the insights John brought to OPHI’s methodology:

• “When you kneel and touch your floor, do you touch dirt, concrete, planks or carpet?”
• “What food are you preparing? Do you have enough for the day?”
• “Can you pay the bill?”

These weren’t abstract policy variables to him—they were daily realities he witnessed during his microfinance work with ACCION and his humanitarian leadership at Oxfam. His experience taught him that poverty isn’t just about money; it’s about dignity, agency, and basic human capabilities.

Building Bridges Through Numbers

I dedicated my poem to John Hammock because he embodied something I tried to capture in verse: the creation of “an alliance of rich and poor who understand one another.” His entire career was built on this bridge-building.

At ACCION, he connected Wall Street investors with street vendors in La Paz. At Oxfam, he bridged American donors with LATAM farmers. At OPHI, he helped ensure that multidimensional poverty indices were not just academic exercises but tools for genuine partnership between those with resources and those without.

Why This Co-Dedication Honors Both Legacies

The poem’s central message—that “we don’t count unless we plan to make a difference”—captures what I see as John Hammock’s life philosophy. Born in Cuba, shaped by Latin American development challenges, and guided by decades of field experience, he brought to OPHI something no amount of academic training could provide: the wisdom of someone who had sat in those one-room homes, shared those inadequate meals, and counted alongside the poor.

While Sabina brought the methodological brilliance, John brought the practitioner’s urgency. Together, they created something unprecedented: poverty measurement that serves poverty reduction.

I co-dedicated “The Songs of Sophia” to both founders because their partnership represents the marriage of rigorous analysis and compassionate action. But in honoring John specifically, I wanted to celebrate how his field experience ensured that when OPHI counts poverty, it counts toward justice, it makes real life impact.

I hope you take the opportunity to read and share The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia and help pass on John Hammock’s wisdom of counting into caring.

The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia is available at RugidoMagico.com

Wow. The book is amazing. I really don’t feel I have ever seen anything similar to it. Engaging. Visually rich. Memorable!

Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren

In my book The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia, you meet a magnificent tiger, in the first poem The Tiger is Here, who finds his life’s purpose in solving what causes Sophia’s tears—Sophia being the ancient symbol of wisdom.

In the poem the tiger declares:

Now blessed
With one tear
I bound forth

Purposeful
Using my power
To end a drop of suffering

But who is this tiger?

Meet one of the real tigers: Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

In December 2022, I went to have tea with President Santos at his home in Bogotá. We were planning to discuss how to integrate poverty zero and net zero statistics to ensure that climate change adaptation is socially beneficial to as many people as possible. When he greeted me, the first thing he said was, “How is Professor Sabina Alkire at Oxford University?”

He had worked with Professor Sabina Alkire as she helped develop Colombia’s official multidimensional poverty measure—a measure that would not only reduce poverty in Colombia but become part of the peace negotiations that ended the Colombian Civil War. The Colombian government offered the FARC rebels a guarantee that they would reduce poverty using this multidimensional poverty measure, and that commitment was written into the peace agreement.

I told President Santos that I had recently spoken to Professor Sabina, and that she had been crying when I spoke to her. She had been reading the latest multidimensional poverty statistics that enabled her to imagine clearly what people’s lives must be like living in such wretched poverty. He replied, “I will do everything for that woman that she needs.”

President Santos had served as Minister of Defense in President Uribe’s government, placing him in the middle of actually fighting Colombia’s civil war. When he became President of Colombia, he focused on poverty reduction and ending the Colombian civil war, with much encouragement from former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government had negotiated the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

As Wikepedia notes: On June 23, 2016, the Colombian government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal … the same month, the then Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.

In 2024, President Santos launched a book in Spanish and English: The Battle Against Poverty: Colombia A Case of Leadership, published by Oxford University Press. The book explains how he used Professor Sabina’s multidimensional poverty index methodology to tackle the interconnected problems of poverty, conflict, and climate change.

A couple of months after I had tea with President Santos, I was on a retreat meditating when I sensed this incredible tiger, and I wrote the poem “The Tiger is Here.” I had the opportunity to read the poem to President Santos, who sweetly said that he thought the poem was a nicer depiction of him than he really is.

You can follow President Santos’ current work through The Elders. The Elders was founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 as are an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet.

The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia explores how wisdom emerges through compassionate action in the face of suffering—just as President Santos demonstrated in his remarkable journey from war to peace.

If you are a tiger I hope you adore wisdom! Please share your stories.

The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia is available at RugidoMagico.com

Brazilian journalist Marisa Adán Gil wrote:

You …“manage to create an enchanting story for kids, then mix it with history, philosophy and a little romance.”

Marisa Adán Gil

My book The Tiger Trilogy: The Songs of Sophia weaves together the ancient symbol of Wisdom (Sophia) with a Tiger who channels her guidance through mighty strength.

Brazilian journalist Marisa Adán Gil beautifully captured the essence of the book: I “manage to create an enchanting story for kids, then mix it with history, philosophy and a little romance.”

This is the first in a series about the inspiring people behind the book …

Meet the Real Sophia: Professor Sabina Alkire

Here is the real philosophy and real history. The story draws inspiration from Professor Sabina Alkire, an American academic and Anglican priest who directs the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford .

In my view Sabina asked herself a profound question: “How can I have the greatest impact on poverty reduction?”

Her answer was revolutionary. She recognized that governments rely on dashboards from national statistics offices to guide policy—but these dashboards were missing a crucial dial. They measured money, but not the full reality of poverty.

The Alkire-Foster Method: Measuring What Matters

Working with Professor James Foster of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, Sabina created the Alkire-Foster method—a groundbreaking approach to measuring multidimensional poverty. Instead of just counting dollars, it captures the complete picture of what life looks like for the world’s poorest households.

The Songs explains shows the Alkire-Foster method counts objective reality, asking questions like these:

1. Do you find walls in front of you * Or are you living outside?
2. When you kneel and touch your floor, * Do you touch dirt, concrete, planks or carpet
3. What food are you preparing?  * Do you have enough for the day?
4. For the week? For your family? * Careful! Don’t burn your hands,
5. Are you cooking with dung? * Or wood or fuel of another kind?
6. You eat a palmful, * Are you still hungry?
7. Checking your child’s head for fever. * How far is the hospital?
8. In your pocket you feel for your money. * Can you pay the bill?
9. How much schooling do you have? * Does your work speak of learning?
10. Can you fumble around to find some tools. * Do you have any for earning?
11. Thirsty, feeling for a tap, * Do you have running water?
12. Is it safe to drink? * Or you are reaching for your kettle?
13. Do you boil the hottest tea * Your mouth can bear?
14. You need to go so bad. Do you have a latrine? Or do you go outside? * Or pay to go to the village loo?
15. Outside you stumble on something * A piece of rubbish, Rubbish that is never collected * And is strewn everywhere.

In The Songs of Sophia, this wisdom translates into counting three essential things: heartbeats, money, and Sophia’s measure (the calculation of poverty that needs reduction). We need all three to solve real problems. In the Song it says “With these three numbers * We grow in compassion, Together counting * What truly matters.”

Global Impact

Today, nearly 50 countries use official multidimensional poverty measures to improve policies and target resources more effectively. Sabina’s work guides work at the:

• The United Nations Development Programme
• The World Bank
• Many countries like China, India, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and South Africa
• Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index

Explore her transformative work at ophi.org.uk.

Bringing Sophia’s Philosophy to Life

I have the privilege of leading Wise Responder, an Oxford-created company that brings multidimensional poverty methodology to the private sector. It’s an honour to put Sabina’s—or Sophia’s—philosophy into action.

The Tiger Trilogy – The Songs of Sophia captures this philosophy in stories that enchant children while planting seeds of wisdom about making the world better.

Available now in bilingual editions (English-Spanish and English-Portuguese) at https://rugidomagico.com/

I’d love to hear what children think of the story—please share their reactions!

Jamie Coats

---

Five percent of the proceeds of the book go to Sophia Oxford UK to support Sabina’s work.

Next post: Another inspiring figure behind The Songs of Sophia and The Tiger Trilogy

I am delighted to announce the launch of my book The Tiger Trilogy and The Songs of sOPHIa in collaboration with the talented Colombian illustrator Lina Cabrera. The core inspiration of the book is the work of the Oxford Professor Sabina Alkire, founder of OPHI, The Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.

The book is currently available in the USA/UK through https://rugidomagico.com/ in bilingual versions, English-Spanish and English-Portuguese. Later it will be available in Brazil and Latam.

Rugido Magico is Lina’s and my collaboration to create inspiring magical books in multiple languages that can be read aloud to spark empathy, stir the imagination, and encourage people to come together to be brave catalysts for change.

Please buy a copy and read it to some children!

“The Tiger Trilogy” is inspired by real-world efforts to combat poverty and achieve social and environmental justice. It aims to inspire young readers to embrace their potential to make a positive difference in the world.

In the first story, “The Tiger is Here,” we meet a majestic tiger who encounters Sophia, the embodiment of wisdom and compassion. Witnessing Sophia’s sadness at the suffering she encounters, the tiger embarks on a mission to alleviate it, using his strength and determination to make a positive impact. This story was inspired by the former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (see The Elders Foundation) talking about his work with Professor Sabina Alkire of Oxford with whom he worked to lower poverty and end the Colombian civil war and by great business leaders in Latin America combating poverty.

The second story, “Tiger & Butterfly,” highlights the importance of collaboration and ecological balance. The tiger forms an unlikely friendship with a butterfly, and together they discover the interconnectedness of all living things. This story was inspired by Alicia Montalvo and Sergio Diaz-Granados Guida to make CAF -banco de desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe- the green development bank that ends poverty.

The concluding story, “Tiger Loves Carnival,” celebrates the power of collective action and joy. The tiger joins forces with other benevolent creatures to create a vibrant carnival, fostering a sense of community and hope. The story reminds us that carnival celebrates the end of slavery and I am indebted to Flavia Santoro Trujillo, former queen of the Carnival in Barranquilla, the Mayor’s Office Alcaldía Distrital de Barranquilla, Colombia and Fundación Santo Domingo for inspiration and of course the carnivals in Brazil.

The trilogy also includes an epilogue, “The Songs of sOPHIa,” that captures the essence of the work of Professor Alkire, and her work with OPHI. Five percent of the proceeds of the book go to Sophia Oxford to support Professor Alkire’s work.

We hope you enjoy the book and read it out loud to children, with a magical roar! https://rugidomagico.com/