Eva Paliouras is a 17-year-old student, equestrian, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who lives in Wellington, Florida. Originally from Lima, Peru, Eva speaks four languages fluently and attends Score Academy. As an accomplished equestrian, Eva balances her time between studying, competing in show jumping, and helping raise funds and awareness for those less fortunate. At the age of 13, Eva launched Bonnets of Hope by Eva, an initiative of the non-profit Knitting Hope, by creating products that include purses, pouches, wallets, and equestrian bonnets to help raise funds for women in rural Peru. Eva, who learned to knit and sew during COVID, designs the accessories and promotes them throughout the international equestrian world. Eva began riding at the age of seven, and now trains with Irish show jumping champion David Blake at Pine Hollow Farm in Wellington. She is short-listed for the Peruvian show jumping team to compete in the Bolivarian Games this year in Lima. If Eva makes the final cut, she'll be the youngest rider in history to compete in show jumping in these Games. The Bolivarian Games mark the beginning of “The Olympic cycle” followed by the Pan American Games in 2026, which are direct qualifiers for the Olympics.

From an early age, Eva has been involved in charity and began helping her mother with various philanthropic projects, among them the Textile workshop Knitting Hope. “At the very beginning I helped catalogue and organize, but then I started going to the mountains, got to know the artisans, and even helped teach them how to write their names.”

“As years passed I got more and more involved, and when covid hit the dream of making it my own came to mind. This is how Bonnets of Hope was born - a project that unites my two passions: empowering women and riding horses.”