Sergio Suhett knows what it’s like to suffer. Growing up in Brazil, he was beaten and bullied for being gay. Those horrific attacks, even by the police, made him into what he is today: a URI student devoted to helping others.

His compassion had a chance to shine on two student projects close to his heart: an HIV awareness campaign he spearheaded on campus and the #MakeYourGreenCount social media campaign to fight childhood malnutrition worldwide.

Suhett helped spread the world about the deadly malady and raise nearly $5,000 for Edesia, a local nonprofit that makes Plumpy’Nut, a peanut-butter paste distributed by humanitarian groups to millions of hungry children. “We made a difference in lives all over the world, and we did it right here from URI,’’ says Suhett. “How cool is that?’’

He’s come a long way from his devastating years in Rio, which he fled two decades ago. “It was a dangerous place for gay men back then. If I had stayed, I’d be dead.’’ After living in San Francisco and New York, Suhett settled in Rhode Island with his husband, Jon Anthony Carr, a Providence native.

Public relations is a perfect fit, says Suhett. “I love meeting people, and I love helping them promote their causes.’’ That enthusiasm is one of the reasons why he won this year’s PR Excellence Award for Leadership from the Harrington School of Communication and Media. “I’m honored,’’ he says. “I’ve been through so much. Before I was surviving. Now I’m living.’’