I was born in Rio, Brazil and grew up thinking I would become an artist one day. I started painting at eight years old and I had my first exhibition at fifteen. At eighteen years old I moved to France. In total, I lived for almost a decade in that country. I actually became an artist there. However, when I got homesick and came back to my country of origin, surviving as an artist wasn’t easy. Truth is the Art market seemed too disconnected from the real world to me anyways. Deep inside, I dreamt that by becoming an artist I could change people’s perception, influence their mindset. But how many people seek Art as a refuge for changing nowadays? Truth is Art is mainly successful when it is entertaining, not forcefully educating. I didn’t want to be a clown in the middle of the crowd, my personality was more like one of a philosopher in reality. I guess the beginner challenges poisoned my motivation.
I became driven to social services, founded a first business dedicated to producing movies and music by the natives from Amazon and women empowerment. Founded a non-profit as well to help create partnerships between organizations in Brazil and in France. I didn’t make consistent money with those either. Again, I felt I wasn’t touching the source of any major problem. And I wanted to create an impact. So I kept trying, founded another business, became an executive producer and a marketing consultant by coincidence. People simply started hiring me for that. And that seemed to be interesting since it was a way to deal with understanding people’s behavior and getting closer to departments where decisions that affect society are made.
I learned four languages in that process. Wrote a book about social networking, based on actual scientific research. I read the entire work by Shakespeare, Freud, Plato, teachings from Confucius and Krishnamurti, and even Quantum physics between twelve and twenties. I guess I was a “forever-student” anyways. One day I was already in my thirties and realized that my most important dream got lost behind all these experiences: to feel true love and build a family. Despite that, I didn’t let my art die. Although I have pivoted my creativity towards Improv. And I even created a method for that too. On the other hand, I didn’t find fortune with that either.
What I did find was a pathway. It led me to Silicon Valley, CA, in the United States. I came here very differently from the way other Latinas come. I had no American future husband, no Au pair family, no Ph.D. program, nor a Global corporation willing to sponsor my Green Card. What I had was a point of view and evidence, that the skillset I had built would become exponentially demanded in a way that it would become difficult to fulfill. With all my life changes, no Oscar awards, no #1 Best-seller, I got a National Interest permanent immigration. Today, five years later, the scenario of opportunities I had presented is finally estimated by economists as a trillion dollars situation. Surprisingly, after all my compensation has been again unexpected. Marriage, a child, a future to call “ours”. A new business in my new home, yes, but with more layers attached to it.
This blog aims to inspire people who can’t prevent to ask questions about how to make this world we share with other billions of people a little more aware and self-protective. People who adapt to failure but don’t surrender, maintaining their life purpose beating deep inside, listening to the whispers of hope, courage, and resilience.
Success is a creative path. It’s measured by degrees of happiness. It impacts in multiplying our mission into active compassion.
The Interbiography is a way for me to ask philosophical questions having real-life cases to relate to it:
- How can we find happiness in contemplation?
- How can we reduce global social inequality?
- How can we make cooperation more profitable than competitiveness?
Send me a message if you would like to contribute. These questions are not mine. The answers belong also to anybody.
THE INTERBIOGRAPHY 