University of South Africa
My interest in the sustainability field began at an early age due to family involvement with social projects in low-income areas of Brazil during the 1990s. Moreover, violence, poverty, exclusion have touched my life: I have lost friends and almost my own life many times in the streets of Rio, which ultimately reinforced my committment to sustainability.
Since that time I have developed sustainability projectsbased on social structural change through education, leadership empowerment and social entrepreneurship in a range of different countries.
I combine over 18 years' experience working as a senior sustainability and change manager for multinational corporations such as Telefónica and Mapfre with academic activities in Universities such as Berkeley and Oxford.
When the project ‘Sustainable Supply Chain’, which I designed and implemented in Telefónica, was recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as a world best practice in 2009, my vision and purpose became clear: to drive change by advising and connecting private, public and not-for-profit organizations with communities throughout the world. I have advised organizations such as Banco Santander (Spain and Latin America), the Government of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), LEAD International (worldwide), and The Change Foundation (United Kingdom).
I have recently finished a postgraduate degree in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford. I wanted to understand and systematize my work more deeply using a more rigorous academic lens. I used the education project ‘Leadership Empowerment for Sustainability’, which I conceptualized and implemented, as the basis of my thesis.
I have delivered keynote speeches on topics such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Multi-stakeholder Alliances, Community Engagement and Leadership, in forums such as the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development RIO+20, Burgos International Summit of Culture and various Ibero-American summits.
I am a Fellow of St Catherine’s College Oxford University, LEAD International, and of itdUPM (Innovation and Technology for Development Centre).
I have been featured internationally on many publications and media outlets including El País.