We met in Lisbon at the Giving Tuesday global summit. Actually, I’m not sure we actually met in the sense where you shake someone’s hand and introduce yourself. Carol was that different girl in the mix of people from all over the world, who made an impression with her long dreadlocks hair. Not only that. On our very first day of work, she videotaped everyone at recess with her phone saying Giving Tuesday in their language. Walking towards a hall to continue our workflow, I noticed the tattoos on her calves, but even before that, the underground vibe coming from her was already overwhelming me. I knew she would have something interesting to say.
Introduce yourself
Responsible for leading the Giving Tuesday Brazil, promoting the practice of community philanthropy in the most diverse types of communities across the country.
Graduated in Journalism from Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo, I was selected as the best student on the course and completed a postgraduate degree in Art Direction in Communication. I have experience in consultancy and execution of communication strategies in the third sector, as well as in project management and audiovisual production focused on transformative narratives.
So you are the leader of Giving Tuesday in Brazil. Will you tell me how your campaign went last year and what you want to make different in 2023?
Last year Giving Tuesday Brazil for the first time had someone to work the entire year to mobilize partners and nonprofits around the country. So to do that I participated in a lot of online and offline events and I have made a tour around Brazil through 27 cities.
This helped us to improve our impact outside the Economic center in Brazil that is Sao Paulo. We have a continental country and we don’t access the other cities and parts of the country so this was very important. It was a big deal to travel around the country and this resulted in 140 % more community campaigns so I think it was amazing. We realized we needed to make more professional what we are doing, like we needed to improve our tools that we use – communication tools, task manager,website.
What motivates you to keep wanting to make your country more giving and the world a better place?
I have a personal story. It’s closely connected to the idea of Giving Tuesday that everyone has something to give. I grew up in very poor scenery and when I needed anything I had to take it in a form of a donation, like my materials for school, everything I needed to study – books, pens etc. I received them as donations and my entire life was like that, so for me I think that everyone has something to give and his donation can make the difference for someone’s life. Just like it had happened to me. This is why I believe in giving and also in Giving Tuesday we exchange energy and build communities. And now they have the key to social impact because they know their people that are involved and what to do together. I believe that local organizations and companies now have better infrastructure to be more successful and get in touch because of our work so far.
How do you manage to combine your passion – the music with everything else that you do?
It’s not simple, it’s not a romantic story about me spending a lot of passion in what I love and what I need to do. It’s hard because everything I need to do is urgent, because people need to improve our culture in giving in Brazil so my job in Giving Tuesday is urgent. I’m always running against the time and I want to work harder in other aspects in my life like the music, my producer side hustle and friends and family. Right now I listen to music all the time. Always, it’s the air I breathe. So I use any opportunity I get to keep in touch with art and culture and I work as a partner of culture producers. REALI7E Records is a label specialized in music production and music videos founded on the east side of São Paulo. It specializes in authorial production of songs and video clips, distribution of sound and audiovisual media in the music industry. In addition to direct action in promoting local musical culture, the main objective of REALI7E is to support the realization of the work and life dreams of independent artists.
I told you that you gave me great underground vibes when I saw you in Portugal. I like that. Could you tell me more about the underground culture in your country or in your city. And how do you participate in it?
Oh, I love the underground culture here in Brazil. In this project that I take part in I have access to mix of deejays, graphics makers and dancers and people that make clothes. I’m in the middle of this underground. Here in Brazil we have like a big, big, big, big city is the bigger city than Latin America. And because of this big city, we have like a lot of difficulties. And here is one of the most, unique thing – we have a lot of poor people, and small group of rich people, so it’s so unequal, Desigual that we call in Brazil. I think there’s some similar word in English. So when you are poor, you feel like you are invisible or just a number inside of a millions numbers of people that lives here in Sao Paulo. So I noticed in our interviewers for this, artists I interviewed called Negging. He told me he is like invisible in the city. So he uses his art and letters and paintings to make him less, less invisible. So when you are passing in the streets and you see a piece of art of him, you are seeing him. So I feel here in Brazil and most in Sao Paulo, we have this pulse of not being invisible. People talk about their problems and talk about this with a lot of anger in their voice. And the culture has this anger too, here in the capital of Picasso – it’s a kind of graffiti art that is now allowed but people do not like because they say it is ugly and vandalism. But here the vandalism and this kind of Picasso is a way to not be invisible. So when the government or when the people says that Picasso and graffiti is not art or something that they needed or want to see , but we are being impacted for capitalism symbols all the time, and we do not want to see them also. This is just a way to say we are here. And this is how we are talking about what we leave and how difficult it is to fight against this injustice that we live every day.
Do you believe that you’re making Brazil a better place for your community?
I don’t know if I’m making Brazil a better place. Some people are telling me that my work is making it but I’m, not so sure. It’s really hard because Brazil is really big and it’s difficult to say “Yes, I make a lot of difference in my country” because my country needs more people doing something. I’m trying with the Giving Tuesday movement to mobilize people all over Brazil. I’m trying really hard and I hope this will be a real change for the people here.
What is one thing you want the whole world to know about your country?
And the one thing about you?
One thing that I want the whole world to know about my country is that Brazil is like one of the best places in the world because we are so happy and so excited, and we are colorful and our music is so rich. We have a lot of instruments and talents and it’s alive here. The culture here is alive. It’s like a way that people use to not be invisible. And in music and visual arts and dancing, everything is to not be invisible. So people are so talented. And I saw this in Portugal. Most of the street artists were Brazilian or were playing some Brazilian music. So I think that we are really, really rich in cultural aspects and we have everything that I needed to be like the most amazing place in the world. But here it’s so desigual unequal. I think in the future maybe we can be richer in a lot of different aspects because we are creative. We don’t have so many tools so we need to create the change of our lives and to survive. And I think this is like the beginning of a new country, because the young people are thinking of Brazil in a different way. So I’m very hopeful of this. I really believe in the young people. So I think this is something that the world needed to know about Brazil. We are very creative and have a lot of talents.
And about me it’s that I am really Brazilian. I am in the essential of the Brazilian people. I love the culture. I love to be involved in the music and the dancing and I think that creativity is something that is in my blood because I always needed to, to make my own things my way. We have in Brazil expression that calls jeitinho brasileiro. And this means that we always have an alternative to make something happens, not always with security or it’s the best way to do it but we make we make it because we are creative, because of hard work. So I feel myself like a Brazilian girl. So I’m very proud of this and happy to represent my country.
I wish much luck to Giving Tuesday Brazil and hope they’ll have a great campaign again. I know that Carol gives everything from her heart to make it so. One day if I go to Brazil I’m happy that I’ll have a friend there. And I’ll see the real underground culture.
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