My calling as a coach came years before I even understood what a coach was.
As a child, I always had a deep connection to dreams and imagination, and the process of “civilizing” to fit into society’s expectations felt unnatural and violent.
My role models were always the misfits, the underdogs, the rebel princesses, and gentle warriors who dared to go against the mainstream and forge their own path. But in the “real world”, as a young Brazilian-Taiwanese lesbian woman with a good girl complex, it was difficult to be the heroine of my own story.
As a member of minoritized groups, I thought I had to prove myself by excelling in my studies and professional career.
After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, I kicked off my career in Human Resources at an Oil & Energy company in Brazil. Then, I transitioned into Tech, joining Meta (former Facebook) first in Brazil and then relocating to Dublin for my dream role working with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). During this time, I led Facebook’s Pride@ Employee Resource Group globally. After seven years, I moved to Amsterdam to take a DEI role at Netflix to oversee Europe, Middle East and Africa.
In parallel to both jobs, I was the Director for Longboard Girls Crew, a global organization with the mission of empowering women and minorities in action sports with 120+ ambassadors in 40+ countries around the world.
While on the outside it seemed as if I was living the “girl boss” narrative, on the inside I grew restless.
For some reason, it didn’t feel like the outside and the inside were matching up – so much so, that at one point, this tension felt unbearable. I embarked on my first real quest, venturing off the beaten path and into the underground jungles of my soul.
As a perfectionist over-achiever, it was extremely difficult to let go of the illusion of control. I realized how buried my intuition was, beneath that persona I’d created to ”succeed in the real world”. I started questioning what “succeeding” or “real world” meant for me, and after a long period feeling disoriented, disconnected and foreign in my own life, I started embracing the peculiar alien character that was living in the basement of my soul. And if I blinked and allowed myself back into my comfort zone of mainstream professionalism and social rigidity, she was gone again.
I began my Homecoming practice to ensure I wouldn’t lose sight of her again.
It all came pouring out when I started playing with watercolor and tarot, unexpected hobbies that emerged when my known passions were no longer bringing me joy. I wrote and illustrated my first book Homecoming: A Quest for Homefulness, launching in September 2024 (find out more here).
I also ventured off my DEI professional path and invested on new skills that would allow me to transmute my own experience to help others. I completed my initiation in Akashic Records with my teacher and mentor Valeria Kechichian, studied Transforming Complex Trauma with the Embodied Philosophy Wisdom School and Creative Intuition with James McCrae, and pursued a certification in Jungian Coaching (concluding in Sept. 2024).
The way I describe myself as a coach…
… is as someone who is deeply empathetic to feeling foreign in one’s own life, and who is willing to embark with my clients as a companion on a quest for wholeness.
Through working with dreams, shadows, mythology, meditation, embodied introspection and active imagination, I help people reconnect with their true self and find meaning in a world that feels foreign… so that it feels like home again.