I was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in number 5 of 8 siblings. We moved to the US when I was 15 years old for my Dad’s job. I was thrown straight into my sophomore year of high school speaking no English. It was tough, attending a school with 95% white kids who had no exposure to other cultures, I was treated as if I were dumb and refused to speak because of my accent. But I chose to focus on my studies and graduated with a 4.0 gpa. I had 2 acquaintances in a 3,000-student school. In college, I felt more comfortable with speaking English but was still shy to speak with an accent, so I was determined to improve my pronunciation to where I would not be treated like a foreigner anymore. I actually was able to achieve that, people in my college stopped asking where I was from by my junior year of college. I was always determined to prove people wrong and to be more than I felt they expected of me. I’m the only one in my family to have a masters degree and I love my career and I keep striving to grow and be better everyday, always up to date on the latest research and learning from past experiences. Seeing kids have a better quality of life and learn to communicate more effectively has been the highlight of my career. 

Languages spoken: Portuguese