I’m a 47 year old chemical engineer
who has seen it all in the corporate
environment of a big oil company. In
22 years’ experience, I’ve worked with
research and development, climbed the
managerial ladder fast, was
responsible for the entire reservoir
engineering activity of the company,
had a burn out, stepped down, started
it all again in another area –
sustainability. And loved it! I
decided to make a career change from
technical oil production to
sustainability – environmental and
social. This is what feels right,
after all those years working for
fossil fuels. It all started in
2020 when I involved myself with
decarbonization projects for offshore
production projects, analyzing and
selecting the best technologies to be
implemented for the reduction of GHG –
Green House Gases - emissions during
operation. As a volunteering work, I
also became Director for
Sustainability and Energy Transition
for SPE – Society of Petroleum
Engineers, Brazil Section. I started
learning a lot more about energy
transition and the role of O&G and
the urgent need to lower carbon
emissions. I also began organizing a
diversity & inclusion group in my
division and helped structure actions
such as a female mentoring program and
propagation of anti-discrimination and
human rights respect policies. With
these activities, I became noticed by
the Social Responsibility Executive
Manager of the company, who invited me
to be part of her team as Community
Engagement Coordinator. Although I had
never worked with social
responsibility before, I was
completely raptured by the topic. I
learned a lot by interacting with
local communities, from indigenous
tribes in the Amazon to community
leaders in the favelas. Definitely a
life changing experience. Doing good
for other people and the environment
is the best job anyone could have. And
although it is not easy, for there are
many different views on any subject,
and oppositions too, and practical
difficulties in implementing actions
on the field, it is extremely
rewarding to know that at the end of
the day you have made someone’s life
and the world better. That is what I
like about jobs in sustainability. And
life just gave me a recent push: my
husband was promoted at his job at
Embraer – Brazilian aircraft
manufacturer, and has been relocated
to Palo Alto, California. I had to
take a leave of absence from Petrobras
and took the opportunity to start my
graduate studies in Sustainability at
Harvard Extension School. In the
meantime, I am eager to find a new
role in corporate sustainability. I
have a L2 visa, which allows me to
work in the US. Regarding how I see
myself at work, I would say I’m a kind
of Mr. Wolf as in the Pulp Fiction
movie: if you have a problem, I’ll
solve it. Of course, I don’t have
experience with crime and violence as
in the movie, but my extensive
experience has taught me how to do
well in any environment. As of today,
none of the new positions I ever took
in my career were comfortable. They
always implied I should be responsible
for topics I didn’t really have a lot
of experience or knowledge of. But I
am a very quick learner. I read a lot
and start by finding the people who
are the experts, the people who can
help me solve the problem, and
orchestrate them – even if I am not
their direct leadership – so they all
work in the same direction and with
the same goal. It has worked many
times! If you ask people I have worked
with in the many different areas I
have been through, they will all say I
am extremely dedicated, organized and
result oriented. And they’ll say we’re
friends, because I have always created
friendships wherever I go. I like
people – and people can tell when you
like them. Overall, I am a mature and
experienced professional, leader, team
player, engineer, passionate for
making the world more sustainable and
even more passionate about taking new
challenges and solving problems.