Curriculum Vitae
In what follows, I expose the reasons why I would like to participate in this important meeting. I am psychologist with a PhD in Social Psychology and a full professor at FGV-EAESP, a leading business school in São Paulo, Brazil. I was the Deputy Dean of this School from 2007 to 2014. As a researcher and professor I published in 1991 the first article to discuss the work of executives women in Brazil. Since then, I have been doing research on this topic, as well as carrying out some impactful activities to promote women and women entrepreneurs in Brazil.
My enthusiasm for this Summit is a consequence of more than twenty-five years devoted to researching gender topics. More recently, I directed a program at our school called “10.000 women”, funded by Goldman Sachs. I was invited to design this program in 2008/2009. Since then, I have organized (together with a colleague, Professor Tales Andreassi), the curriculum for 14 cohorts, with more than 500 students having already concluded the Program. This program impacted the lives of the women who participated in it personally, their families, businesses and community. It also stimulated my own research on identity of women entrepreneurs, dilemmas that they suffer while conducting their businesses, conflict on relations family-work and other critical incidents that permeates their businesses. We regularly organize meetings for the alumni, discussing topics of their interest.
Second, I organize an empirical research group on Organization and People, named NEOP – Núcleo de Estudos em Organizações e Pessoas, connecting professors, master and PhD students, executives and entrepreneurs. The objective of NEOP is to discuss the complexity of organizations nowadays, promoting a close conversation between academics and executives that could impact the life of companies. We already organized at NEOP workshops to promote empowerment and economic development for women in our country. For example, together with Ana Fontes, from RME – Rede Mulher Empreendedora, and with Adriana Carvalho, from ONU-Mulheres in Brasil, we organized last year two workshops that brought together profit and non-profit organizations to discuss gaps and overlaps in the activities of those organizations, which helped discuss possible actions to promote women entrepreneurs in Brazil. I am convinced that this conference will also inspire NEOP for actions and research to continue to foster the empowerment of women entrepreneurs.
Finally, it is important to mention that I participate in many different women’s groups in Brasil, such as Mulheres do Brasil, Grupo Alliança, Rede Mulher Empreendedora, BPW – business professional women, WCD – Women Corporate Directors, to mention a few. Moreover, I also teach a course on “Questions of Gender in Organizations”, for the undergraduate students from the programs in Business, Public Administration and Law. In this course, we promote theoretical discussions on gender issues; we also invite women executives and women entrepreneurs to discuss with the students the challenges they face regarding working.