Nycka, the Nomad ©

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day in some countries. In Brazil, where I still live, we don’t celebrate this day. Anyway it’s a good opportunity to stop and think in things to be grateful. I have many abilities. My favourites are to write - that’s why my best statistics are here, on Twitter and Quora, not on Instagram - and to help people to become more beautiful and stylish in an individual way, through style consultancy and fashion design. I don’t see myself as a fashion blogger or beauty blogger because they share general tips and induce people to imitate them. This is not my way! I decided not to offer consultancy for businesses for a while, but I can change my mind if some interesting project appear. I’m not that bad doing this. I have a dream. A big one. And last night I was sick because it seemed so distant and impossible because my standards are too high and sometimes a bit of pessimism makes me see only the fools who don’t value innovation and exclusivity. Then I slept to calm d...

Each child is unique and, in theory, each adult should be unique too. But as many parents try to give limits to their children instead of teaching them how to fly and be authentic, many adults are like shadows, sad, grey, trying to be accepted by others and, for this, hiding qualities that they believe aren’t appropriate. Caetano Veloso, a brazilian singer, wrote in his song “Gente” (which means people): “people is to shine not to die from hunger”. But the poet is not talking only about the lack of food. Culture nurtures us. To be recognised for being authentic nurtures us. So, spending all life trying to please others instead of discovering the beauty of who we really are is to die from hunger. Are you dying from hunger? Some years ago I adopted a beautiful cat, like a british long hair, smoke coloured, and she was already 8 years old. Her previous tutor was moving to the apartment of someone from her family who didn’t like cats. I named the cat Iduna, like the goddess who had the a...

Since I was a kid I had fun working. I was too young to remember if I started forced by older people or through my personal initiative, but I prefer to believe it was the second, as along life, since that time, initiative is part of my attitude. Every job I had I was pleased to do and when this pleasure disappeared I decided to change. The results are: I discovered the fashion industry in a deep level; I developed a lot of different talents, being able to perform many different activities; and I started a career in digital communications that is amazingly satisfactory. I lived with my grandmother for many years. We had an employee who cooked and kept the house clean, something very common in brazilian wealthy families. And my grandmother used to complain every single day about the taste of the food to this employee. But I never saw her going to the kitchen to teach the maid how to cook. In fact the food was horrible, and this was one of the reasons I sometimes used to prepare dessert...

Currently we see a lot of people defending diversity. I defend it too, but I believe the way many people are doing this is wrong. My personal experience shows me there’s another path to defeat prejudice. And through my work I hope I can help my clients to understand this path. It’s something I prefer to express individually, as I can help the person to see the things through ones own experiences. What I can say in advance is that tags are not helpful. Why should we embrace tags to fight against tags used against us? Regarding branding and positioning, not to embrace tags and flags against prejudices is not always to embrace the prejudice itself, I think. At least this is my positioning currently. I don’t defend one group as it were more fragile than others. I deal with individuals and I try to talk about many themes interesting to a variety of people. Excepting the first step of each services I offer, all the rest can be customised in so many details I think it’s impossible two people ...

I was observing how people want to succeed overnight, like to sleep poor and wake up rich. I think everyone faces struggles in life and career. Emotional pressure is a normal part of the game and many people face it. In my own life, it was the only struggle really hard to face (in other posts I already told about this). But I believe there’s a smoother way to succeed than to make efforts like to work extra hours, to accept any job just because you’re afraid of crisis, to work in something you don’t love, etc. I believe we can embrace a professional path that is aligned to our competences and qualities. I’m supposing you have some. If you don’t, sorry, effortless success is not for you. As a consultant in personal branding 360° my job is to help clients to find this smoother path, developing the abilities and even the appearance best fitted to your goals. Of course is not my responsibility to teach you all you must learn. My responsibility is in the strategy and mentoring when it’s pos...

Some of us are born in families where to achieve our dreams was encouraged by parents and relatives. Other ones were born in families where to win was only possible following one determined path designed by our parents and anything different was considered a defeat, anytime we tried to live our own lives we were considered the black sheep or someone with serious defects. I had a curious experience. My father wanted to see me as a medical doctor. He didn’t study a lot because my grandfather died when he was a boy and being the older boy it was his mission to manage the businesses of the family. The course to be a medical doctor was the most difficult to enter at the local university and my father knew I was able to enter. I had great grades at school. My mother and her family had a different attitude. My grandmother wanted to see me as a judge. Law was the second more difficult course to enter at the local university. I wanted not one nor another of these careers. My father accepted, r...

No Brasil muita gente acha que a solução para problemas variados deve vir do governo. Eu creio que estas soluções devem partir da iniciativa privada também. Nas últimas eleições presidenciais eu confrontei várias vezes um candidato que era diretor de uma grande empresa do varejo de roupas, porque ele prometia mil coisas e eu questionava se ele fazia aquilo para os funcionários de sua empresa. Os produtos da empresa são de qualidade extremamente baixa e uma vez fui convidada para participar de um processo seletivo da empresa, e o salário era indecentemente baixo para as responsabilidades e para o cargo em si, que eu já havia exercido em outra empresa muito menor com salário muito melhor. Confrontei porque as promessas aparentemente não condiziam com o que ele praticava na empresa. Ele acabou desistindo da candidatura. Hoje olho para este país e vejo muita pressão ser colocada no governo ao passo que não se vê com frequência a iniciativa privada como uma opção de solução. Imagine se ca...

No Brasil existe um ditado idiota que diz que o mundo é dos espertos. Muita gente, por causa desse ditado e da famosa lei de Gerson que segue o mesmo raciocínio, procura o caminho “mais fácil”. É uma estupidez e os motivos eu mencionei no texto anterior, mas vou reforçar neste. A tecnologia está caminhando para uma realidade em que a mão de obra que é só física, mecânica, será substituída por máquinas e robôs. Quem não estudar não vai conseguir emprego porque vai ser mais barato ter e manter uma máquina para fazer aquele serviço. Encorajar a estupidez é, em si, uma atitude estúpida. Sem emprego, o que esse povo ignorante vai fazer?  Já passou da hora do Brasil e dos brasileiros mudarem de atitude. O Brasil não é um país capaz de competir com países desenvolvidos em muitos aspectos e é visto por estrangeiros como um lugar comparável aos países africanos em termos de desenvolvimento porque muitas pessoas só estudam o suficiente para passar de ano, não têm uma cultura de estudar pa...

Economia é um mecanismo complexo. Cada pessoa e cada empresa é importante para o funcionamento adequado deste mecanismo. Se a qualidade de cada peça (pessoa ou empresa) é baixa gera crise. Quanto mais cada peça investe em si mesma, melhor é. No Brasil muitos cresceram ouvindo falar de crise e a temem. E nisso fazem exatamente o contrário do que devem fazer para sair dela. A vergonhosa Lei de Gerson também é uma barreira cultural que atrapalha os brasileiros de terem uma atitude que colabore com seu desenvolvimento profissional e com o desenvolvimento econômico do país. Vamos imaginar um cenário que já existe, mas ainda pode crescer muito no mercado mundial e muito mais no mercado brasileiro. Imagine uma empresa que desenvolva uma marca forte para si mesma, e para seus produtos e serviços se houver motivo para ter várias marcas de uma mesma empresa, como algumas grandes fazem. Esta empresa contrata apenas profissionais alinhados a seu perfil, bem adaptados à cultura praticada naquele ...

Economy is a complex mechanism. Each person and each business is important to this mechanism to work well. If the quality of the engines is low, it causes crisis. The more each “engine” invests in itself the better it is. Let’s imagine a scenario that already exists, but it’s not the dominant one yet. Imagine a company that develops a strong brand identity for itself and even for their products and services when it’s interesting to create multiple brands. This company hires only professionals aligned to its profile, well adapted to the culture practiced in that environment. This company pays salaries above the average. As the salaries attract many professionals, they can filter the best candidates through unorthodox methodologies, to find the ones who are fitted to its brand identity. The profits are high. The economic power of their employees, too. As the employees are aligned to the mindset of choosing the best, they use this power to buy the best in the market, and they have outst...

Twenty one years ago I entered this world. In the beginning it was dial up connection to enter, as quick as a lame turtle. The quality of the pictures that time was low, and I think a selfie like today we transfer in an instant would require several minutes or hours to be downloaded that time.  I was talking with some acquaintances yesterday about this. And one of them told us once he met a girl who told him she was like a younger Patricia Pilar (a famous and beautiful brazilian actress). He had no pictures of the girl and his expectations were too high, and he was sad to observe she really looked like the actress except for one detail: her nose was rough and big. Then I told him if I were to compare myself with some celebrity everybody knows it would be Angelina Jolie, but with brown eyes and smaller breast. The big eyes, mouth and delicate nose are similar. He told I really look like her. This is easy when you see the picture first. But then I saw a picture of Angelina in the m...