It all started when I was 18.
I was leading a group of young people at a church in São Paulo, where I created activities focused on belonging, dialogue, and the way we tell stories — in that case, biblical stories. It was a way of supporting young people from different backgrounds and, somehow, reaching beyond.
Later, while working at the Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo, I began to understand something that would stay with me throughout my life: my interest lies in people, especially in the things that make us feel different, uncomfortable or, above all, out of place.
After completing my Law degree, my Master’s in Humanitarian Action, Cooperation and Development brought me to Portugal and gave me the tools to turn that interest into concrete action.
Since then,
I have worked in the areas of diversity, inclusion, migration and belonging — through social projects, public institutions, a design agency and even the finance department of a French company. I have lived in cities such as Nice and Brussels and taken part in activities connected to the United Nations in New York.
Different places, different jobs, different stories. But somehow, I always found myself coming back to the same questions:
Why is it so difficult to belong?
Why are we never satisfied with the place (physical, emotional, spiritual…) where we are?
And why do we always want to… go beyond?
What about today?
Well, I write.
I write about belonging, relationships, diversity and inclusion — but mostly about the uncomfortable, the strange, the awkward and, yes, sometimes the embarrassing (or simply cringe).
The things we feel but think we shouldn’t.
The thoughts we imagine nobody else has.
The conversations we avoid because we don’t quite know what to do with them.
I want someone to come across one of these small, uncomfortable truths and think: “Well… even Veronica wrote about this.”
Maybe that makes it a little easier to be human. And to go beyond the things that make us feel uncomfortable or out of place.
And work?
I still love a good challenge.
These days, I work as a consultant with a limited number of clients, especially when there is a structural, systemic or project-related challenge to untangle. My brain genuinely enjoys taking something complex apart, understanding how the pieces connect, and finding a way to make it all work.
Deep down, it has always been about looking at what is difficult to name and trying to find some meaning or some order in it.
Because ideas only matter when they are grounded in reality and can be sustained over time.
And that is what keeps me reaching beyond.
