MY STORY

Innovating for life

I was born of parents that dared to dream. In order to enhance their education and be more capable of providing a better future for their children, my Brazilian parents decided to leave their home country and move to the United States. There my father pursued and successfully obtained an MBA, and my mother developed her English skills. Although they struggled, this journey would forever change our family; not only because of what they learned, but also because meanwhile I was born!

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Our family came back to Brazil after my father’s graduation, and we continued to pursue our dreams. As I grew up, my parents kindly made sure that they taught me what they have learned, including the importance of effort, goal setting, struggle and serving others. We lived these principles at home, our church and in our community. Because of this, I have learned to see life as something more than just myself, but also all of those around me. I have learned that I play a role in this world, and I must prepare myself the best I can to impact the world. This focus combined with my love for sports and technology have led me to especially desire to use technology to help people and improve their quality of their lives. I have been so grateful for how technology has literally helped to be back on my feet after numerous injuries, and I hope to make this more accessible to people!

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This is why I am at Duke. When researching for potential colleges that I could attend, Duke especially caught my attention, as it amazingly blends a passion for service, a leader in technology and putting these two things together. I feel that if I were a university campus, I would be Duke.

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Here I have loved the flexibility of choosing my own majors and focus of my study. I believe that, in order to impact the world in the way I want, a combination of a Double major in Electrical and Computer Engineering with Biomedical Engineering, and a certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship prepares me well. I have especially loved the focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, as I think that in order to constantly improve people’s lives, we need to innovate and always seek better ways of doing something. Also, using entrepreneurship is a powerful way of bringing the ideas from papers and labs to the world, to someone’s home.

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Even though I have not been part of any entrepreneurial venture yet, I am a passionate learner, and am constantly preparing myself to be part of this field and to make a difference. This can be seen from other work that I have done, such as a missionary work that I did for 2 years after my freshman year where I lived in Taiwan with a partner and we would every day seek innovative ways to serve people, share principles of personal development, and immerse ourselves in the culture to genuinely share our love with the people. I have also been involved in numerous programs at the Church I have also attended, called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There, I have learned about leadership, compassion, innovating and entrepreneurship. I have helped lead groups of more than 100 people, develop social programs, learn people’s skills, run small temporary businesses to raise funds, etc.

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In all of this, I love to see people happy and fulfilled. I love also seeing it even in my own hobbies, such as playing soccer, arranging music, tinkering with devices, staying with family and meditating. I love the feeling of improving, achieving goals and sharing love. That is the kind of impact I want to have on the world. To see people smiling more, accomplishing their goals, choosing peace over chaos, love over ego. People do not usually seem to ask, but I want them to know that I will go above and beyond for this. I am constantly thinking about the fairness of the world, deflating ego and choosing to love. If I could, I would love to sit with everyone, and just let them know they are loved, important and capable. They can dare to dream. And I am here to help them.