The articles written by the PÚBLICO Brasil team are written in the variant of the Portuguese language used in Brazil.
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In 2019, when I worked at National Arts Foundation (FUNARTE)in Rio de Janeiro, Elisângela Souza, 51 years old, came to the conclusion that it could not continue. She took care of the project notices for the foundation’s cultural facilities and theaters in Rio. But, with the dismantling of the cultural policy carried out by the federal government at the time, she resigned.
Without much choice, the idea of crossing the Atlantic came up. “I intended to spend six months in Portugal to try it out. I had already traveled to England, but I had never been to the country”, he says.
It was the end of the year when she arrived in Lisbon. However, two months later, he was no longer able to leave due to the arrival of the pandemic and the lockdown. The way was to look for work. “I got a one-year contract to work on a call center. It was what gave me the opportunity to organize myself financially in Portugal”, he says.
His next step was to work on the census, in 2021. He felt that there was a political issue there that involved surveying population numbers. Despite the existence of a working group composed of High Commissioner for Migration, SOS Racism and other organizations, which requested the inclusion in the census of a question about how the Portuguese defined themselves in relation to ethnicity, this was not approved. “If there is no data, there are no public policies aimed at these people”, he comments.
“Blonde with green eyes”
After working on the census, he tried to return to his field of cultural production techniques. “After sending many CVs, I had my first opportunity in my field. I was called for an online interview. They warned that the conversation would last 30 minutes. When I turned on the computer screen, on the other side was a blonde with green eyes. The interview only lasted three minutes and I was rejected. It was a reality check”, he recalls.
It wasn’t the first time that Elisângela had felt that the color of her skin changed her professional path. In Rio de Janeiro, she completed an advertising course, but ended up dropping out. “Black people and advertising are not match in Brazil”, he ironizes. He ended up completing a postgraduate degree and an MBA in project management.
She had already felt that not being white ends up making her fit into a stereotype, even in Lisbon. “Once, I went to a supermarket. I didn’t have a bag. As I didn’t have what I wanted, I ended up leaving without buying anything. As I was leaving, the cashier told me to take off my coat to check if I had stolen it. something.
Instead of lamenting, her option was what she called “transforming the narrative of discrimination and xenophobia”. Created the IDE – Social Hub. “It’s a social tech (technological focused on social causes), which aims to work on the agenda of inclusion, equity, social impact, innovation and sustainability”, he explains.
The IDE’s activities aim to promote ESG standards, an acronym for Environment Social Governance. which indicates an administration focused on inclusion, equality and the environment. Formed in 2022, FDI recognition did not take long. At the first Web Summit in Lisbon, Elisângela was selected as a representative of social entrepreneurship.
She was also named one of the 2023 Top 100 Women in Social Entrepreneurship Euclid Networkthe European Union network that aims to create an ecosystem for building an inclusive, equitable and sustainable society.
The work of the IDE has two aspects. The first of these is aimed at individuals. “There are qualified professionals in minorized groups, such as women, migrants, people over 50 years of age, racialized, disabled and LGBTQIA+, who are not in leadership positions because human resources professionals do not provide opportunities”, he states. And the other aspect, aimed at companies, with the aim of holding personalized events with those who hire people, with a view to developing the ESG agenda.
