As Co‑Founder and Director of Communication & Marketing at the ATÁ Institute—alongside the esteemed chef Alex Atala—I passionately drive our mission to reconnect people with the origin of food, the communities behind it, and Brazil's extraordinary biodiversity.
ATÁ Institute founders
In this role, I shape our storytelling, craft campaigns, engage partners and media, and elevate ATÁ’s public voice, ensuring our values—sustainability, respect for tradition, and cultural recognition—shine through every initiative. Our key projects include:
CERRADO VANILLA
Since 2015, we've partnered with Quilombola communities across Goiás, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District to cultivate wild Cerrado vanilla. By combining agroforestry, botanical research with Embrapa, and economic empowerment, we not only preserve a rare native species but also strengthen local livelihoods.
Brazilian native vanilla - Vanila edwalli
BANIWA INDIGENOUS PEPPER
In close collaboration with Indigenous Baniwa communities in the Amazon, this project revives ancestral chili pepper cultivation—especially championed by Baniwa women—by supporting processing, marketing, and profit-sharing, highlighting deep cultural knowledge.
Baniwa women work to grow and harvest the peppers.
YANOMAMI MUSHROOM
We collaborated with the Sanöma (Yanomami subgroup) in Roraima to bring over 15 native Amazonian mushroom species to global culinary tables. Harvested and processed through traditional agroforestry, these mushrooms carry deep forest flavors while providing sustainable income to the community.
This is the first time native mushrooms have been commercialized.
BRAZILIAN STINGLESS-BEE HONEY
Historically, it was illegal to commercialize honey from native stingless bees in Brazil. ATÁ worked alongside the governor and lawmakers to change this. The legal shift allowed us to support rural and Indigenous families in creating sustainable meliponiculture systems and accessing legal markets—preserving pollinators and empowering communities.
Different types of honey from native bees: the product is organic and have different flavors, depending on the flowering season in the region.
FRU.TO
Co‑designed with Alex Atala and Felipe Ribenboim, this annual international food forum in São Paulo—powered by ATÁ—brings together chefs, farmers, researchers, policymakers, and activists. Since its launch in 2018, FRU.TO has produced strategic outputs like “10 Seeds,” “Food Sync,” and “Roots,” shaping resilient, biodiversity-centered food systems.
Reflux Man, created by Brazilian artist Peri Pane, in which he stores everything he has consumed during the week in his plastic cover.
In my role, I am responsible for ideating and executing communications strategies, managing events, cultivating media coverage, fostering partnerships with stakeholders and sponsors, and ensuring each ingredient, community voice, and ecological narrative is respected, visible, and impactful. From fieldwork to global launch, I make certain our initiatives resonate deeply and create enduring socio‑environmental change.
Together with Alex, our dedicated team, and our partners, the ATÁ Institute—and through FRU.TO—builds enduring bridges between biodiversity and gastronomy, honoring tradition while fostering innovation, and bringing local heritage to global recognition.