Education that Leaves a Mark

By Maurício Oliveira Photos: Reinaldo Borges

EDUCATION

THAT LEAVES A MARKA CHAPEL SCHOOL STUDENT FOR 13 YEARS,

BUSINESSWOMAN AND

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

FABI SAAD TELLS US

HOW THIS EXPERIENCE

WAS INSTRUMENTAL FOR HER PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Who would Fabiana Saad Niemeyer be if she hadn’t studied at Chapel School? “Certainly a very different person than I am today. I feel Chapel’s influence in all areas of my life,” says the social entrepreneur and multifaceted businesswoman – who, at age 36, has a series of achievements in various activities. Suffice it to say that it was at Chapel that Fabi met her husband, Felipe Niemeyer, her business partner, Natalie Feller, and several of her closest friends. It is also from her school days that she acquired her taste for sports, which continue to play an important role in her adult life. Enrolled from 1990 until 2002, from age five to 17, Fabi attributes several other aspects to her time at Chapel: daily use of the English language, the value of teamwork, the ability to express herself orally, dedication to continuous learning, the concern for participating in social projects, and the awareness of the importance of giving.

A Growing Movement

Fabi is the founder of the movement Mulheres Positivas, whose starting point was the column she wrote with Lelê Saddi on the “We Pick” website. After that, she released her first books: first came Empreendedoras. Coaching – Dicas de mulheres

inspiradoras que estão no comando de sua carreira, followed by Mulheres Positivas, written in partnership with Fernanda Médici. “These are the stories of 21 women who inspired me to learn more about the so-called ‘sector two and a half’ and to understand what it means to be a social entrepreneur,” Fabi recalls.

The movement includes a program that Fabi coordinates and presents on radio Jovem Pan, with the purpose of highlighting women who can inspire other women, with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Before that, she worked at Forbes, Estadão, and BandNews.

In addition to the radio program, the product portfolio includes a podcast, also on Jovem Pan, presented by her colleague Natalie, and the app – which, in addition to being launched in Brazil with Vivo and TIM, has already been made available in Mexico with Telcel and Claro Colombia with the title Mujeres Positivas. The movement is also expanding in Italian and English – Positive Women is based in New York and should arrive in England soon. With the goal of providing development opportunities to women of all social classes, the businesswoman developed together with the São Paulo state government the SOS Mulher project, based on the pillars of safety, health, and financial independence. Specifically geared towards women in vulnerable situations in the C, D, and E social classes, the project includes testimonies from police chiefs, lawyers, judges, doctors, psychologists, economists, and other professionals who help develop the content.

Intense Activity

“If my aim is to help women develop and grow, it is impossible to focus only on the elite social classes. It is evident that I also need to work very hard with the base of the pyramid,” assesses Fabi. “The pleasure in helping others, and the need to do so in an unequal society like the one in Brazil, are feelings that are instilled in all that pass through Chapel,” she adds.

Another volunteer activity in which the entrepreneur participates is the Associação de Resgate à Cidadania por Amor à Humanidade (Arcah), which she has been involved with for almost 10 years. The institution provides means to recover citizenship for individuals in situations of marginalization, through education projects, professional training, and insertion in the labor market.

Fabi balances all these projects with her intense professional activity as an executive at Media Bridge, where she coordinates the development of products for telephone companies, as well as apps and ondemand content on a wide range of topics – serving clients such as BandNews, BandSports, TerraViva, and AgroMais. She is also founder of

the startup Home IT, which generates content in the areas of design, home decoration, and lifestyle.

Teamwork

To cope with such a busy schedule, which includes taking care of the family – the couple has two children, Luca and Eduardo – Fabi’s number one rule is to constantly exercise discipline. “I’m very careful with how I use my time. I learned to focus only on what’s really important and to delegate everything that can be delegated,” she says.

Everyday life demands a lot of energy, something Fabi finds in sports. She plays volleyball on Mondays, soccer on Tuesdays, and practices tennis and horseback riding on weekends. Once a year she also goes on a ski trip. This passion for physical activities is another legacy from Chapel days, when the young woman played on the volleyball, soccer, and softball teams. “Playing sports showed me the importance of teamwork, something that I certainly apply in my professional activities today,” she says. According to Fabi, this concern with the collective is a striking feature of Chapel graduates. “It’s not just me. I realize that this is something that sets Chapel alumni apart.” Fabi’s fondest memories of her days at Chapel involve the Big 4 and Little 8 championships, which often included trips to other cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.

Project for the Decade

Another pillar of Fabi Saad’s lifestyle is continuous learning; she hasn’t stopped studying since leaving Chapel. She began with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Media Studies at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (Faap), then got a Master’s degree in Marketing at the Italian campus of the European School of Economics, and also earned a specialization in finance at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM). In 2013, she signed up for an MBA at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, which she completed in 2015.

She also took courses at institutions like HyperIsland and St. Martins College, in London, on e-commerce, social media, and digital marketing. She participated in the Women Leadership Program, at Oxford, with leaders from different parts of the world. “As the world and market evolve all the time, it is essential to understand the direction things are taking and stay up to date,” says Fabi.

When looking to the future, the social entrepreneur finds herself increasingly involved in her current mission: “I want to continue fighting for Brazilian women, so that they can live a dignified life, with safety, health, and opportunities. The focus is to contribute to their personal and professional development, through training,” she explains.

SHARED INSPIRATION

Fabi Saad’s books reinforce her connection with women’s themes.

Fabi Saad has always taken interest in stories of women taking charge of their own lives. Because of this, she decided to write the book Empreendedoras. Coaching – Dicas de mulheres inspiradoras que estão no comando de sua carreira, her literary debut.

Subsequently, Fabi joined social entrepreneur Fernanda Médici to address another profile that has always interested her, that of women who act effectively to transform and improve the world. That is how the book Mulheres Positivas was born in 2017. The book tells the stories of women such as Alexandra Loras, former French consul in São Paulo, who is dedicated to issues related to racism and the empowerment of black women; Leona Forman, founder and president of the Brazil Foundation, an institution that seeks investments in the United States for social projects in Brazil; Carol Celico, founder of the NGO Amor Horizontal, which provides support and care for children and youth in partner social projects; and Dagmar Rivieri, Tia Dag, founder and president of Casa do Zezinho, which for nearly thirty years has been carrying out social work in Capão Redondo, one of the poorest regions in the city of São Paulo.

The book became the starting point of the movement with the same name, which expanded to include various products that have extended beyond Brazilian borders. Continuing her literary production, Fabi collaborated with Rachel Polito at the start of the year to launch her third book addressing the female theme: Mais do que mulher-maravilha... Mulher real!, a part of the literary series “Mulheres fora de série.” Fabi says that “the idea is to show that every woman can and should take the lead in her life.” This series was conceived to treat themes such as entrepreneurship, time management, well-being, longevity, and success in a light and simple manner.

“THE PLEASURE IN HELPING OTHERS, AND THE NEED TO DO SO IN AN UNEQUAL SOCIETY LIKE THE ONE IN BRAZIL, ARE FEELINGS THAT ARE INSTILLED IN ALL THAT PASS THROUGH CHAPEL”