I was born and raised in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is my city - my favorite city in the world, but my parents are from the south of Brazil. My mother is from Caxias do Sul, RS, and my father from Itajaí, SC. The ethnic mix is, well, very Brazilian. I have Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Native Brazilian, Jewish and Polish ancestors. Maybe some African and Arab thrown in somewhere too.
After I graduated from college, I went to live in Italy for a while, where I met my husband, Roberto Delpiano - and where I began to work for environmental organizations. When I returned to Brazil, I worked for environmental non-profit organizations, such as Greenpeace, ISER, and IBASE.
I went to the United States in 1996 to get a Master's degree in Environmental Policy Studies. We should have returned to Brazil two years later, but then... things happen and plans change. I completed my doctoral studies at Stanford University in 2005 and the rest is, no pun intended, history.
This was twenty and some years ago. I still have a nice Brazilian accent when I speak English, and my Spanish is a bizarre mix of Italian, Portuguese and Californian Spanish. We have friends on both coasts, and we crossed the country, coast to coast, twice -- and Roberto has the weblogs to prove it.
We have been back to Brazil since 2010, with all the trauma and delight of "going back home." And then one year in Munich, Germany, in 2015-2017. And now back.
Life is interesting...
