How did Young Guns get on your radar?

I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by incredible people early in my career — people whose work I admire and who constantly inspire me. I first heard about Young Guns through Leandro Assis (YG18), who was not only my first boss during an internship but also became a great friend.

How did you end up in the creative field?

My career ended up being shaped by curiosity more than any fixed plan. I’ve always followed whatever felt exciting in the moment — whatever made me feel like I was creating something I’d be proud to watch again at the end of the day. That’s what guides me. If I’m doing what I love, I get to use the strongest tool I have: passion.

My first step into the creative industry was completely accidental. I grew up rollerblading — “street” or aggressive inline. Since it wasn’t a well-known sport where I lived, my friends and I were obsessed with filming our grinds, jumps, and fails to post online. Little by little, I realized I was getting more excited about the videos we were creating than the actual skating.

That pushed me into making fashion films as a young filmmaker, and from there I started discovering other creative worlds until I eventually found myself in design school. Design school opened everything up for me. It wasn’t just film or photography — it was books, digital work, animation, visual identity… a whole universe I didn’t know existed. And I realized I wasn’t meant to choose just one thing. I liked doing many things, and it’s exactly what I do professionally every day.

“Sometimes the power isn’t in one standout project, but in how everything fits together.”

Why did you decide to enter this year?

This wasn’t my first time entering — it’s actually my third. My mom always says that everything has its right timing, and I’m happy mine finally came. And honestly, I couldn’t push it much longer… I’m turning 30, so it really did feel like a now-or-never moment.

Looking back at my earlier submissions, I think the biggest difference this year was understanding how to curate my work in a way that truly represents who I am. Over time, I learned how important it is to show a sense of identity, even when the projects are completely different or made for very different clients. Curation and the “editorial effect” of how you present a finished project can make a huge difference.

And that naturally led me to think more about the body of work as a whole. A cohesive, dynamic selection doesn’t just help others understand you better — it also helps you understand yourself.

You only get to submit six projects. How did you decide what made the cut?

I learned that an artist’s body of work can be just as important as any single piece. Sometimes the power isn’t in one standout project, but in how everything fits together. For a multidisciplinary designer, that becomes even more essential.

So when choosing my six projects, I focused on balancing different scales and styles while making sure they all shared the same vision and level of craft. That naturally led me to think not only about what I was selecting, but how the project would be experienced as a body of work.

I care a lot about presentation. There’s a rhythm to choosing images and building a sequence, especially when you’re presenting something with many layers, like a brand. In many ways, creating a case study feels like editing a magazine: it needs pacing, storytelling, and moments that keep the viewer engaged. Bringing those two things together — curation and narrative — is what helped me decide which pieces deserved to be part of the final six.

What was your reaction when you found out you won?

It was a complete surprise. I hadn’t checked my email the day the message arrived because I was rushing to finish a few project deliveries. The next morning, totally unprepared, I opened my inbox and suddenly saw the result sitting there.

My husband was right next to me, and I just turned my laptop toward him without saying a word. We both celebrated a lot. It felt incredible to share that moment with someone who had been cheering for me just as much as I was hoping for it.

We haven’t had the chance to properly celebrate yet, but the plan is to do it in New York during the trip we’re taking for the Young Guns ceremony.

In what ways does where you’re living right now inspire your creativity?

I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I still live here today. Rio is a city full of contrasts, color, warmth, humor. It has its challenges, like any big place, but it also has a kind of beauty and energy that’s hard to describe.

You grow up learning to navigate the chaos and noise, and somehow that ends up sharpening your creativity.

Now that you’re a part of the ADC Young Guns community, are there any past winners you look up to and admire?

Leandro Assis (YG18) — lebassis.com. Leandro is one of my closest friends and one of the artists I admire the most. I was lucky to work with him very early in my career, and he’s been an inspiration ever since. I love seeing what he creates next — it’s always unexpected, bold, and full of heart.

Carlos Bocai (YG22) — carlosbocai.works. Carlos and I studied together, and he was always the person pushing the whole group to go further. He opened so many doors for all of us by being brave and talented. His work is incredible, and I admire the courage he had — even when we were young — to break boundaries before any of us even knew how.

Gabriela Namie (YG19) — gabrielanamie.com. Gabi is a friend and an incredibly talented designer. I really admire the consistency in her work and how she always finds such interesting and thoughtful graphic solutions.

Jessica Walsh (YG8) — andwalsh.com. Jessica has been an inspiration since my first year in design school. Back then, working with her felt completely out of reach, and now it has been six years of collaborating side by side. I admire her creative vision, her sensitivity, and the way she always finds a deeper, more interesting, more emotional version of every project.

Khyati Trehan (YG19) — khyatitrehan.com. Khyati is a constant source of inspiration. She creates so much, so often, and I love seeing what she’s working on. I love how experimental and visually striking her work is, and how she uses unexpected techniques to build graphic ideas that feel fresh and expressive.

Leo Porto (YG17) — portorocha.com. Leo is incredible. Both his solo work and the work from Porto Rocha are outstanding. I love seeing a studio led by two Brazilian designers making such a strong mark in the global design world. It’s inspiring and reminds me that we can go much further than we imagine.

If you could create a new ADC Young Guns tradition what would you want it to be and why?

I’d love to know more about who the Young Guns are outside of their work — their secret talents, strange hobbies, embarrassing stories… I think it would be amazing to get a glimpse of the personal side of everyone.

It would help demystify the work, break the intimidation a bit, and make us feel closer to one another by seeing the insecurities, quirks, and doubts we all share.

Name a creative/professional dream project that you have yet to fulfill.

My professional dreams shift over time — they grow and change with whatever I’m most interested in at the moment. Right now, I’m drawn to exploring how to create beauty by mixing different visual techniques, especially within the fashion industry, bringing together photography and graphic design.

I feel like I’ve lived in these worlds separately, and now I want to find the intersections between them and see what new possibilities can emerge.