29/09/2026
Today I’m in The Irish Times 🚀
If you’d told the version of me who left Recife in 2014 that one day her story would be in an Irish paper, she wouldn’t have believed you for a second. I moved to Ireland for Killian, who I met while we were both volunteering with Habitat for Humanity back home in Brazil and honestly, I packed my bags to go home four times before Belfast actually stuck. The accent alone nearly finished me off, I came here with decent English and still couldn’t understand a word for months! And don’t get me started on the kissing-on-both-cheeks thing, turns out that’s not really a Belfast custom, and I learned that the hard way more than once.
When I left Brazil I had to drop out of my course and was starting completely from scratch, no support network, no family down the road. I got my first job here the old-fashioned way, printing my CV and going door to door until someone said yes. And a few years later, with my family’s support behind me, I went back and finished my education while working full time, four years of it, commuting to Dublin once a month. That still means the world to me.
Since then there’s been Yellow Zest, the East Belfast Business Meet Up, the zestymillpodcast, and now this feature among others that have happened recently. Honestly, having this piece run in The Irish Times, a paper read right across the country, feels like proof Yellow Zest is starting to make its mark down south too. And that’s genuinely exciting, we’re only getting going.
Thank you to Fiona Harrold , The Irish Times and to journalist Hosanna Boulter for taking the time to tell my story. Link in bio if you want to read the whole thing.
Here’s to what’s next!
