The global licensing community is powered by an incredible group of professionals whose diverse backgrounds and creative energy drive innovation and excellence. Each week, we profile one of these professionals in this ongoing series.

How did you get into licensing (or how did licensing find you)?
Fifteen years ago, I was the commercial manager of a men’s fashion brand, Mr. Kitsch, and was challenged to open a company to take care of licensing for that brand, which would be my first client. That’s when I realized a need in the market, as licensing was a new area in Brazil. That’s how I decided to focus solely on my company, Ispartner, and to contribute to the evolution of the licensing market in Latin America.

What’s a “typical” day in your current position?
A typical day in my position involves a combination of meetings with licensors and licensees to discuss business opportunities, contract negotiation, market analysis and trends, as well as overseeing the team responsible for managing existing licensing agreements. Within this very busy schedule, I always reserve two hours per week for future planning, aiming at our next medium-term achievements.

What’s your biggest personal or professional accomplishment?
Our most notable project was the collaboration between Charlie Brown JR, Santos Football Club, and Umbro, which was a sales success. Various retail groups came to seek out the pieces to put in their stores. It was a project that attracted a lot of media attention where top football players, actors, and celebrities were happy and proud wearing the pieces. It was also a project that united music and football with two great icons of Brazilian culture. It was even a finalist at the 2023 License International Excellence Awards in the category of Best Collaboration.

What are the most significant trends or changes that you’ve seen in the business in recent years?
The licensing industry is constantly evolving and one recent change I’ve observed is the strengthening of entertainment brand licensing. Today, I work with various entertainment brands such as Oktoberfest Blumenau and the Band TV group.

What keeps you up at night? What’s your biggest challenge these days?
The world is undergoing a very accelerated transformation this year, and at Ispartner we have dedicated a lot of time to find solutions that can unite the demands of ESG and artificial intelligence in order to deal with the impacts of technology growth in the world.

In your opinion, what is the top skill every licensing executive should have in order to succeed?
Courage and creativity to be able to present new and innovative products to the market.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received, or what’s your favorite quote?
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

What is your favorite licensing deal of all time? (It doesn’t have to be one that was signed by you.)
My favorite, without a doubt, is the Crayola Flowers collection.

If you weren’t in licensing, what would you be doing now?
Throughout my career, I have received proposals to direct commercial areas in the fashion segment. Therefore, if I were not working in licensing, I would possibly be running a company in the fashion area, which was the segment where I started my career.

The last licensed product I bought was…
The Chilli Beans sunglasses in collaboration with DJ Alok. Alok was a brand we worked with in the past and Chilli Beans is a great partner of Ispartner in various projects.