What will be your next step after graduation?
General Manager, Trapiche Barnabé / Trapiche Pequeno

Where will you be living?
Brazil

In what ways has HES impacted your career and long-term professional goals?
I am a filmmaker and movie producer in Brazil. When President Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, he cut all subsidies to the cultural industries. Therefore, making movies, which in Brazil depends a lot on public grants, became almost impossible for the next four years. Encouraged by my wife, I decided to try to write books to occupy my creative mind and also because it had been a long time objective. I knew I needed to take classes to achieve that objective . But living in Brazil a good part of the year, I could not attend classes physically. Therefore, the system offered by the Harvard Extension School was the perfect solution. On top of it, I had always dreamed of attending the Harvard University and had applied to do an MBA in my twenties but was not accepted. Almost forty years later, through HES, i was offered the opportunity to fulfill that dream in a discipline, literature and creative writing, that has always been my true passion. I now have finished a collection of short stories and started a novel. Conclusion: it is never too late to achieve your dreams.

What advice do you have for HES students now that you have graduated?
Define your priorities as far as choosing classes as there are many attractive options and it is somewhat difficult to decide. Even though most classes are given through Zoom, try to build a circle of friends to make better decisions with their help about your academic journey. Besides the Summer Residence, visit the University whenever you can as this is a wonderful place with incredible resources.