Let’s get the work stuff out of the way: I was Head Writer of the Hulu series How To Be a Carioca and one of the Creators of the hit Netflix series Invisible City (US Top Ten).

Right now, I’m writing a live-action feature for MGM/Amazon Studios produced by Viola Davis’s and Maurício Motta’s Ashé Ventures. I’ve also developed a feature for Disney Animation and spent two years at Blue Sky Studios under an overall deal until the studio’s closure in 2021.

Cool credits, yes. But the “how” matters more to me than the “what.” So here’s the short version of how I ended up in Studio City, LA, typing this with my dog Alef snoring next to me.

In 2016, I wrote and directed a musical performed for a daily crowd of 50,000 at a rock festival in Lisbon. We opened for Bruce Springsteen, Queen, Maroon 5… it was the wildest thing I'd ever done. But during the last show, I realized something was missing—not on stage, but in my life.

Back in Brazil, I’d built a career: 17 plays, two blockbuster movies, five musicals, the Brazilian Ugly Betty, and the country’s top theater award. But I wanted a new challenge—in a new language.

So I packed my life into two suitcases, moved to NYC without knowing a soul, taught musical theatre to kids in the Bronx, and wrote my first US play, The Ideal Obituary (Time Out). Then came Real (American Theatre Magazine), which led to two years as an in-house writer at Blue Sky Studios (Fox Animation).

But what I haven't told you is that growing up as a queer kid in a conservative country led me to make very bad choices — until I left Brazil and began telling stories from my heart. Writing in a different language helped me understand the power of storytelling in reshaping reality. Corny, but true.

Since then, I beat depression, overcame substance abuse, and forged a new identity. I run an open-access Writers Club, give a free talk called Storysharing on turning personal experiences into fiction, and mentor young writers through the LGBTQ center.

Meanwhile, I keep writing and spreading the word: stories told with heart don’t just describe reality—they create it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, Alef wants his walk. :)