Meet Gisele Gofman of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gisele Gofman.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story has never followed a perfectly straight line, but looking back, I can see a very clear thread connecting every chapter: people, business, education, and the desire to create opportunities and meaningful connections.

I started working when I was 17 years old in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From an early age, I was curious about business and fascinated by what makes people choose, connect, trust, and engage with a brand. That curiosity eventually led me to build my career in marketing, management, and business strategy.

Over the years, I had the opportunity to work across different industries and environments, developing experience in marketing, sales, strategy, leadership, and business development. I earned my degree in Business Administration, pursued graduate studies in Marketing, and continued investing in my education throughout my career. I have always believed that experience and education should complement each other — one gives us perspective, while the other challenges us to keep evolving.

A major turning point in my story came in 2014, when I moved from Brazil to the United States. Starting a new chapter in another country, with a different language, culture, and business environment, required me to reinvent myself professionally and personally. It also gave me something extremely valuable: the ability to understand business and people through two different cultural lenses.

In 2018, education became an important part of my professional journey when I began teaching business and marketing to international students. Teaching changed me. It reinforced my belief that knowledge becomes much more powerful when it is shared, discussed, and transformed into practical action.

My connection with the Brazilian-American business community eventually became another defining chapter. Today, I serve as Executive Director of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast (BACC-SE), where I work to strengthen business relationships, create meaningful connections, develop programs for entrepreneurs and executives, and help build bridges between Brazil and the United States.

Alongside this role, I continue teaching, consulting, writing, and developing initiatives focused on leadership, marketing, strategy, and professional growth. These different roles may seem separate, but to me they are deeply connected. They all involve helping people and organizations recognize their potential, position themselves with greater clarity, and move forward with purpose.

After more than 30 years of professional experience, one of the most important things I have learned is that careers are not built only through titles or positions. They are built through relationships, resilience, curiosity, continuous learning, and the courage to reinvent yourself when life asks you to.

I often say that I have “small fears and enormous courage.” That contradiction probably describes my journey better than any job title ever could. I have learned that courage is not the absence of fear; it is the decision to keep moving despite it.

And I believe I am still building my story. Today, more than ever, I am interested not only in what I can accomplish professionally, but also in the legacy I can create through the people I teach, connect, mentor, and inspire.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road — and I think that is an important part of my story.

One of my biggest challenges came when I moved from Brazil to the United States in 2014. I arrived here with years of professional experience, an established career, academic credentials, and a strong sense of who I was professionally. But moving to another country has a way of challenging all of that.

Suddenly, I had to learn how to navigate a different culture, communicate professionally in another language, understand a new business environment, and, in many ways, rebuild my professional identity. One of the hardest lessons was realizing that experience does not automatically translate when you cross borders. You may know what you are capable of, but you still have to prove yourself again.

There were moments of frustration and uncertainty. Speaking English professionally, especially in public, was once a significant fear for me. Today, I teach business courses in English to international students. That transformation represents much more to me than simply becoming comfortable with a language — it reminds me of how much we can grow when we refuse to let fear define our limits.

Another challenge has been learning to embrace reinvention. After decades in the workforce, it would have been easy to become comfortable with what I already knew. Instead, I chose to keep studying, adapting, and putting myself in situations where I was not always the most experienced person in the room. Technology changed. Marketing changed. Leadership changed. The way we build businesses and relationships changed. I had to change too.

There have also been times when I questioned whether I was ready for certain opportunities. Over time, I learned that confidence does not always come before action. Sometimes you accept the challenge first, do the work, and confidence follows.

Looking back, I would not describe the difficult moments as detours from my journey. They were part of the journey.They taught me resilience, humility, adaptability, and empathy — qualities that influence the way I lead, teach, and connect with people today.

My path has not been smooth, but it has been meaningful. And I have learned that some of the chapters that feel the most uncomfortable while we are living them are often the ones that shape us the most.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am the Executive Director of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast (BACC-SE), where I lead initiatives focused on business development, strategic partnerships, and strengthening economic and professional connections between Brazil and the United States.

I am also a university professor in Business and Marketing, a consultant, and a columnist for Yuppie Magazine. Throughout my career, my work has centered on marketing, strategy, leadership, education, and connecting people and businesses to opportunities.

How do you think about happiness?
What makes me happy has changed over the years. Today, happiness for me is much less about achievements and much more about meaning.

My family is at the center of that. Spending time with the people I love, celebrating their milestones, being present for important moments, and simply sharing everyday life with them gives me a sense of happiness that no professional accomplishment can replace.

I am also genuinely happy when I see people grow. Maybe that is why teaching has become such an important part of my life. There is something incredibly rewarding about sharing knowledge, encouraging someone, and then watching that person discover a confidence or ability they did not realize they had.

The same happens in my professional life. I love connecting people and seeing something meaningful come from that connection — a partnership, an opportunity, a new business, or even a conversation that opens a door. Creating environments where people can learn from one another and grow together gives me a tremendous sense of purpose.

I also find happiness in creating. I love taking an idea that exists only in my head and turning it into something real — a project, an event, a class, an article, or an initiative that brings people together.

But as I have gotten older, I have also learned to appreciate simpler things: a good conversation, traveling, discovering new places, laughing with people I love, a quiet cup of coffee, and those moments when you realize you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

For me, happiness is not one big thing. It is a collection of meaningful moments — and the feeling that, in some way, I am making a positive difference in the lives of the people around me.

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