Meet Larissa Rinaldi

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Larissa Rinaldi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Larissa below.

Larissa, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?

When I got to New York City, I understood that creating a community was the best way to succeed, being the only one in the room.

From a young age, I was the different one. Imagine a lesbian going to a Catholic school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When I moved from, this feeling grew exponentially, but I was ready for the challenge!

I arrived in the US when I was 29 years old, married, and with 11 years of experience working in the creative industry. So, I did what everyone needs to do when arriving in a new community: I networked a lot!

I went to different kinds of networking events with people from distinct backgrounds. I was open to meeting new people and learning from distinguished experiences. It wasn’t easy. Networking in a new environment, in my second language, was challenging, but I wanted to make it here. So, I work hard to be the person I want to be.

 

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

As a creative soul, my work is to make sense of the world around me. During the pandemic, I wrote my first book “City Echoes: Lessons From New York.” I wrote about adapting to a new city, learning new lessons, and, of course, the crises we were all living in.

In 2023, everything was back to “normal,” and I understood people were eager to reunite. That’s how I started CRiA Connect, a community of creative Brazilians in the US. We gather executives from big companies such as Apple, Google, Meta, J.P. Morgan Chase, and many marketing agencies to discuss innovation and creativity.

We have Online and In-person events. The CRiA San Francisco Summit is on August 30th, and the CRiA New York Summit is on August 20th at NYU.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Empathy. Being empathic goes beyond feeling what the other person is feeling. Being empathic is understanding tendencies. Understanding the next trend makes you and your company the first.

Flexibility. Knowing that not everything is going according to plan is essential to life and business.

Storytelling. Learning how to tell your story engages others in your perspective. This is how you sell.

Everyone should be a reasonable observer. To do that, it’s simple: You must listen before talking and consider how your skills can contribute to others in the room.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Mindset. Every day, I try to change my belief system to abundance so I can connect with and help more people. When you are an immigrant starting a business in the US, you bring your country’s beliefs to the biggest economy in the world. Nothing prepares you for that!

In 2023, New York City alone had the same GDP as all of Brazil. That’s a huge gap between my beliefs and what is really possible.

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Image Credits

Photos by Dione Lopes, Renata Dy Souza, Summit Films

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