Mariana Barros

Mariana Barros is an interculturalist with a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Program San Tiago Dantas (PUC/SP, UNESP, and UNICAMP) and has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from PUC/SP. Mariana lived, worked, and/or studied in France (1997-1998), in the US (2001), in Equatorial Guinea (2009), and in Thailand (2016). Founder of Differänce Intercultural, she was the president of SIETAR Brazil (www.sietar.com.br) and has 18 years of experience in intercultural communication and assistance to expatriates.

Fluent in Portuguese, English, and French, Mariana Barros was the first ambassador of the virtual platform for ex-pats: InterNations (www.internations.org). She is an active lecturer at major universities and institutions. As the director of Differänce consultancy, Mariana has extensive experience as a trainer and consultant in communication, negotiation, business management, and diversity & inclusion in Brazil and abroad. In addition, she organizes workshops and lectures on Brazilian’s cultural mindset, interculturality, and intercultural communication.

She works with large Brazilian companies – such as Banco do Brasil, Braskem, BRF, and Vale – that are in the process of internationalization. Mariana also assists foreign multinational corporations such as BUNGE, Deloitte, Samsung, and Whirlpool, in their processes of integration into the Brazilian market.

Since 2013, she has delivered intercultural trainings for immigrants and refugees that arrived in Brazil, a project that SIETAR Brazil hosted in partnership with MISSÃO PAZ. More than 20,000 people benefited from the trainings.

In 2016, she was a speaker at the TEDx in São Paulo, “Women who inspire,” and presented a talk titled “Learning to deal with differences.” Over the years, Mariana has established a network of partnerships with intercultural consultants with extensive international experience, who work in Brazil and abroad, and who assist with programming and client services

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