Author
December 9, 2022
My first impression of Bernardo was “what a brilliant, kind person, with an infectious enthusiasm for Digibee!” After getting to chat with him for an hour about his life and work, I could see my first impression was dead on. Bernardo’s energy, warmth and charm practically radiated through the computer screen.
Why Digibee?
There were many factors that led to Bernado’s decision to join Digibee. Bernardo always wanted to find a career that would be fulfilling. Originally an industrial engineer working in manufacturing, Bernardo became intrigued by his interactions with the sales team, and began to question what his career path should be. Shortly after, he was given the chance to participate in a selective leadership program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, he connected with a diverse group of people, many of which were American, and was fascinated by the fast, dynamic American culture. Coming from a family of surgeons and health care professionals, Bernardo navigated to the Healthcare industry focusing on marketing. Six years ago, he was given the opportunity to manage a big, diverse team and found management to be an extremely rewarding experience. After 12 years in the Healthcare space, becoming discouraged by the glacial pace of marketing results and hit by a global pandemic resulting in taking on many additional responsibilities with a limited team, Bernardo was looking for a change. He said, “as a marketeer, I knew SaaS was innovative. I wanted to reinvent myself as a professional, to be part of something pushing innovation forward. I felt too young not to go outside my comfort zone and try something new.”
Digibee checked all the boxes for Bernardo. He liked that Digibee was in the middle of an inflection point in growth, and afforded him the ability to build a brand with an innovative product he could believe in. He felt it was the right path for him; a chance to transition his skills in marketing and management, the opportunity to explore a new industry, and to build a team he could not just trust and collaborate with, but have fun with. Bernardo said, “it was a personal goal to challenge myself while I’m still malleable enough to learn.” Now, as he approaches six months with the company, he feels joining Digibee was one of the most important decisions he made in the past years.
Life at Digibee
Bernardo’s background in engineering still helps drive his day to day work. He likes to plan, develop, build and execute and as Head of Marketing in Brazil with a start-up, that skillset is a valuable asset. He described marketing as “being a central part of the ‘corporate will.’ Marketing connects the pulls. We take what is going on in the field, translate it, and enable functions at the forefront, for the people actually running the battle in the field…the sales team. We help bring alignment, connection and business sustainability.”
Every role comes with its challenges, and Bernardo has embraced the journey because he always wants to be learning and growing. Bernardo describes the challenges of building a brand as we grow as like “changing the engine while you are flying” (he really is an engineer at heart!). As a newcomer to the industry, he is still navigating understanding the customers and different personas we serve to best represent Digibee’s brand and commercial value. He strives every day to deepen his understanding of the product to be able to properly translate the customer’s needs into marketing programs. But, according to Bernardo, the key is working with incredible people that are doing their best work. He said “we are not at a company where everyone is doing their minimum. Everyone is doing their best, every day. We are in that mode, and we rely on each other as a team.”
Bernardo has also lived abroad and managed teams in many different countries. He feels that experience has directly impacted his leadership style because it broadened his view, enabled him to be more empathetic, understanding, receptive and resilient. What he loves about his role in a company with Digibee’s diversity is that he can continue connecting with and learning from people of different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives. Bernado feels that being a manager has had a positive impact on him both professionally and personally. It’s made him not only a better leader and colleague, but also a better husband and friend.
The Future Ahead
Bernado has limitless faith in Digibee’s potential and future success. He loves “knowing in five years, we will look back and see how fast we grew and how we, as a team, supported it. It’s great to work in a company that you know will succeed…to be on that exact inflection point of growth and see us go from a small company to a big company.” That future also offers Bernardo unlimited potential for his career trajectory. He strives to always better himself and commented, “it’s really exciting to know that growth will bring new skills and exposure to new people, new customers, new competencies that will support development of skills I don’t already have today. As the business evolves and progresses, I will grow professionally. It’s great knowing that in five years, I will be a different person because of the experiences Digibee’s is allowing me to have.”
Bernardo also kept bringing it back to the team and his gratitude for being surrounded by talented people. He feels this is an important component to creating opportunities for growth and moving forward, adding “having the trust of your peers and leadership is essential. It is also a safe environment to learn in. The best way to grow is being next to great people. I have that here.”
“Having the trust of your peers and leadership is essential. It is also a safe environment to learn in. The best way to grow is being next to great people. I have that here.”
Balancing Work & Life at Digibee
Bernardo embraces life and is always experimenting with new hobbies; particularly trying new sports. He was always athletic, and was an avid tennis player and trained in the Japanese martial art of Judo throughout his youth. Now, he really enjoys exercise from a wellness-perspective, such as running or hot Yoga, especially due to the pandemic to get outside or get the blood flowing. His most recent adventure is taking up kitesurfing (I looked it up, it’s exactly like it sounds). So, while I sat in my many layers sipping hot coffee on a wet and chilly day in New England, Bernardo got carried away (pun-intended) talking about going to the beach over the weekend with his friends in Brazil. (That’s fine, it’s fine, I’m fine.)
Bernardo and his wife, newly-weds of just nine months, also enjoy traveling to unusual places and playing with their adorable dog, Dudu. (Dudu also made a guest appearance during the interview, but he wasn’t very talkative.) He also enjoys reading, especially behavioral economics, as he is fascinated with understanding how people think and how decisions are made.
It’s truly exciting for me to talk to incredible “Digibees” like Bernardo each week and hear their stories. Keep reading our employee highlights to learn more about this amazing team of people working to bring Digibee’s innovative enterprise integration solution forward in the US and globally.
