Challenging stereotypes about agribusiness—if you still picture only massive estates far from creative innovation, it’s time to refresh your perspective. In Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, a powerful—and deeply inspiring—shift is underway led by women uniting respect for the Cerrado and Pantanal biomes, the strength of family farming and strategic entrepreneurship. Every day, they prove that rural tradition, bioeconomy and female leadership create real social impact and products packed with identity.
Tathiany Verone, Naiara Clingia and Géssica Costa work across vastly different fronts—from biocosmetics to Quilombola vegetable cultivation and artisanal agroindustry—yet they share the same drive to uplift communities and celebrate everything that grows from local soil.
Tathiany Verone (Vero.LIV): From law to Pantanal bioeconomy
Before turning regional botanicals into an original personal care brand, Tathiany Kleia da Silva Verone Parron built a solid career in law and public administration. With professional registration in the Mato Grosso do Sul Bar Association (OAB/MS) and federal public service experience recorded in official decrees from 2010, she gained extensive technical and management expertise before launching a venture centered on wellness and sensory design. In December 2023, she formalized Vero.LIV in Campo Grande, opening an entrepreneurial chapter focused on cosmetics, scented candles, home fragrances and a spa line.
Guided by the motto “Cuidado Natural, Elegância e Bem-Estar — Do Pantanal para a sua rotina” (“Natural Care, Elegance and Well-Being — From the Pantanal to your routine”), the brand embraces a timeless aesthetic that rejects fleeting trends. That philosophy shows up in its circular design details: several candles come in crystal vessels that can return to Vero.LIV for refills or become home decor once the wax runs out, while room diffusers feature small sandstone pebbles as a signature touch. Across its catalog, the company blends skincare actives like resveratrol and vitamin E with distinctive botanical notes of grape, passion fruit, thyme flower, Rangpur lime, lemongrass and barbatimão.
It’s precisely in barbatimão — a native medicinal tree — that Vero.LIV builds its strongest link to family farming in Mato Grosso do Sul. According to the brand, the ingredient comes directly from the harvest of women in the Monjolinho settlement in Anastácio, in the state’s countryside. By connecting agrarian reform harvesting to a refined cosmetics chain, she shows that building an elegant business can also uplift other women’s livelihoods.
Naiara Clingia: Legal organization and collective strength at Chácara do Buriti
Naiara Clingia’s journey shows how academic training and working the land can come together to transform an entire community. Holding a law degree from Faculdade INSTED in Campo Grande, Naiara stayed active in legal selection processes in recent years while finding a powerful avenue for social impact in peri-urban family farming. At the Chácara do Buriti Quilombola Community, located in the rural outskirts of Campo Grande, she applies that strategic mindset directly to daily agricultural production.
Growing seven crops — lettuce, kale, chives, parsley, cabbage, zucchini and corn — with technical assistance and rural extension (ATER) support from AGRAER, the producer helped scale up local commercialization. Working alongside five fellow producers, the output linked to Naiara jumped from nine institutions served in 2025 to 36 schools supplied in 2026 through Brazil’s Food Acquisition Program (PAA), quadrupling its reach in just one year. As she noted while celebrating both that milestone and food deliveries to Cotolengo, systematically cataloging products, quantities and values was key to planning harvests and turning collective labor into food security.
Beyond the fields, Naiara puts her background in law and public policy to work for community representation. She serves as first alternate representative on the State Council for Social Assistance (CEAS/MS) for the Chácara do Buriti Quilombola Association (AQBuriti) and appears in recent Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) notices tied to academic and extension initiatives. For UFMS students, that bridge hits even closer to home: Chácara do Buriti partners with Enactus UFMS Campo Grande on Projeto Zuri, an initiative promoting income generation through the sustainable use of Cerrado fruits.
Géssica Costa: Family tradition and regional flavor in Terenos
If any brand captures rural warmth paired with sharp market vision, it’s Estância Engenho. Based in the municipality of Terenos, the small family agroindustry—affectionately known to customers as the “home of Tio Bill and Tia Adenilda”—started out crafting artisanal sugarcane molasses and rapadura. Even with standout recipes, the business faced hurdles reaching retail shelves until it sought training and support from Sebrae/MS to reinvent its strategy and reach new buyers. Throughout that growth, Géssica Medeiros Costa stepped forward as producer and commercial spokesperson for the venture.
Estância Engenho’s secret lies in honoring heartfelt memories without giving up innovation. From its mill come rich molasses, classic rapadura bars and convenient rapadurinhas in jars designed for busy daily routines. At the same time, the brand embraced signature local ingredients that give its menu a Mato Grosso do Sul accent: while Adenilda Dantas de Medeiros created the widely praised coffee rapadura, Géssica leads production of the baru nut rapadura, blending the native Cerrado nut into what she proudly calls the “Pantanal’s signature dessert”.
Over the past few years, that careful craft carried the taste of Terenos to some of the state’s premier culinary, cultural and university showcases. With backing from Sebrae/MS, Estância Engenho appeared at events such as Mesa Ao Vivo Mato Grosso do Sul, the Sobá Festival and the Bonito Winter Festival, and earned selection in the state Culture Foundation’s FAS 2025 public call. Géssica also makes a point of connecting family farming to academia and research, taking part in Agroecol and Sealim/Sinatex at UFMS, as well as Tecnofam 2026.
Better than reading their stories is seeing them in person
Reading about Tathiany, Naiara and Géssica’s journeys is already inspiring, but hearing these three women share their challenges, milestones and behind-the-scenes lessons live promises to be an unforgettable experience.
The panel takes place today, Saturday, Nov. 14, as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fair celebrating the grand opening of the new space and café for Angí Chocolates—the brand founded by Campo Grande entrepreneur Beatriz Branco, who took native Cerrado and Pantanal flavors all the way to Shark Tank Brasil and turns regional fruits into organic, vegan artisanal chocolates. Hosted in a special partnership with Enactus UFMS Campo Grande (which also works with Cerrado fruits through projects like Projeto Zuri), the fair brings together over 40 local vendors spanning gastronomy, crafts, innovation and homegrown independent brands.
If you want to connect with inspiring women, network and support local leaders making an impact in Mato Grosso do Sul, stop by today:
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 14
- Time: 2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
- Location: New Angí Chocolates Café — Rua Vitório Zeola, 180 — Campo Grande, MS, Brazil