It’s ok if you want to read this interview but can’t speak her last name: I’ve been there, done that. But don’t give up! Ana is a Journalism student in the class of 2017 and, beyond her experience with covering international debates and working with for Forbes, she’s got a lot of nice things to say.
Major: Journalism Year: 2017 Zodiac Sign: Pisces with rising in Aquarius. Song that is in her mind right now: History, by One Direction Favourite blockbuster: Marvel movies. Least favourite blockbuster: DC movies.
Ana, you clearly have a German ancestry and you actually speak German, right? How do you connect with this part of your culture?
Yes, I do! My great-grandparents, from both sides of the family, were born in Germany. I began learning German at 14, but only in this year I really began to speak it – and it’s so freakin’ difficult! In my hometown, Joinville [city located in the South Region of Brazil, that received many German immigrants in the last century], it is still common that some families persist in speaking their mother-tongue at their homes. My mother learned to read in German and didn’t speak Portuguese until she was seven years-old, while my dad has a restaurant that serves traditional German dishes and a brewery over there too.
So, while I was stalking you a bit, I found out that you were a correspondent for Jill Filipovic, a columnist for Cosmopolitan magazine, in your first year at college. How did this happen? Honestly, I was very lucky in that occasion. In the beginning of 2014, Cásper sent us an email recruiting some volunteers to help Jill and other international journalists to talk about healthcare in Brazil. Then, after the application, I was invited to join them to visit the Boa Vista community, which was an unique experience because I had just arrived in São Paulo and it is a neighbourhood in the city that I wouldn’t visit by myself at that time. After that, Jill and Azmat Khan, from Al Jazeera, sent me a message asking whether I agreed or not to do an special report about abortion in Brazil with them. I said yes, and it was incredible because I built a network for life, and was able to learn a lot about feminism.
And do you want to be an internacional correspondent? I’ve already considered it, but now I’m not focused on it.
You were the Profile editor in Cásper’s chapter in Her Campus (forever in our hearts!), which is focused on internet and the young public. Do you want to keep working with social media? What do you think about this particular environment? When I joined Cásper, I wanted to work on TV, but I figured that I’m kinda shy to deal with all those cameras. After Her Campus, I could reallysee how our pieces could be read worldwide, and now, as an intern of Forbes Brasil online edition, I can see that I really enjoy what I do. But the problem here is the deadlines – way shorter than the ones of magazines But we can make it, right?
Oh, so you have a busy routine… Based on that, how do you relax? Yes, lately I’ve been crazy about Netflix – just started the first season of Reign, and I’m obsessed with Avatar. But my favourite distraction are “silly” books – princesses, crazy futuristic societies, aliens… I love them and read them in a period of two or three days when I’m stressed or tired. It’s wonderful.
If you could change something about yourself, what would it be? Girl, I would change so many things – and, at the sime time, nothing! [Laughs] Ok: I wish I was less antisocial, and that I had a better memory as well. Maybe to be shorter as well, and wear shoes sized 37/38 because it’s simply impossible to find size 41, trust me!
Churrasco or Chimarrão? CHURRASCO. I’m from Santa Catarina, please! And Chimarrão is bitter, ew.