In the middle of a pandemic scenario, podcasts got an increase in the whole world. With images or just audio, the Brazilian public started to consume more and more podcasts in the last few years. In a country, where there is a strong radio culture, podcasts had the perfect environment to improve. Not only were interviews with famous people, but the news content, telling stories to the public, shocking with news and information, had the love of the audience.
One of the first to get popular was “A mulher da casa abandonada”, created and narrated by Chico Felitti, a Brazilian journalist. Chico discovered and investigated the life of a peculiar woman who lived in an abandoned house in one of the richest neighborhoods of São Paulo, Higienópolis. Later, while we were listening to the podcast, we discovered this lady was a criminal.
“A Coach”
At the end of September, Chico’s most recent work was released. “A Coach” is his newest podcast, produced with Wondery (a podcast-specialized company) in partnership with Amazon Music. He spent six months searching all about Kat Torres’s life, and the results of this investigation are being published on all podcast platforms. In nine episodes that will explain her nine different lives.
There is a good story to be told, and Chico has shown he can tell us this narrative in the best way. At the end of last year, the Brazilian internet just talked about Kat A Luz and what she could have done, people are curious to know the truth. This podcast can be another Chico Felitti success.
“You know Lady Gaga eras and other pop singers? Kat was made of eras too” said Chico Felitti to POPline in an interview. The journalist made it clear that the podcast is not a history about a crime but about her life.
Who is kat A Luz?
Kat Torres, known as Kat A Luz, is the main character of this new story. Known as a model, actress, digital influencer, coach, witch, hypnotherapist, and medium. She became famous after creating memes using her own photos on the internet. Besides, in 2014 she was on all American tabloids after being seen at a party with Leonardo DiCaprio, the speculations about a new romance were everywhere. It all ended when it was discovered they just had the same group of friends.
Katiuscia Torres Soares was born in Belém, Pará. She started her model career when she moved to Rio de Janeiro, and after doing a couple of jobs for famous brands, she became known in the profession. Moving out to Paris and New York was what she needed to start modeling for brands like Victoria’s Secret and L’Oréal Paris, at least was what she used to say.
In 2012, in Brazil, she was nominated as Miss Caieras (a town that she never lived in or even visited) and in the same year competed in the Miss São Paulo. By this time, she didn’t live in Brazil anymore.
With a model career consolidated, she started working as a life coach, to help other girls get their dream life. “The Coach” sold spiritual evolution, financial success, and luck in romantic relationships. She sold plans that started at R$700, in which you could have an orientation through Skype. In the sessions, Kat used hypnosis and mental manipulations to help these people change their lives. All this success got her recognized as a spiritual guru.
She published her first self-help book in 2017 “A Voz – Uma História de Superação, Crescimento Espiritual e Felicidade” (The Voice – A Story of Overcoming, Spiritual Growth and Happiness) Kat said that this entire book was dictation by a voice that lives inside her brain, as the name of it explains. At Amazon, this book is being sold for R$ 40,99, if you want to get one!
If you are thinking her life is crazy enough, it is just about to start. Kat was part of a cult too. She was self-declared being a medium. In her “cult,” they used Ayahuasca (a mix of two herbs, mariri vine, and chacrona leaf, the tea is used in indigenous rituals to get an expansion of consciousness) to get to the spiritual deliverance. Kat used to drink this tea once a month—the meetings to get Ayahuasca happened in the mansion of Chris Mancini, Henri Mancini’s son. In the podcast, these names are not mentioned, but Kat said it once, in an interview to Rede TV.
But why was she arrested?
But none of the things above make her as famous as she was at the end of last year. Her name was, once again, in the newspapers’ first pages and all over the internet. Kat A Luz was accused of human trafficking. At the beginning of November 2022, “The Coach” was arrested in the United States, trying to go to Canada with irregular documentation. On November 18th she was deported to Brazil, to be arrested at Belo Horizonte.
With promises of fame, money, and a husband, she convinced girls to move to the United States and follow her devices, as a life-changing coach. The girls that followed Kat, and went to live there, were found at a luxury prostitution site. They all got their hair colored, and it was very looked like the ex-model.
One of these girls, Letícia Maia started making lives on Instagram to show her family she was fine, living her best life in the USA. She said on her social media that she chose to move away from her family willingly. After watching this live, Yasmin Brunet, a Brazilian digital influencer, decided to make a comment to know if the girl needed any help, the comment left Kat furious. The coach, Letícia and Desiré Freitas, another girl who was living abroad with Kat, start to accuse Yasmim of human trafficking, saying that Letícia could escape from the captive and now needed to report to authorities.
What can we expect from this podcast?
By telling this story, Chico Felitti explains all of Kat Torres’s mysteries, each part of her life. While we are listening, things are getting clear, we start to understand that she never lied, but never told the truth. As the episodes are being released, the main part, the human trafficking, starts being explained. Most of the public that started to listen, including me, wanted to know the truth about the crime. When we search on the internet the information is not clear, every news article says one thing, and it is not possible to understand.
The podcast is an alert too. An alert about social media lies, about trust, and about easy ways to get a perfect life. After listening to it, we start to pay more attention to the stories that are being told every day on Instagram, it can hide a not-so-pretty truth.
Based on the episodes that have already been released, it isn’t a huge success as “A mulher da casa abandonada” was, but until the end, the public can be more interested in Felitti’s investigation. With a contagious way of telling stories, Chico makes us anxious for the next part. We want to know more, and listen to him narrate. Maybe, that is his success formula.
When it is possible, take the time to listen. At the subway, going to study or to work, doing the dishes, or just for fun. You would like to get to know this crazy history.
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The article above was edited by Beatriz Gatz.
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