Opinion

Five years of The Brazilian Report, through the eyes of our staff

As The Brazilian Report turns five, we reached out to our staff members to hear what this anniversary means to them

the brazilian report after live
Part of The Brazilian Report team that participated in our October 2 Election Day Live Broadcast. Photo: Julia Laüer for TBR

The Brazilian Report turns five years old today! After half a decade of covering elections, crises, and even a pandemic, we are still going from strength to strength and looking to grow and improve each passing day.

We’re so proud of how far we’ve come so far, and to learn more about what this milestone means to all of us here at The Brazilian Report, we reached out to hear the opinions of our greatest assets: our staff.


Euan Marshall, editor, with The Brazilian Report since May 2018.

As the longest-serving member of The Brazilian Report’s staff, I’ve seen the company grow from a small group of committed individuals to a well-oiled machine working on several fronts and producing content that just seems to get better year after year.

What has never ceased to amaze me is the caliber and character of the staff members we have been able to attract over the years. Dedicated professionals who, as well as showing exceptional skills, are also kind, helpful, and engaging human beings. From seasoned reporters to young journalists with bright futures in store.

The company has grown significantly in the last five years, but it has grown as a unit, with everyone pulling in the same direction. And I believe that sense of collaboration and solidarity is what has got us where we are today.

Lucas Berti, Latin America reporter, with The Brazilian Report since September 2019.

When I joined The Brazilian Report in 2019, I had so much to learn, especially when it came to mastering the language. Now, I’m glad to say that my English skills are improving … but I’ve still got things to learn! And that’s the point for me: keeping things challenging. And that’s what TBR offers me.

It makes me proud to look back and see the things we’ve achieved together, bringing Latin American news onto the radar of audiences around the world. Where else would I be able to go into stories about endangered manatees, the quinoa economy, or the link between avocados and drug cartels?

We’ve come a long way and done plenty of great things together, and I hope to keep finding that cooperation, support, knowledge, discussion, and camaraderie from our excellent team. Long live The Brazilian Report!

André Chiavassa, designer and multimedia producer, with The Brazilian Report since April 2020.

The Brazilian Report could not have come along at a better time for me. I’ve always had a passion for politics, journalism, and Brazilian history, and when I started at TBR I wanted to put all of these interests into practice along with my design, video producing, and data visualization skills.

I had just returned from spending time abroad when I joined the company, and it gave me an excellent opportunity to continue and build upon my existing experience. And seeing the results coming to life has been really fulfilling. Having one of my videos featured in Vox Media, earning an award for our Braskem video in Maceió, designing our hunger special, and successfully carrying out our live election broadcast were some of the big highlights.

But the most important thing for me are my colleagues, being a great privilege to work alongside a bright and friendly group of people, always learning a lot from them. This helps keep me motivated, and keen to build more great projects together.

Caroline Coutinho, social media manager, with The Brazilian Report since April 2020.

Joining The Brazilian Report has been an important shift in my career, and my life as a whole. I started out as a part-time social media manager, fresh out of college. At the time, I was traveling with my mom and cat Caju in a camper van. Every Monday, we’d stop at a campsite with good enough Wi-Fi, so I could turn the driver seat around and set up my improvised workstation.

Today, I’m back living in my home country, working full-time for TBR and developing exciting new projects. I’m happy to see how both the company and myself have grown together. And I’m especially proud to be a part of our amazing creative team alongside Laura and André, forming a group that’s always excited to branch out and experiment with new ideas.

In a couple of years, we’ve developed our Buy Me a Coffee page, won prizes for our Maceió mini-doc, created interactive pages, and grew together as a team.

None of this would have been possible without one of TBR’s most significant assets: teamwork. We all work together to create the best quality journalism, whether that be in text, audio, video, or multimedia form. And for that, I’m proud to be part of this team!

Ana Ferraz, finance reporter, with The Brazilian Report since April 2021.

It has been an honor to rediscover myself in journalism and grow in my career as a finance and technology reporter (in English!) at a company like The Brazilian Report. As some of my colleagues have pointed out, TBR is a place where I have the freedom to suggest stories that I believe make sense for our readers and for me. It’s also a place where I know that my questions and suggestions will be listened to.

Our greatest asset is, without a doubt, our team. TBR is full of incredible, experienced, and extremely competent journalists, designers, and social media managers who inspire and teach me daily.

It’s an honor to be a part of TBR on this important anniversary and covering such a historical political moment for the country. The project has breathed new life into Brazilian journalism, and it’s great to be a part of that. Happy birthday to us!

Ignacio Portes, Buenos Aires correspondent, with The Brazilian Report since August 2021.

Working as a correspondent is always strange, as you can be left disconnected from the rest of the newsroom. But, from the time I’ve spent with The Brazilian Report’s team, I could tell that besides having passionate journalists who do quality work, there is also a common camaraderie that helps make the company tick — and which makes it a pleasure to be a part of it. I’m thankful for the freedom and trust that was handed to me when joining TBR, and I hope I can continue reciprocating it.

Amanda Audi, Brasília correspondent, with The Brazilian Report since September 2021.

It might sound selfish, but I have the impression that The Brazilian Report came along at exactly the right time in my life. This has been a difficult year for me, but I’ve been fortunate to count on the unrestricted patience and understanding of my colleagues. Here, I’ve found companionship, sensibility, affection, and trust — things that we usually expect from close friends, not necessarily from your working environment. I’m very grateful for receiving so many good things, and I hope to continue giving back.

Professionally speaking, I’ve also been very lucky to work with people I admire and who bring out the best in me. I’ve gone back to my English classes, I’ve ventured into covering topics that I wasn’t familiar with before, and I’ve learned a lot in my first year here.

It’s incredible to see how TBR is consolidating itself in the Brazilian media landscape, and growing by the day. I’m so proud of the team for all of our great work and our spirit of partnership, which always pushes us forward.

Cedê Silva, Brasília correspondent, with The Brazilian Report since June 2022.

I’m glad that The Brazilian Report offers me the time necessary to break exclusive stories and report on matters that I find important to our readers.

Fabiane Ziolla Menezes, tech and business reporter, with The Brazilian Report since June 2022.

The Brazilian Report offers me a level of autonomy that means I can talk about what really matters and tell game-changing stories, and this is something I’ve found in very few places in my career. It’s liberating to work with a team of fellow journalists that don’t have unspoken interests beyond their mission as reports.

I believe that our subscribers and those who follow our work realize how much that freedom to work also gives us purpose. The result is quality information beyond stereotypes. It’s a deep dive into Latin America, put into context by Latin Americans and foreign colleagues who have grown to love the region as much as we do.