We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carolina Rodrigues Bivens. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carolina below.

Carolina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Is your team able to work remotely? If so, how have you made it work? What, if any, have been the pitfalls? What have been the non-obvious benefits?

Since I moved to the United States I was able to keep my job in Brazil as Head of Creative at NSports TV. I feel that after Covid a lot of companies realized that it is possible to be productive even without being at the office everyday. That’s what I feel with the department I run. Even with the different timezone we are handling all the jobs from the places we are right now. Also, being at home we don’t need to struggle with the traffic and spending money to go to work. That’s positive for the companies too, because having people at the office they spend money too. Sometimes I miss the interactions face to face, but I realized most of the time I was not focusing the way I should be. This hybrid model is perfect too. In my case, it isn’t possible because I’m in another country, but working for companies here that have this kind of model I think will be a good choice for me in the future.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I was 19, I started the University of Publicity and Advertising knowing I wanted to be an art director, working in an advertising agency and go from there. And I did for a short period of time. But then, my curious side made me open my horizons moving from advertising agencies to production companies. Then, it seems like my mind opened to new languages and different ways to express my creativity. I was working at one of the most important production companies in Brazil – O2 Filmes, and they presented this amazing and unique universe of cinema, movies and entertainment. Because I always liked to improve myself and learn, I decided to study cinema at the most known city for it, Los Angeles. So I fell in love with the city of angels.

In this ten years gap, coming and going, I’ve been working in some production companies in Brazil and also volunteering working for some clients here. The year of 2019 was a huge decision for me. I drop off my work in Brazil to come here and finally take a big step in my professional life. I was knocking doors to present myself and my work but unfortunately to work here legally it is hard, but I didn’t want to give up. Every person, place I met was more than I ever expected. Some people gave me the opportunity to do some non-paid freelance and then I saw myself having people referring me to other people. That was a sign I was making the right choice. I don’t regret the decision I made in the past leaving the advertising world to the movies world, because now it all makes sense to me. I work for some film festivals helping them to create some art to advertise their festivals, I work for some brands doing some social media work….

So that insecurity I was having to be a freelancer actually opened a lot of doors to me. Then, 2022 came, we were at the “end of pandemic” and I have worked a lot during almost three years, so I decided to settle down in a job.

Today, I’m Head of Creative in a Brazilian TV called NSports in Brazil. Another new world to discover. I still feel butterflies in my stomach but also feel confident to use all I have learnt to dig in this sports world. I’m a resident in Los Angeles but I’m still working for them remotely and looking forward to new opportunities here in this beautiful city.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As a graphic designer our work is too visual. What you see it’s what you get, basically.So, seeing my work out there representing visually amazing ideas and concepts makes me really proud.Giving people an opportunity to express themselves through my visual art is amazing. I like to say that I wrap their ideas with a beautiful gift paper.Also, when people give me the opportunity to co create with them, the power of two creative brains makes the message more powerful and I feel it’s always the beginning of a beautiful relationship, new ideas coming to make a difference in the world.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Being nice and having patience to understand the challenge that the client is facing and giving them a good creative solution is a must.We need to listen more what they have to say and make them comfortable to share everything they have in mind. Intel is gold in our world.Also, we always need to present them with different ideas for their problems. Being humble makes them refer us to other people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carolpunkeca.rocks/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolpunkeca/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinarodrigues/