Well, I am happy to report that a MIRACLE has occurred and I got a job in Brazil!  A super sweet job that I am super excited about.  Let me tell you all about it…from the beginning…

Back in April, some of Michael’s family (Sharon, Ollie, Lise and Shannon) came to visit us in Brazil.  Very soon after the visit, Shannon, who at the time was working for a family foundation, attended a conference in LA.  At the end of the conference, Shannon randomly shared a cab to the airport with a fabulous Brazilian woman named Helena.  Shannon told her about her recent visit to São Paulo and about her family living in Brazil, and Helena told her about the non-profit that she ran in Brazil.  So Shannon, being the amazing person that she is, connected the two of us.

Fast forward to late October when I heard from Helena that they were looking to hire someone!  Preferably someone who could work as a consultant out of the US because although the only office is in São Paulo, the company is a US non-profit for tax and infrastructure reasons.  (Translation: no work-visa problems for me!)  So, I interviewed, I was hired and I started on Wednesday working for WINGS! 

WINGS is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen philanthropy and a culture of giving worldwide through mutual learning and support, knowledge-sharing and professional development.  It’s a little hard to explain, but basically there are foundations that give money away to non-profits and other causes/organizations.  Then, in most countries there are associations that organize and connect these foundations so that they can learn from each other, collaborate, etc.  So WINGS brings together these associations of foundations from all over the world to promote smart, efficient philanthropy and to look for ways these organizations can work together to solve global issues.  Pretty cool right?  And every 4 years WINGS hosts a conference where all of these organizations can connect in person.  This conference is called WINGSForum and the next one will be in the Spring of 2014 in Istanbul, Turkey.  And among other things, the focus of my job is to help plan this conference!  

The WINGS office is about a 20 minute walk from our apartment and I work with two other Brazilian women, Helena and Ana.  We share the office space with two more Brazilian women so it’s a really fun work environment.  Because the work is international, the working language is English, however since everyone else is Brazilian, the spoken language in the office is Portuguese which is like a DREAM for me.  I am really hoping that this will help me improve my Portuguese.  I’ve just started on a part-time basis, working Monday – Thursday from 10-5 which has made it a nice, easy, perfect transition.

Anyway, all in all it has felt like a total miracle + dream come true.  When we moved here, I knew that this is where God was calling us to be and it was so clear with Michael’s career that this was the right thing.  However I always struggled with what the move meant for my career.  And now I feel like I can’t imagine anything better for me.  I am really excited about so many aspects of the job — all that I am going to learn about the sector from a global perspective, the amazing people all over the word with whom I get to work, the great work environment here… everything.  Such a blessing.

SO…that was a long-winded and overly detailed way of saying that after 9 months I finally have a job & I’m pumped!  🙂  Woohoo!!