Heloise Santana reveals that her career was based on racial prejudice

The executive chairman of Ampro reveals that he always had to work hard to demonstrate his skills because he did not present “aesthetic standards”.

Heloiza Santana, the sole publicist of the family, worked for companies in various sectors, including advertisers, cars and agencies such as the defunct Transatlantica Turismo, Editora Abril, Folha de S.Paulo, Santander, AKM Performma, Repense Comunicação, McCann WorldGroup. , FCB, Salem Propaganda and Gray Brasil, before reaching his current position as Executive Chairman of Ampro (Professional Marketing Association).

“And my journey was classic. I started as a marketing assistant and am currently the executive director of the organization and participate in networking groups, including Uma Sobe e Puxa a Outra, created in June 2022, which already has more than 240 Brazilian women. , spread throughout Brazil,” says Helo, as he is known in the market.

The first of the challenges he mentioned throughout his career relates to the fact that he came from a humble family background. “Furthermore, the environments in which I worked were fraught with racial prejudice and prejudice that focused on women.”

The executive reports that his career has always been based on racial prejudice and, unfortunately, he continues to experience it to this day. “In agencies, I have always worked in the customer service/business side. I always had to work twice as hard to demonstrate my skills because I didn’t represent the “aesthetic standards”. I remember one of my clients simply asked me not to see him because he “couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t like black people”. This situation was very intense for me,” reveals Heloise.

Helo comments that he has always focused on communication, content and visual references. “I really didn’t know because I came from a family where those with technical/higher education had the classic professions: law, administration, pedagogy. Even with the coming of other generations, I am still the only public speaker in the family. I studied publicity and advertising with an emphasis on creativity. At the age of 16, I already had the market’s conviction that I would act,” he recalls.

According to him, the difficulty of entering the market has always been there. “At the time I joined, the communications market offered fewer verticals. We weren’t talking about digital or consumer experience either. With rigor and determination, it was possible to get into big brands (be it an agency or an advertiser). Today, the market offers more positions/opportunities, but the supply of professionals is significantly greater than before,” he notes.

To face the fears and challenges, Ampro’s Executive Chairman says that only having a great passion for the profession, curiosity to learn, working in different communication verticals and above all being like people.
“I was also fortunate to work with managers who inspired me and opened doors to challenges that turned into opportunities. Recently at Ampro, I have been surprised by the businessmen, academics and colleagues from other organizations who have welcomed and supported me in an extraordinary way,” emphasizes Helo, who took over Ampro in April 2002.

For the future, he hopes to be one of the evolutionary agents in the live marketing market, working with the Ampro team and volunteer entrepreneurs in working groups (boards, commissions, etc.), to reap results in the short and medium term. . “And follow a path that was opened less than a year ago to facilitate conversations to talk about representation. Learning and having fun along the way, always,” he says.

As for expectations for the live marketing market this year, the executive says he would like to see the segment move faster in terms of stability among advertisers and agencies. “It’s one of Ampro’s pillars to promote good dialogue and work for our industry, in addition to the education/training pillar. And to see the recovery of our sector and the market that believes in and applies representation quotas,” he concludes.