In this episode of Brazilian Women in Economics’s podcast, Paula Pereda and Laura Karpuska interview Marina Gontijo. She took her bachelor’s degree in Economics from UFMG, her master’s degree from FEA-USP, and her Ph.D. from EPGE. Marina is currently a director in the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, a role in which she coordinated a consumer sentiment survey in Brazil that measures the behavior of consumers throughout the pandemic.

First, Marina presents her trajectory of academic and professional growth. She says that after finishing her undergraduate degree, she still felt the need to continue her studies, and that is why she went on to her master’s degree. At USP, she discovered new ways of acting within the profession and new views on the economics area. After finishing her master’s degree, she spent six years in the financial market until she decided to pursue a Ph.D. However, during the Ph.D., she realized that she preferred acting as an economist outside academia. Hence, after completing the course, she returns to Sao Paulo to work at Oliver Wyman, where she remains today.

When asked about the presence of mentors and inspiring female figures in her career, Marina mentions her master’s advisor, Marilda Sotomayor, and, outside the academia, economist Ana Carla Abrão. It is also emphasized in the episode how the literature documents the relevance of female inspirations and leadership on the career and trajectory of other women.

Regarding the consumer sentiment survey, Marina explains that they try to extract a sense of what changes will be maintained after the pandemic, how people’s income has been affected, and if there have been changes in spending and consumption patterns. Also, they tried to map different aspects of the consumer’s life and in which context the consumer is inserted. The survey is ongoing in ten countries and analyzes more than twenty sectors of the economy.

The interviewee points out that Brazil is the country in the sample where more people said they had an income reduction during the pandemic. Also, in Brazil, a large share of people said they had sought some credit when compared to other countries. Marina informs that, throughout the pandemic, the level of indebtedness has been increasing, and the ability of people to pay the bills has been decreasing. Hence, people in Brazil have shown a high degree of financial concern compared to other countries in the sample. Furthermore, Brazil was the country where people most related the necessity to seek help on issues related to mental health, with financial stress being the main reason for that.

Marina also notes that Brazilians remain optimistic about the future in a twelve-month horizon. However, in general, men are more optimistic than women about their careers, and older people are more optimistic than younger ones. Still, Marina points out that the shock introduced by the pandemic has brought new alternatives for various sectors and new forms of consumption that consumers have well evaluated.

Link for the survey’s results