What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

As a legal department that deals with very strict regulations and various innovative products, we are often called upon to intervene in strategic analyses with a significant impact on the business. This involvement leads to co-creation between the legal department and the business areas, requiring us to be in constant evolution and learning, making us true ‘Business Partners.’ (57 words)

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

Fortunately, in my current role, there is little time for not innovating and not having disruptive solutions. Due to the regulations that we work with and to the innovative products that are currently marketed by Tabaqueira, new topics and challenges frequently arise, compelling us to study and learn more (often with a fresh perspective on the same subject matter). This dynamic business environment, which is reflected in our activities, naturally pushes us to constantly generate new ideas and adapt our ways of working (whether by identifying needs or reevaluating our existing practices and seeking collaborative improvement solutions). The autonomy (albeit accompanied) we have in managing the assigned matters allows us to keep up with the speed demanded by the business whenever the topic permits. However, despite the advantages of this speed for our internal clients, it often prevents us from documenting the reasoning and context behind specific decisions. A simple shared management file where we write brief notes about the decisions we make helps us address this gap in a practical and efficient manner (which is precisely what we seek!). (180 words)

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

From a professional standpoint, there are two topics that currently captivate me: consumer rights and sustainability. The first one, because after exploring it in my previous job (I worked at TAP and focused on passenger rights), I found a totally different perspective at Tabaqueira. In fact, working in a market with strict regulations showed me that it doesn’t seem entirely clear that consumers have an absolute right to access factual information enabling them to make more conscious and informed choices. Given that nowadays lack of information leads to misinformation (which I consider the greatest danger consumers face), it seems crucial that companies in their role of corporate citizens can have a corporative speech and communicate to the consumers factual information validated by experts about their products.

Regarding sustainability, it’s undoubtedly one of the most relevant topics of the present and future. Despite being evident that we all need to gradually adopt behaviors that improve society and the planet, I believe Companies must be the faces of change. Therefore, I take great pride in working for a company that strives to anticipate legislation and drive behavioral changes across all aspects of sustainability. Witnessing this transformation while also following its legal evolution (albeit more slowly) is a privilege.

Lastly (and still related to sustainability), personally, I have been studying and start working in developing supporting women and their roles in society (as individuals, mothers, and professionals). It’s worth mentioning that although this interest is personal, I also contribute to it in the workplace as part of Tabaqueira’s ERG WIN (Women in Network).