Daniel was a little kid with big, bold dreams. Being great, however, meant different things at different times for someone like him. He wanted to grow up to be a Ninja so he could fight the most dangerous monsters living under his bed – monsters he soon realized would disappear over time. Later, he thought he was destined to become an astronaut – although he doubted Neil Armstrong had made it to the moon by being afraid of heights, like he was. Scratch that (sigh).
Most importantly, deep down, Daniel wanted to learn new things and see new places much like he ended up doing later in life. He grew up in beautiful Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and started a rock band – he wanted to be a star, singing like Daniel Johns and writing lyrics that changed the world like John Lennon’s. Daniel has always been driven by the intense desire to change and to make a difference. Remember the Apple commercial "here's to the crazy ones"? It spoke to him.
His final essay at university – where he studied Marketing and Advertising – was not about the latest marketing campaign done by Coca-Cola. Instead, he chose to write about the hero’s journey, by Joseph Campbell. Daniel felt like he couldn’t have picked a better topic, and decided to follow his own journey afterwards. A hero’s journey.
He left his home town, his family and close friends and moved to crazy New York City without speaking a word of English. He survived. He felt like he had taken a punch to the stomach and felt the visceral cultural shock. Itchiness all over his body? The result of all those damn New York bedbugs. Kidney stones? The result of eating too many hot dogs. Learning how to value his career? The result of working at way too many heavy labor gigs. All of this helped Daniel become a real man with real goals.
At the end of the day, that’s all you can ask for.
He worked for a video game startup; building the marketing department from the ground up and working directly with the founder. It was cool, it was a lot of hard work - only dudes in their 20s.
After a year and a half in the US, Daniel realized he’d have better opportunities in Canada and did not look back – a hero never does.
Daniel came to Toronto, worked for a software company and for a not-for-profit organization. Four years and two jobs later, Daniel understood that his passion lies in technology, digital marketing and strategy and felt that something was missing in his life, so he continued his quest. He recently visited a job fair, where he watched Wattpad’s CEO talk about his own quest and passions. He met Wattpad employees and had a great conversation with one of them, making him realize that what was missing was a desire to work with young people, hungry people, and in a place where ideas and diversity are more important than politics and tradition.
He understands what it takes to build something from scratch, and he is ready to write a new chapter in his life, a chapter named Wattpad.
