In our new DanAds People Series you will meet a bunch of our most important assets, our DanAds employees!
First out is Fabiana Leal, one of our first full time employees at DanAds. Fabiana, or Fabi that we’re more used to calling her, is originally from Brazil and currently living in Sweden – working out of our DanAds headquarters in Stockholm (when there’s not a raging pandemic keeping you from the office of course).
Fabi! What do you do at DanAds?
I’m a Project Manager.
What does the Project Management team do?
The Project Manager basically makes the dream come true, it is the force driving development and the execution of all activities related to putting a Platform together.
The Project Manager plans and executes the complete project to set a platform live: definition of project scope, resource planning and control, documentation, etc. The Project Manager is also the main point of contact with the client during the development phase, being the bridge between the client and their business needs and the development team, with the objective to draw the best possible solutions and build the best possible platform.
How did you find your way to us?
I started at DanAds in 2017, when the company was looking for a native Portuguese speaker to handle new projects in Brazil. The Brazilian projects passed by, but gladly, I stayed!
What has happened with the company since from your perspective? How would you describe DanAds today?
It’s amazing to see how fast we are growing. I´m with DanAds ever since we were a micro-team in a 30m2 office space in Stockholm, so seeing how far we´ve come is absolutely fantastic. Today we are a multicultural company, with businesses across the globe, delivering Platforms to multi-million dollar companies.
How do you like working at DanAds and why?
I adore our Project Management team, it´s the best bunch of people anyone can wish to work with. The atmosphere at DanAds is very relaxed, where you feel you have a voice and you are heard.
What did you do before joining DanAds?
I used to work at a consultancy firm focusing on Anti-corruption and Ethics & Compliance in Brazil. My previous experience from those Ethics & Compliance projects has given me several tools that I’ve been able to apply to my work at Danads, both when it comes to the relationship with our clients, but also to our core business. How advertising and the relation between publishers and advertisers can be guided by transparency and responsibility, and how to best support our clients to develop a long term and sustainable business model, guided by solid values and ethical standards.
Whats the main difference between working in Brazil vs working in Sweden?
First of all the work-life balance is better here in Sweden.
When it comes to the workplace environment I would say in Brazil everything is a little bit more extreme: more intense, more loud in general. This is reflected in probably more intense discussions, disagreements, celebrations, etc.
However, the power distance in Brazil is much greater, so your boss might be laughing at a joke with you at the coffee break, but when it comes to your work, you need to go through the hierarchical ladder to be able to have an influence.
Oh and the parental leave of course! I was able to stay at home with my daughter for one year after she was born, and then my husband took over for another 9 months. That you wouldn’t see in Brazil.
Any favourite features in our Self-Service Platforms?
I guess my favourite features varies, but I like how the whole Platform works together, how we always have the end user in mind when we are developing a new functionality. This is something that is very easy to lose sight of, especially when we are talking about the gap that a Self-Service Platform comes to close, that is to move the operation of ads selling from experience ad-ops to the hands of Advertisers, that might not be tech-savvy or knowledgeable about how the ad business works.
How do you spend your time when you’re not project managing like a boss?
Currently I’m juggling work with being a mom of a very spirited 3-year old little girl, so not much free time for me! When I do have time, though, I love to bake, watch series and to go on adventures (big or small) with my family.
Something not many people know about you?
I was a private math teacher during my high school years (and a couple of years after that), and almost went to university to be a mathematician. Today I’m glad I didn’t follow through with it!
