I was born and raised in Nova Friburgo, a city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. It's a a mountainous region, colder than what people would normally expect from Brazil. I grew up reading books and comics, watching a bunch of anime and, of course, playing a whole lot of videogames. This last bit actually helped me learn English! I'm a 1990's kid, and back in the early 2000's games were not commonly translated to my native language (Portuguese), so I had to play in English. I asked my parents for an English-Portuguese dictionary, which was really handy! Thanks to that, I was able to beat some good ol' JRPGs in a language other than my native one. This was also a unique experience; since I was a child, I was learning through games, and that thought always stuck with me.

Fast forward to when I finished high school. I went to the Federal Fluminense University, in the city of Niterói, to do a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science.  There, I studied intensely for years, diving into human health and disease. My biggest interests were in education, science communication, education, human nutrition and eating behaviour. I went for academia since I loved research and science, but also because I wanted to keep studying and discovering new things. I did my Master's degree in Food, Nutrition and Health at the Rio de Janeiro State University, in the famous city of Rio de Janeiro. 

Until I finished my Master's, I was always living in southeastern Brazil. Things changed when I started a PhD in Computer Science at the Technological University Dublin, in Ireland. This was a big leap in two senses: I was moving from one continent to another, and swapping my studies from human health/nutrition to technology.  I made this decision because I wanted to focus more on digital educational tools and media, with a focus on games. My aim was to use this knowledge to develop new and innovative ways of communicating science and health.