Recycling is extremely important in our world, also with a lot of opportunity for entrepreneurship. In this interview, you will have the opportunity to meet Juliana Migliorini, who is partner director at Green Reciclagem, a family company focused mainly on recycling paper, but also various other materials, such as aluminum and plastic. In this conversation, we explored what it is like to work with recycling, and learnt about Juliana's journey at Green Reciclagem.
We can often think that what we study in college will define what we do for the rest of our lives, I was also victim of this thought. But, when talking to Juliana, I started to rethink this belief. I learnt that she graduated in pedagogy, worked as a preschool teacher, but at a certain point in her life, she no longer saw herself in a classroom and so she created a whole new career for herself.
Thus begins the beautiful story of Green Reciclagem, built based on the trajectory of Juliana's father, who used to drive around the city with his simple truck, collecting paper scraps and selling them to recycling partners. Until Juliana and her brother and partner, Flavio, saw an opportunity to improve what their father had, and in 10 years they built what is now Green Reciclagem.
Green began when Juliana's father started to have some difficulty with the arrival of new technology. He felt that he was unable to keep up with the changes and so his children decided to build this "bridge" to connect what was missing. "And I fell in love! Working with recycling is a fascinating segment, you end up getting totally involved", tells Juliana. In her case, entrepreneurship ended up happening without it being an initial plan, instead something that life led her to try.
Juliana currently works in the administrative part of Green, which is headquartered in an area of 14 thousand square meters in São Bernardo do Campo (SP). "My day at the company starts very early," explains Juliana, emphasizing that the owner's presence in the day-to-day running of the business is what really makes the difference. She is involved in everything: from caring for her employees, who are 50 in total, to supervising the production and delivery of material to the industry, to attracting new customers and suppliers.
Juliana is also in charge of the "Continue o Ciclo" project, initiated by Green last year which is based on the concept of a circular economy. In this project, suppliers such as banks, printing industries, document storage and distribution centers bring material for Green to recycle. Then, Green gives it back to them in the form of toilet paper and paper towels. This project is wonderful, as it makes the power of recycling tangible for companies and their employees, also helping to raise awareness among employees of these companies that are supplying the material.
I was curious to learn whether the recycling sector poses particular challenges for women, but Juliana explains that she does not face any barriers because she is a woman. She explained that when she introduces her company to the printing or document storage industries, she does not encounter any specific difficulties due to her gender.
Finally, Juliana leaves some advice for young women who want to be entrepreneurs and are just starting out: "The advice I give is to believe in yourself, have the desire to achieve. That's what makes all the difference: waking up every day with a purpose and make it happen."
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