Bel Pesce
Isabel Pesce Mattos, better known as Bel Pesce, is a Brazilian entrepreneuse, best known as a writer and lecturer. She is sometimes nicknamed "Menina do Vale do Silício".
Pesce was born in São Paulo, and studied at MIT, where she obtained degrees in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science and Management Science. She then embarked on a career in information technology, working as a summer intern for Microsoft and Google and later for Deutsche Bank. Despite being named among the 100 most influential people in Brazil by Epoca magazine, her credentials have been questioned, and claims that she founded the video platform Ooyala and the app Lemon Wallet have been disproved. Her major critics included the Youtubers Izzy Nobre and Felipe Neto.
Pesce was for a time a product manager at Ooyala in its early days and was later head of business development at Lemon. In 2012 she released a free e-book called A Menina do Vale, which launched her career as an inspirational speaker and writer and a TED fellow. In 2013 she founded the company FazINOVA, which "teaches professional and personal development through entrepreneurial values", and founded the BeDream app. On the strength of these achievements, she was named the 2014 Laureate for Latin America in the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards. In 2015 she was one of the BBC's 100 Women.
