At seven years old, Elisabete’s father gifted her a Capsela, a toy that included gears and motors in plastic spheres that could be connected in various ways. Elisabete was able to create moving cars and boats, bringing her childhood love of building things to the next level. As she progressed in school, she found she excelled at math and science, and by the time she was ready to select a path of study for college, her fascination with robotics led her to electrical engineering.

Inspired by her uncle—the resident family genius, according to relatives—Elisabete completed a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering–Telecommunications at the Polytechnique School at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She went on to earn a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in France and completed a Healthcare Management program through her company. Between her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, she worked at Motorola as a Systems Engineer, programming cellular switches for wireless networks, the technology that configures the routing a call via mobile phone—also known as the way we’re able to maintain our phone numbers even while outside our local areas.

Today, Elisabete has come a long way from the very technical and important work she did at Motorola. She leads Education Solutions for Medical Devices in Latin America for Johnson & Johnson, literally training surgeons and doctors on how to use medical devices and technology that the company produces. Every year, her team trains 12,000 medical professionals!

What drew Elisabete from engineering to education? Technology. While telecommunications and healthcare may not seem to have much in common on the surface, ultimately, Elisabete turned her passion for figuring out how things work into teaching others how things work.

Elisabete’s STEMspiration: Katherine Johnson

An African American woman, Katherine Johnson (1918–2020) was a scientist at NASA in the 1950s and 1960s. Her calculations guided NASA’s 1962 Friendship 7 Mission. She was also the subject of one of Elisabete’s favorite movies, Hidden Figures. Learn more about Katherine.

What’s On Elisabete’s Desk?

Want a sneak peek into Elisabete’s day-to-day worklife? Taking a look at her desk gives you clues as to how she works and what she does! Here’s how she describes her workspace:

• My desk is a mix of office desk with home music studio! You can see my music studio equipment: studio speakers, audio recording interface, condenser microphone, etc.

• My passion for music and arts is also represented, so I have an angel of music and a small piano music box that plays Beethoven with a little ballerina that dances while the music plays

• MacBook Pro for recording music, and editing home and work videos

• My J&J Laptop: Yes, I actually work here!

• My iPad to watch the news, do quick research on health care trends, follow society news and events

• Coffee! Lots of coffee all the time!

• Water to hydrate during the day

• Jack. I love Tim Burton characters, as you can see.

• 3D puzzles: another passion

• Origami: I just taught my 8-year old daughter, Gabriela, to make these TSURUs

• Pen and notebook: I always need to scribble when I work or talk on the phone

• My keyboard: I just need to pull out the keyboard drawer to play if I need a few minutes of relaxation during a busy day (working remotely has brought some advantages)!

• Travel souvenir: I love to collect souvenirs from traveling around the world. This one represents a famous Lighthouse in the northeast of Brazil