So far Nova School of Business & Economics has presented people, students, who are nothing short of incredible. People who faced many challenges and turned them into opportunities. People who got out of their safety zone and ventured into the world. People who were inspired by their families, their friends, and their coworkers and made sure they kept inspiring others as well. People who are open, creative, talented, and overall inspiring. And one of these people is Maria Gabriela Teixeira Duarte, a Master’s in Management student at Nova SBE and one of the Nova SBE for Excellence fellows.
Born in Lisbon, Maria Gabriela was always a bright student, someone shy but resilient and kind, who always wanted to do good by her family. When she graduated high school she decided to get a Bachelor’s in Law, which she did so with an excellent grade. Could this be her best achievement? Probably, if we don’t include the fact that she also won 4 Merit Scholarships and 2 Merit Prizes for all her hard work and dedication. The also spent two years working in the corporate and M&A department of a law firm, which made her fall in love with the business world. That’s why she decided to do her Master’s at Nova SBE, so it could help her understand more about the world she lives in.
Maria Gabriela also volunteered in Tanger, Morocco, with the Missionaries of Charity – an experience that was both challenging and rewarding. This taught her about humility and perseverance and, to this day, it is something she says it is still a source of inspiration to her. As she puts it:
“I think that the most inspiring thing about the world today is the desire that I see in people wanting to help others. I think that we see that all the time in the initiatives that people do. People really have a desire to do good.”
Because dreaming is believing, Maria Gabriela is currently preparing a contribution for the Annotation of the Portuguese Civil Code, daring to be bold and to go beyond what was expected of her. She doesn’t care if people don’t know her name. What matters is that she helps those who she comes in contact with, and maybe that way others will be inspired to do the same and the world eventually becomes the place we work every day to be proud of.
The Nova SBE Fellowship for Excellence – an incredible hub of astonishing people who strive to be better and accomplish good things, whether big or small, complex or simple, ordinary or extraordinary. People who are venturous, bold, and creative. People who fail but who always learn to pick themselves up.
People, students. Students who enrolled at Nova SBE and showed the world how they are more than students and how opportunity is in every corner. Students that we know will definitely have a clear horizon ahead of them – with nothing to worry about on their plate.