1) Website application

What makes you a good fit for Praxis? ~500 words

My values are similar to those that Praxis is looking for - I have a mindset that results in my desire to develop my unique skill set, invest in the startup of myself, get things done and further myself through the creation of value, always aiming to transform the world into a more free place.

These desires were intensified by my participation in Students For Liberty which in turn led to attending the FEE Economics of Entrepreneurship Seminar.

During the seminar, I came to realize that despite being a spontaneous planner, I am an avid and skilled decision-maker. I am focused and committed to my objectives, yet flexible and eager for identifying new opportunities and engaging myself in them. And it was happening right there - my perspectives, goals, and understanding of myself were changed dramatically in three days.

Then, I became aware that my previous experiences, such as living alone, working for two companies, and witnessing entrepreneurship from an early age were also creating that unique moment, and I had been shaped into someone who could benefit the people around me, and someone who would feel satisfied by doing so.

These lessons rose my motivation exponentially and I felt that I could not stop there, that my pursuit of a fulfilling life had been instigated.

When it comes to skills and experiences, I can declare I have a strong historic of leadership attitudes, in spite of my introversion. I was the class representative in two different classes and schools, at 13 and 15 years old, and most recently, the founder and president of a libertarian and individualistic club, at 17, aside from other smaller activities. My responsibility and commitment, as well as my communication skills, have been helping me to perform well.

During the three last years, I developed two new hobbies: investments and the use of productivity and/or organization methodologies, such as GTD. These skills helped me both in my work - giving special attention to time management and definition of priorities - and in my personal life, through taking control over my life and becoming aware that I am completely responsible for building it.

I have had the opportunity to work independently and improve many skills during my current internship project development, and even though I am confident about my performance and general knowledge, from what I could see from the brief experiences it gave me of coaching and mentoring, I find it an incredible form to become even more independent and self-reliant.

Finally, I excel at critically analyzing situations and problem-solving according to my available resources, and this is something I love to do. Trying to find logical patterns and to understand how systems and processes work - or even how human interactions happen - is one challenging goal that I always attempt to achieve.

Therefore, I believe Praxis is the best way to go straightforward to my objectives and face challenges that will help me to continuously improve and make a lasting impact, learn how to explore the human potential to its maximum and start providing alternatives to the status quo, thereby getting closer to the best version of myself and contributing to my ideals.

What will make you an excellent Praxis participant? What talent, skills, and experience will you bring to the program? ~ 250 Words

My self-motivation and focus on self-improvement are the core elements that will assure my development and successful performance during the Praxis Program.

This belief is corroborated by the ascertainment that in spite of my multidisciplinary skills and lessons learned from my work experience, most of my accomplishments were result of a union: the right mindset and the necessary effort.

That being said, some skills and experiences that may be useful for the program are: effective communication in three languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish), great knowledge of project management and Microsoft Office tools, leadership capability and presentation tactics.

Additionally, I have been studying Quality Management for three years, course that also covered some productivity and administration techniques.

My work experience have also been satisfactory. I learn at a fast pace and like to develop and improve systems and processes, exemplified by one of my recent achievements: I became the first intern to participate in a job rotation, since I, with the help of my mentor, could restructure the way my sector worked, changing all its controls, procedures, and forms - alongside learning the activities and doing the day-to-day business - eliminating the need for my labor, in less than 6 months.

Ever since I started working I had contact with foreign internal and external customers and were able to share experiences with other plants. Nowadays, I constantly interact with people from all over the world, host a project focused on a continental scale and actively participate in a global one.

Even though big companies usually do not offer great opportunities for self-development due to the standardization of work, by involving myself with different projects, creating expectations and assuming responsibilities, these experiences offered me a great amount of transferable skills.