Episódio 4: Unexpected Entrepreneurs (Empreendedores improváveis)

Existem empreendedores em todas as áreas. Nesse episódio, vamos conhecer dois empresários que estão se esforçando para transformar as suas profissões.

Você pode encontrar a transcrição desse episódio em podcast.duolingo.com. Clique aqui para baixar o Duolingo, o aplicativo Nº1 do mundo para aprender idiomas. É grátis, divertido e funciona!

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Transcrição

Helena: Stephanie López sempre quis ter seu próprio negócio, mas esse sonho não se realizou exatamente como ela imaginava. Em 2016, ela trabalhava como mecânica numa oficina em Wausau, no estado de Wisconsin. Seus colegas, porém, não eram muito acolhedores.

Stephanie: Some of the guys there, including managers, made offensive comments all the time. All because I'm a woman. They didn’t want to tell me where anything was. I couldn't take a lunch break, and they wouldn’t pay me for that time. I felt really unhappy and disappointed.

Helena: Stephanie resolveu fazer uma queixa ao setor de Recursos Humanos, ou Human Resources… Mas eles disseram que não podiam fazer nada. Se não estava feliz ali, ela que abrisse sua própria oficina!

Stephanie: Human Resources told me I would be happier if I left my job, and they were serious. That's when I thought, “You know what? I will leave. I'll make a new place where I am welcome. And I'll show other women that they can do it, too.” So, that’s what I did.

Helena: Welcome, bem-vindas e bem-vindos ao podcast “Histórias em Inglês com Duolingo”. Eu sou Helena Fruet. Em cada episódio, você vai poder praticar inglês no seu ritmo, ouvindo histórias reais e emocionantes.

Os personagens falam um inglês simples e fácil de entender — perfeito pra quem tá aprendendo. Eu vou te acompanhar em cada episódio pra ter certeza que você tá entendendo tudo.

Siga nosso podcast no Spotify ou na sua plataforma preferida!

Nessa semana, vamos aos Estados Unidos conhecer dois empreendedores, ou entrepreneurs, que trabalham pra deixar suas áreas mais inclusivas.

Helena: Stephanie amava carros desde pequena. Seu avô era mecânico.

Stephanie: When I was growing up, my family was obsessed with cars. My grandpa taught auto repair to college students, and my father fixed cars at his house. I was around cars a lot when I was a kid. I often went to auto repair shops with my grandpa, worked outside with my dad, and just watched my dad and my grandpa fix cars.

Helena: Stephanie aprendeu muito vendo o pai e o avô se divertindo com os carros. Parecia mágica!

Stephanie: My grandpa bought old, broken cars that had a lot of missing parts. Then he found the missing car parts, like a carburetor. And he actually put the cars back together. They worked perfectly! It was just so amazing. When I got older, my grandpa started to test my car knowledge. He used the same diagrams and lessons from his college classes.

Helena: Stephanie adorava mexer com automóveis. E quando chegou no ensino médio, ela decidiu se matricular em aulas de mecânica. Naquela época, Stephanie era líder de torcida, ou cheerleader.

Stephanie: I was one of the only girls in the class. The boys said things like, “Why are you here? Girls don't do this.” And they laughed at me because I was a cheerleader. I came to class in my white cheerleading uniform, and they joked, saying, “Oh, be careful, don't get dirty!” They thought it was so funny that someone in a clean cheerleading uniform was working on cars in a repair shop.

Helena: Stephanie tinha certeza que um dia ia trabalhar numa oficina mecânica. Quando terminou o ensino médio em 2005, ela começou a procurar emprego.

Stephanie: I applied to a lot of jobs. But half of the time, I didn't even get an interview. And, for a while, I didn't realize that it was because I'm a woman. I remember one guy said, “Well, we don't want a woman working in the shop. The wives of the men who work here probably won't like that.” But things like that actually motivated me.

Helena: Stephanie finalmente conseguiu uma vaga numa mecânica, fazendo o mesmo trabalho que os homens. Mas, uma vez, um cliente se recusou a falar com ela.

Stephanie: One time, a customer called. He had some basic questions about a car radio, but he didn't want to talk to me. He shouted that he wasn't going to talk to a woman. And my boss at the time took the phone out of my hand and told him, “If you're not going to let her help you, then no one here will help you.”

Helena: Os chefes de Stephanie sugeriram que ela voltasse a estudar pra virar técnica em manutenção automotiva. Eles achavam que um título daria mais credibilidade quando alguém duvidasse da capacidade dela.

Stephanie: Obviously some people didn't respect me. I thought that getting a degree might help, so I started a college program. To be honest, I thought a diploma could fix a lot of these problems. I thought customers were finally going to listen to me. They were finally going to understand that I'm good at my job.

Helena: Depois de terminar o curso, Stephanie procurou um emprego compatível com a sua nova formação. Mas o salário da melhor vaga que ela encontrou era de dez dólares por hora. Ou seja, menos do que ganhavam os outros funcionários.

Stephanie: My new coworkers didn't want me to work there. That was when I decided to go to Human Resources, where I also talked about the problem with my salary. I said, “Look, I have my automotive degree. I’m certified, and I have experience. The McDonald’s down the street pays their workers more than you pay me.” But that didn't matter. So, they told me, “If you really don’t like it here, open your own shop.”

Helena: Foi assim que, em 2017, Stephanie abriu sua própria oficina mecânica.

Stephanie: I rented a building, and opened my own shop there. I spent all the money I had. I was very scared, and I didn't know what was going to happen. At first it was just me, working alone. But soon, the shop became busy. A lot of my customers were from the shops where I used to work. They actually went to those shops because of me. And when I left, they followed me to my new business.

Helena: Muitos dos novos clientes de Stephanie eram… mulheres!

Stephanie: These women didn't think the other mechanics listened to them or respected them because they were women. They felt uncomfortable asking these other mechanics questions because they were condescending. That’s how a lot of women feel at auto repair shops. So it’s not just women mechanics who sometimes don’t feel welcome –– it’s customers, too.

Helena: Em dois anos, Stephanie já tinha tantos clientes que conseguiu expandir a empresa e mudar pra um galpão maior — que virou uma grande oficina mecânica!

Stephanie: I named my auto repair shop Woosters Garage to honor my grandpa and great-grandpas. They had auto repair shops named Woosters Garage, too. Women have a lot of power –– more than we can even imagine. And if a woman wants to be a mechanic, yes, it is going to be difficult. And yes, she is going to encounter some sexism. But if a woman really wants to be a mechanic, she can do it. And there are many inspiring examples of women mechanics in this country.

Helena: Com muito esforço e dedicação, Stephanie López encontrou seu espaço no ramo de conserto de veículos e foi muito bem-sucedida! Mas, para outros empreendedores, pode ser difícil conseguir esse mesmo sucesso. Desde criança, quando morava em Vancouver, no Canadá, Rahim Fazal sonhava com o Vale do Silício, a meca da tecnologia na Califórnia. Rahim cresceu em moradias que o governo oferecia pra pessoas de baixa renda.

Rahim: Most of the people in the community where I grew up were immigrants, like my parents. Some people in the community were not immigrants, but they also didn't have a lot of money. Our rent was about $350 a month, which, in an expensive city like Vancouver, is basically nothing.

Helena: Os pais de Rahim eram refugiados e se mudaram pro Canadá no fim da década de 70. Naquela ocasião, milhares de pessoas que tinham migrado da Índia para o leste da África foram expulsas e precisaram encontrar outro lugar pra viver.

Rahim: My parents did go to college. But their credentials and work experience weren't recognized in Canada at all. My dad used to be the manager of a pharmacy, and my mom worked in a lab. But it was difficult for them to find jobs in Canada.

Helena: Apesar da sua formação, o pai de Rahim teve que trabalhar como manobrista pra conseguir pagar as contas do mês.

Rahim: My parents really wanted my sister and me to do well in school. They thought education was very important because they couldn't bring anything except for their minds to Canada. So, they really wanted us to go to a university. They started saving fifty dollars a month for my college when I was three years old. That was all of the money they could give.

Helena: Desde pequeno, Rahim era apaixonado por computadores. Ele adorava ler histórias de empreendedores que estavam mudando o mundo com novos sites e domínios, ou domain names.

Rahim: There were these kids who looked just a little older than me.They were starting websites with these incredible domain names — like MP3.com and Pets.com. And they were making a lot of money. I thought that maybe I could do the same thing.

Helena: Quando completaram 16 anos, Rahim e seu amigo Husein tiveram uma ideia: criar uma plataforma online que ajudasse pequenas empresas a projetar, desenvolver e publicar seus próprios sites.

Rahim: In one year, 25,000 small businesses started using our platform –– from all over the world. We didn't tell our parents about it. You know, it was our little secret. We felt like we were part of something important, and that we belonged in the tech industry. Silicon Valley was like the center of the universe, and tech leaders were changing the world. And we felt like we could be part of this world, too.

Helena: Foi assim que Rahim e seu amigo se transformaram naquelas pessoas que eles tanto admiravam.

Rahim: It was the year 2000, and I was in my last year of high school. And then, the most amazing thing happened: we sold our company for more than a million dollars!

Helena: Aos 17 anos, Rahim já era milionário!

Rahim: The next morning, my dad went to work and stopped at the gas station. The sale of our company was in the newspaper, on the front page. And there was a picture of me and my friend, Husein, in front of a new Mercedes.

Helena: Rahim resolveu que não faria faculdade, o que deixou seus pais decepcionados. Mas, logo depois, alguns investidores norte-americanos entraram em contato com ele e o amigo, propondo que abrissem uma empresa juntos. Eles toparam na hora.

Rahim: We were never at home. We went to a lot of parties and big meetings. We flew to Las Vegas. We had all these experiences that we read about in magazines. I thought, at the time, that we were a part of the tech industry. But in reality, that wasn't true. That became very clear to me very quickly. We needed to meet serious tech investors, but we didn't know anyone who actually worked in Silicon Valley.

Helena: A empresa faliu, e Rahim perdeu quase todo o seu dinheiro.

Rahim: It was very embarrassing. I felt like a fraud. And also, I’m very competitive, and I really, really hate to lose. So I decided to start again and do what my parents wanted me to do. I went back to school.

Helena: Rahim foi pra universidade e depois fez uma especialização em negócios. Quando se formou, foi diretamente pro Vale do Silício.

Rahim: After I went back to school, I was confident again. I started a new company, and it was successful. It was a social media business. After a while, we sold the company to Oracle, the tech giant! And I worked for them until 2015. But while I was there, I noticed something about the people who made the important decisions for the company.

Helena: Rahim achava que os líderes, quem tomava todas as decisões na empresa, faziam parte de um seleto grupo de pessoas privilegiadas, ou insiders.

Rahim: Oracle spent a lot of money –– billions and billions of dollars. But the insiders in the company controlled where that money went. It seemed like these people all knew each other, and came from the same prestigious universities. You know, many of them went to Harvard Business School or studied computer science at Stanford…

Helena: Rahim sentia que isso tinha um impacto direto sobre quem era contratado. Foi muito difícil chegar ao topo, e ele se perguntava se não existiria uma forma de ajudar outras pessoas que, como ele, tinham começado do zero.

Rahim: My partner, Joel, and I got the idea to start a new company. We wanted a less elitist tech industry, where knowing important people or going to a prestigious school wasn't essential. We knew a lot of smart people who wanted to be part of the industry, and we wanted to give them opportunities to be successful.

Helena: Rahim e Joel pensaram num novo negócio: uma escola que treina vendedores pra trabalhar nas empresas de software. O nome escolhido foi “SV Academy”, abreviação de “Silicon Valley Academy”. Os estudantes viriam de comunidades historicamente marginalizadas, ou underrepresented backgrounds.

Rahim: At SV Academy, we work with people from underrepresented backgrounds. And we teach them what they need to know to get tech jobs. Our goal is to make new leaders in the tech industry. They will one day have the power to make positive changes in their companies.

Helena: Os clientes da escola de Rahim são empresas de software. Elas montam planos de estudos, fazem mentorias e, no fim do programa, oferecem vagas com ótimos salários aos alunos da Academia. Muitos deles são Latinx, como é conhecida a comunidade latina nos Estados Unidos.

Rahim: 70% of our program graduates are the first people in their families to graduate from college, 25% are Black, 17% are Latinx, and 60% are women. At the biggest tech companies in the world, less than 10% of the employees are Black and Latinx. And less than half of the employees at these companies are women. So with SV Academy, we’re trying to change that.

Helena: O principal objetivo da SV Academy é ajudar os formandos a crescer nas empresas até que eles subam na carreira e influenciem futuras contratações. Assim, eles poderão trazer mais funcionários de grupos minoritários.

Rahim: If we want to change the tech industry, we have to change it from the inside. If a person works hard, they should have the same opportunities as everyone else. Our graduates are achieving their dreams, and they're not following the traditional path. I'm lucky because I was successful in many ways. Now I can help a lot more people become successful in their careers.

Helena: Rahim Fazal mora no Vale do Silício com a família e, em breve, vai expandir a SV Academy. A oficina de Stephanie Lopez tá mais movimentada do que nunca e continua crescendo lá em Wausau, no estado de Wisconsin.

Esse episódio foi produzido pela jornalista Julia Scott, que mora em Oakland, na Califórnia.

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“Histórias em inglês” é uma produção de Duolingo e Adonde Media. Assine nosso feed no Spotify ou na sua plataforma preferida. No YouTube você também encontra uma versão em vídeo desse podcast. Eu sou Helena Fruet. Thank you for listening!

Créditos

Esse episódio foi produzido por Duolingo e Adonde Media.