Connect
To Top

Meet Danielle Vantini and Mayra Brito of PowerFuel Damas in Pacific Beach

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Vantini and Mayra Brito.

Danielle and Mayra, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We are Danielle Vantini and Mayra Brito, founders of Powerfuel Damas. In 2013, we became close friends while studying Social Communications and Advertising in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We worked diligently to be the best versions of ourselves we could be, both personally and professionally, while helping others around us do the same.

While in school we worked extremely well together and always dreamt of starting a business. Following graduation in 2015, Mayra gained experience working for Qualivida Eventos, the leader in Corporate events in Brazil, and Guess, international famous fashion brand, adding up six years in Marketing. Dani worked for Bruel & Kjaer, a multinational corporation that specializes in sound and vibration measurement equipment, systems and solutions. For three years, she was responsible for all the marketing operations in Latin America. Dani also worked as a Trade Marketing Analyst at Frooty for one year, the worldwide leader in acai bowls and other acai products.

At 22, Dani experienced sexual harassment at the workplace. It was a dark, but important experience for her, which led her to who she is today. Her independence and heart have fueled her dream of becoming an entrepreneur, making the world a better place, and sharing her story for others who have found themselves in similar situations. Mayra also had been through an abusive relationship, which combined our forces and led to our passion, perseverance, hard work, and courage—these are the driving forces behind our work to grow a family of empowered badass women who can make an impact on the world.

We moved to the US together in 2016 for our post-graduate degrees. Mayra graduated from San Diego University for Integrative Studies and Dani from the University of California San Diego. It was the biggest challenge we had faced yet: Being out of our comfort zone in a completely different culture than we were used to.

Brazil is a conservative chauvinistic country, where men in business rarely treat women as equals. No matter where our lives led us, we promised to always fight for a world that treats genders equally. In the US we found more equality but realized there was still a lot of work to do.

Throughout school and after moving to the US, we met many women entrepreneurs from all over the world who share our same vision of the future. In May 2019, we stumbled upon a group of incredible, rockstar women business owners who inspired us to pursue our dream of starting a business together.

Meeting like-minded and ambitious women entrepreneurs in the US—and learning what they overcame to achieve their success—helped us realize that all women face similar challenges in both business and their personal lives.

As a result, we created PowerFuel Damas to grow an international family of empowered badass women. Our vision is community over competition, where we encourage women to get together, support each other in both business and life, and fight for a world of equality.

What does it mean to be a Dama?
A Dama is an authentic good vibe woman who enjoys exchanging knowledge and helping others pursue their life goals. Damas is a positive, badass businesswoman, who strive for equality in business. We support each other in being the best version of ourselves we can be. Note: The word “damas” directly translates to “ladies” in Portuguese and Spanish. It’s also a play on words with our names: Da-nielle and Ma-yra.

Has it been a smooth road?
Starting a business from scratch is not easy. The first big challenge is structuring the company and creating processes and routines. Secondly, owning a business is incredibly stressful. You have to learn unique ways of work-life balance, especially while both working full-time in our Marketing agency.

One of our current struggles is finding men who don’t understand the deeper meaning of our fight. For example, some companies give us reasons why they shouldn’t hire women for certain jobs. We take it as a challenge, as it’s rewarding when we see the difference we can make in the world. We know we can show the great work of women in business and leadership, to change the minds of hiring companies who typically hire men.

Our journey has been largely supported by our Powerfuel Damas community. Since the beginning, they have been helping spread the word about our vision. This has allowed us to create a client list that we are extremely grateful for. Each one of our clients, both men and women, are helping us on this amazing journey.

Passion is our key driver and we are very passionate about what we do. Despite struggles we may have, working on emotional intelligence, inner peace, being healthy, time management, and focus, are extremely important to us.

Tell us more about the business.
PowerFuel Damas is a marketing and social engagement agency based out of Pacific Beach in San Diego, California. We are creating new strategic partnerships to bring startup products and services to the market. Focused on developing businesses with digital and print collateral, we are also growing a community that supports women’s wellbeing and equality in the workplace. After we met these badass women entrepreneurs at an informal business meeting, we took the month of May to start our community and marketing agency:
May 2 – We had the idea to start a community to empower women businesses.
May 5 – Designed Powerfuel Damas branding and the community concept.
May 7 – Held the first International PowerFuel Damas meeting.
May 16 – Founded the PowerFuel Damas LLC as a marketing agency.
May 25 – Built our business plan.
April 2 – Signed our first client.

Since then we have helped over 13 businesses grow. And with over 15 countries participating in the Powerfuel Damas community, we are spreading the vision of equality. We are also hosting monthly networking events to connect Powerful Damas, raise funds for local charities, and showcase businesses run by women entrepreneurs.
Some of our proud PowerFuel Damas sponsors are:

The PowerFuel Damas community has reached over 50 active members, where women business owners can find Powerfuel connections with CEOs, founders, mentors and investors who share the same whole-hearted vision as Powerfuel Damas. We believe that women who support each other can rise together. Working with these women and events has been a life-changing experience for both of us.

We are proud to say that at our last three international PowerFuel Damas meetings, three of our damas have met successful businesswomen to mentor them. Also, our community has created strong connections, great business opportunities and friendships that will help our members in their pursuing their goals and increasing sales. We highly encourage our damas to follow -up, meet outside of our meetings and build their connections. We want to foster these relationships as we love to see them grow into something bigger and better than before.

We welcome all supporters, both men and women, who are ready to fight for a world that prioritizes equality. The more people that support our cause, the bigger impact we can have on society. Our vision is to open Powerfuel Damas communities around the world, where we can stay connected and help each other succeed.

If you would like to join our community of top PowerFuel Damas professionals and entrepreneurs who share the same vision for the future, DM us on Instagram @PowerFuelDamas with your e-mail and phone number to receive our invitations, or access our Website www.powerfueldamas.com.

What were you like growing up? Personality-wise, interest wise, etc.
We were born in Sao Paulo, Brazil—a very different culture than the US. I (Danielle) was extroverted and strong-willed as a little kid. I was always a creative dreamer, loved building inventions, creating choreographies, and, painting. Even at a young age, gender roles didn’t stop me from doing what I wanted. I practiced ballet, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, video games, skating, surfing, biking, and chasing rollercoasters. I always enjoyed doing something different and adventurous, because I loved the feeling of something new and, spontaneous that could get my adrenaline going.

My parents took me traveling ever since I was a baby, which exposed me to many different cultures and helped me develop an open-minded. My Dad pushed me to be an adventurer with him, while my mom always pushed me to do things out of my comfort zone. She organized the best birthday parties and loved to take me and my friends out to have fun.

She always taught me to be good to other people and s, to never treat them like I didn’t want to be treated. Sadly, she passed away when I was 15 and I had to grow up very quickly. I gained a much bigger appreciation for the people around me and found great value in friendships and community.

I always felt pressured to be a role model for my little sister, who was 8 when my Mom passed away. My family showed me unconditional love and that together, anything is possible! Being happy is not about what you have, but who you have around you. I am very fortunate to have a family who is loving and trustworthy.

I (Mayra) was a very happy, friendly, and sensitive kid. I was very active and looking for new adventures such as camping, hiking and, traveling. Most of the time, I was that kid that got back home hurt, with bruises, because even though I wasn’t sure how to do it, I tried my hardest.

My family had a very important role in my life. They were always supportive, helping, and pushing me to be the best version of myself. I grew up being grateful for my family who taught me to help others without asking for anything in return.

If you give back, good things will happen. If you lead with love, you attract positive action. I grew up seeing, that when you have a family by your side, you can do anything you want to do. This is what I bring to the PowerFuel Damas community the family support. The feeling that you are never alone, no matter what. When the family gets together, and face a journey while helping each other, extraordinary things happen!

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
@jenawillard
@photogenvck
@capturedbymartina

Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in