5 Lessons I’ve Learned Building Global Bridges as a Latina in the Middle East - #WWTG04
What Moving to the Gulf Taught Me About Power, Reinvention, and Community
In this edition…
Entering a new market with intention
5 lessons from navigating cross-cultural growth
Reflections on relationship-building and momentum
A perspective on soft power and trust
The emotional reality of global freelancing
I arrived with no map—only a calling
Three weeks ago, I landed in Qatar to begin the next chapter of my journey—this time not just as a consultant or project lead, but as a founder with a long-term vision for building something new in the Gulf.
I brought with me a clear intention and a framework to implement it, but I’ve quickly learned that bringing a plan and executing it are two different things. In this part of the world, doing business is a slow, relational process—and that’s not a flaw, it’s a feature.
You can’t force your way into this market. You have to build your way in. With consistency. With care.
5 Lessons I’ve Learned While Building Bridges
1. Your origin is your superpower.
Coming from Brazil wasn’t a disadvantage—it became my opening story.
2. Global work requires local trust.
You can’t build across markets without humility and local friendships.
3. The right room changes everything.
One dinner, one woman, one connection can open five doors.
4. You don’t have to be fluent—just present.
Culture fluency is earned by práxis, not knowing it all.
5. Community is the real strategy.
The most powerful strategy is being around people who remind you who you are.
Field Notes from the Middle
These past few weeks have been filled with early meetings, late edits, and conversations with a mix of former colleagues, longtime online allies, and new regional collaborators.
These relationships aren’t just transactional—they’re foundational.
Momentum in a new market doesn’t come from noise. It comes from quiet credibility, from trust earned slowly, and from shared values that translate across geographies.
This isn’t a waiting period. It’s a recalibration. The strategy is already in motion—even if much of it, for now, happens behind the scenes.
Leadership Lessons in Cross-Market Expansion
Entering a new region with a long-term business plan isn’t just about cultural fluency—it’s about timing, perception, and the ability to hold your ground while adapting in real time.
In Gulf markets, relationships often precede execution. Vision alone is not enough. Founders must be prepared to recalibrate the pace of their strategy while remaining anchored in intent. This is especially true for professionals arriving from fast-moving ecosystems who are used to delivering under pressure.
The challenge? Slowing down without losing momentum.
The opportunity? Letting trust—not urgency—lead the way.
Strategic Insight: Soft Power Builds Faster Than Hard Pitches
What accelerates influence in a new market isn’t exposure—it’s credibility.
Too often, entrepreneurs entering the Gulf prioritize visibility: press features, flashy decks, rapid launches. But local ecosystems tend to respond better to consistency, humility, and a strong word-of-mouth foundation.
Soft power—reputation, alignment, cultural respect—travels further here than an aggressive growth model.
In emerging cross-regional economies, the strongest positioning comes from building slowly and being invited in.
Beyond Strategy: Safe Spaces and Emotional Infrastructure
There’s a hidden cost to global freelancing and solopreneurship that doesn’t often make it into strategy decks: loneliness.
Behind every international relocation, every career leap, there are quieter truths—about the instability of project-based work, the emotional toll of constantly reinventing, and the challenge of finding belonging while building something from scratch.
In this phase, relationship-building isn’t just about collaboration. It’s about emotional survival.
We don’t talk enough about how important it is to have peers who witness you without needing a deliverable.
People who check in, who hold space, who remind you of the why when the how gets heavy.
Safe spaces aren’t separate from success.
They’re what allow it to happen.
A Question for Global Builders
How do you stay committed to long-term vision in a short-term attention economy?
Are you building for applause—or for alignment?
What would it mean to prioritize resonance over reach?
Who This Is For
We Work the Globe is a platform and studio for:
Professionals expanding into cross-cultural markets
Creatives building ecosystems between LATAM and MENA
Quiet leaders with global ambition
Institutions investing in culture as infrastructure
If you're building something borderless, with values at the center—you’re not alone.
Ways to Collaborate
We’re currently working with:
Media and cultural institutions expanding into new regions
Founders shaping brand narratives and audience strategy
Executives seeking global perspective and creative partnership
From Solo Insight to Shared Practice
This platform began as a way to document the invisible layers of global work—from the cultural codes to the emotional infrastructure. But with each edition, it’s become more than that. It’s become a reflection space, and a shared language between those of us navigating complexity across borders.
What I write here isn’t just what I know—it’s what I’m still learning, in real time, alongside others who are charting similar paths.
If you’ve been reading, sharing, replying: thank you.
It means more than metrics. It means momentum.
This work is about more than delivering a message. It’s about creating a shared field of practice.
So if something in this edition resonates, let it start a conversation.
→ You can always reply, or find me on LinkedIn.
Let’s keep building—with clarity, with care, and with community.