The motto of São Paulo, Brazil, is “Non ducor, duco,” which translates to “I am not led, I lead. ” The same motto could be applied to this week’s profile, Bia Vieira. In 2008, Vieira was named the Philadelphia Foundation’s vice president for community impact, a job responsible for managing more than $20 million in grants awarded each year to hundreds of community nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining the Foundation, Vieira oversaw the 108-year-old Lutheran Settlement House, an agency that provides social services, education and advocacy programs to over 10,000 people each year. The longtime activist has worked in Latino, women’s and arts and culture programs since she arrived in the Philadelphia area. She currently sits on the board of the Homeless Assistance Fund Inc. and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
PGN: Tell me a little about yourself. BV: I’m originally from São Paulo, Brazil. I was born in the city but grew up in the interior with my grandparents. I’m the oldest with a younger sister and brother and a much younger brother my mother had with her second husband.
PGN: Were you always a caretaker? BV: Yes. When I was 5, my father died and my mother went back to school. We moved in with my grandparents and the three of us kids were very tight-knit.
PGN: What things would you do together? BV: Sing! In Brazil, music is a big part of the culture so there was a lot of singing and guitar playing and eating and talking. Every Sunday, my grandparents would have the entire family over for lunch — cousins and aunts and uncles. It was a great big wonderful mess.
PGN: [Laughs.] So do you eat late at night? BV: Yes! I prefer to.
PGN: What did you like to do as a kid? BV: Dance. I studied modern dance when I was young and my first dream was to be a dancer, but sadly I was not built for it.
PGN: Tell me a little about São Paulo and the interior? BV: Well, São Paulo is a great big city with 20-million people. It’s the largest city in the southern hemisphere and the world’s seventh-largest city by population. It has so much to offer. It’s amazing but there’s also a stark contrast between the people who are poor and living on the streets and the people with extreme amounts of money. The interior is very different. It’s very rural, much more conservative and very Catholic. PGN: How old were you when you left Brazil? BV: I was 17. We moved from São Paulo to upstate New York … in January! I’d never seen the snow before and we didn’t speak English and it was tough. It’s a very insular place, which at that point was not very welcoming to anyone from the outside, especially a different country. They didn’t know what to do with us in school, so they put us in special-ed classes! This was before bilingual classes. Fortunately, I got through it and was able to come to Philadelphia and attend Temple University for both my undergrad and my master’s.
PGN: What did you study? BV: For undergrad I studied anthropology, and I studied literature for my master’s.
PGN: And what did you think you were going to do with anthropology? BV: [Laughs.] I know! I’ve actually been able to use both in my work. Anthropology is all about understanding how cultures work and how they organize and how different people are able to understand each other or sometimes not. Literature is all about stories and understanding their meaning. It’s also about language and how it is structured. So they both tie in to everything I do.
PGN: What is your current title? BV: I’m the vice president for Philanthropic Services for the Philadelphia Foundation. It’s an amazing space to be in because it’s connecting organizations that are doing really amazing work in our area and helping support them financially or with technical assistance, and also connecting them with philanthropists who have certain interests they want to support. It’s a great privilege to be able to do it.
PGN: What’s the oddest request you’ve had — à la Leona Helmsley, who left $12 million to care for her dog? BV: Luckily we’ve never had anything that extreme! But we do have some funds that are very old and their owners have long since passed. At the time when they set up the funds, things were very different. For instance, we have a fund that is to take care of horses that dates back to when horses were used primarily for transportation. It was designed to create water troughs on the streets for them to drink from. [Laughs.] That’s not something that we really need now. But what we were able to establish is that what the donor was interested in was twofold — making sure that transportation was readily accessible for everyone and animal care. So we can still help support those two causes, just not the same way they were supported in 1918! It’s very moving that there are ways that something someone cared about can still be supported 100 years later in an impactful and important way. Once you know the donor’s passion, there’s no end to the possibilities.
PGN: With so many programs and funds being cut these days, there seems to be a growing mentality that people need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. BV: I think there’s a myth, especially in the U.S., that anyone who’s made it has done it by themselves. I know for me, I came to the U.S. not speaking English and I know that I had help from a lot of people to get where I am today. Wherever or whatever success is for you, it’s important to remember that we all had people along the way who assisted us. Whether it was a family member or teacher or benefactor or a mentor, we all have someone who took a special interest in us and helped. You might think you made it on your own, but we all need help to get where we want to go.
PGN: Any project or person that touched you? BV: Before coming to the Philadelphia Foundation, I spent 20 years as an executive director of Lutheran Settlement House. We had a shelter for homeless moms and their kids. A lot of the moms came from abusive households and I was really moved by the resilience of those women and the passion of the people who worked with them. When I grew up in Brazil, there was a military dictatorship. It was a time when people were tortured or simply disappeared. There was severe censorship too, but after a while, the resistance was able to shift the country, so I’ve seen what can happen when people fight back against oppression and violence on a national level, at a group level and, with these women, at the personal and community level. It’s inspiring.
PGN: Tell me about coming out. BV: I came out a little later than most. But I have a great partner, Nina, and I also have a 19-year-old son who has been a wonderful supporter.
PGN: How old was he when you came out? BV: It’s been about eight years, so I guess he was about 11.
PGN: How did you know? BV: I’ve always worked closely with women. I think that being a Brazilian woman in the United States, there’s an exoticism of Latin women. We are expected to be sexy and flirtatious. I don’t understand men and never have, so flirting was the only way I knew how to communicate and I never really established any meaningful connections with men. I’ve just always connected better with women. Plus, they’re hot!
PGN: What was the first women’s bar you ever went into? BV: It was Hepburns’. But I’d been going to women’s bars even before I came out.
PGN: Have you been to Gay Pride in São Paulo? BV: Oh yes, it’s huge! I was there three years ago. The celebration has grown from 2,000 participants in 1997 to 4-million people in its last edition. In 2006, they made it to the Guinness Book of [World] Records for the world’s biggest Gay Pride celebration and they’re expecting 4-5 million people for 2012. I’m going back in March.
PGN: Who’s still back there? BV: My mom and my entire extended family. My mom hated living here in the States and immediately went back. [Laughs.] She just forgot to take us with her.
PGN: So do people mix up Spanish and Portuguese all the time? BV: Yes, most people don’t even know that they’re different. They don’t realize that there are several languages spoken in South America.
PGN: How many do you speak? BV: I speak Spanish, Portuguese and English, and can read and understand French and Italian.
PGN: What was a language mishap as you were learning English? BV: When I first came here, I was asked to go to a Tupperware party. I thought it was a “top-wear” party, meaning that you wore tops only, and I thought, How progressive. Fortunately, I found out before I showed up at the door with no pants, but I have to say the party was quite boring. My way would have been more fun.
PGN: Any famous relatives? BV: My mom kind of is: Her family started Frateschi Electric Trains. Frateschi is her maiden name. They are the only model-train manufacturer in South America.
PGN: Time for some random questions. Do you remember the first English record you bought? BV: Oh yes, it was The Beatles’ “Revolver.” PGN: Which literary character most resembles you? BV: Well, I was named after Beatrice from “Dante’s Inferno.” She’s the person who helps Dante through purgatory and hell to get into heaven. I’ve always felt the name was a little bit of a burden to carry. It seemed I was given the mantle of caregiver from a very young age — taking care of my siblings, etc., which was great, and also had some not-so-great moments.
PGN: And you’ve taken it on in your career too. BV: [Laughs.] I know, I can’t help myself!
PGN: When was the last time you went ice skating? BV: Noooo. I don’t ice skate. It’s too cold.
PGN: You founded the Philadelphia International Latino Film Festival and managed the Feminist Film Series at the Community Education Center and International House, so you’re obviously a film buff. What’s a favorite film? BV: I love “Il Postino,” the film about poet Pablo Neruda when he was in exile in Italy. It was a good depiction of what it was to be a Latin exile and also of the impact that he had on the little village where he stayed. It demonstrated the power of ideas.
PGN: Favorite line from a film? BV: There’s a movie called “Bye, Bye Brazil” about a small traveling circus, performing from small town to small town through the Brazilian backwaters. In one part of the movie, one of the performers throws confetti in the air to simulate snow. He has a line where he says something like, “Now that we have snow, we are finally a first-world country.” I thought the whole concept that there’s progress only in countries where it’s cold was fascinating — that tropical countries aren’t associated with being first-world. At a time when Brazil was under a lot of conflict and censorship, the movie was able to make political statements in a very subtle way. It was brilliantly done.
PGN: What actor should play your life story? BV: I love Selma Hayek. She’s hot!
PGN: What’s a Brazilian holiday tradition? BV: Well, the most famous holiday in Brazil is Carnaval. It’s a six-day party. We have various samba schools that compete in a giant parade and crowds follow huge vehicles decorated according to specific themes. It winds through the city streets with everyone dancing and singing. Because all of our holidays are in the summer, it’s all about exuberance and color and coming together. For Christmas, it’s not uncommon to have a picnic outside. PGN: Do you collect anything? BV: I’m kind of fascinated by angels, so I have a small collection of them, maybe about 15.
PGN: That’s not bad, we won’t nominate you for “Hoarders” just yet. BV: [Laughs.] No! But what I really love to collect is fabric. I love the beautiful ways that fabric is dyed and used all over the world. From Guatemala to East Timor, every place has its own unique way of using it.
PGN: What was a great travel experience? BV: Last August we went to New Orleans for Nina’s birthday and had an amazing time. From the people to the food, to exploring the city, to connecting with each other and finding community, it was awesome. We loved it there.
PGN: Lastly, what’s new and exciting on your agenda? BV: I have a great project that I’m excited about working on: David Acosta and I are starting the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival. We are going to do a soft launch of the festival in May. It’s really going to be fun and inspiring, and I hope everyone will come.
To suggest a community member for “Family Portrait,” write to [email protected].