Along with our technical post series, we’re going to start a series dedicated to interviewing our core team members. Everyone is listed on our website with their LinkedIn, but that only says so much about who a person is. This will give our readers a better understanding of who is behind Auctus. We’ll touch upon some professional and personal background to better inform our investors and future users.

I’ll be starting the series by interviewing Ludmila Lopes. Ludmila interviewed me before I started working at Auctus, so it’s only fitting that I now interview her ;)

I may look angry here, but I’m actually happy :) — At ETHBuenosAires hackathon

Can you tell us about your educational background?

I graduated as a Control and Automation Engineer from UFMG, a university in Brazil. I never worked in the area, and although I didn’t pursue this side of engineering, it’s been helpful in different aspects of my professional life. My education taught me to think in a logical way with a systematic view (instead of too focused) and the programing lessons put my mind in the right space to address all kinds of problems. Sometimes it’s not about the answers you have, but if you’re able to get them as fast and reliable as possible.

How about your technical background?

While still in university, and after two years of being director of a junior enterprise, I started my professional life as a developer, now going on almost ten years of experience. I have experience programming for web in C#, Javascript, .net, and HTML, and I’ve worked on software in C++ and Java.

How did you get involved with Auctus?

My friends and I started investing in cryptocurrencies in late 2016 and with most of us being software engineers, we became curious about the underlying technology. We were of course amazed with all the possibilities of blockchain and the problems it could solve, specifically in the new ways in which we will use money in the near future.

Since one of our team members, Vinicius, was working in long-term investments at the time, it gave us some insight on the obvious issues within the financial industry. We saw that many of the problems in the financial sector are not only due to mismanagement, but the overall necessity in trying to transition an old financial system to a modern day paradigm.

After brainstorming for days about how blockchain could bring transparency and efficiency for investors, we came up with the overall idea of what we wanted to create. Then we went through the process of getting funding for Auctus.

Can you tell us about your role at Auctus?

I’m Head of Marketing and Community Management. Yes, I know, I’m an engineer and developer, but what the hell! When we founded Auctus, we just wanted to develop a good product. Since we were all developers or financial experts, we believed that everything else could be done in-house, including marketing. So I accepted this challenge because of my junior enterprise experience and ease of communication. When it started to become overwhelming, that’s when we decided to hire you, Christopher! A good and experienced professional who can work closely with us, so we can have effective but honest and transparent marketing.

Can you tell us a bit about what your day-to-day looks like?

Every day I go to work in the office, together with the rest of the team. I monitor all our social media channels daily, and work on strategies to increase awareness. I’m also always following blockchain news to bring to the dev team. I like having close proximity to the team (once a developer, always a developer haha). Since this technology is so new, and most of the tools we’re using are only in beta version, it’s important to constantly feed the system the latest information on what we’re working with. I’m always making sure to bring relevant news and releases to the team’s attention.

Another thing that I’m always working on is partnerships and relationship building with other projects. There are some really great projects in the Ethereum ecosystem that are building useful solutions, all of which can be applied in several kinds of systems, including the Auctus Platform. If we want to build a future where blockchain systems will be available to the mainstream public, we need to learn to work together and share experiences and feedback. So the remainder of the year after the beta is released, we’re prioritizing partnerships.

We all work very close in the office with brainstorming meetings daily.

How do you envision the future of Auctus?

In the future, I see Auctus not just releasing a single platform, but providing all kinds of solutions using the most advanced technologies. We are constantly monitoring news in the market, and we have daily discussions around pain points for users and possible solutions. We’re really committed to helping build the decentralized future.

So a few fun character questions. What are three words that you think best describe you?

I have “Courage” tattooed on my body, so I’d say that would be the first word Patience — I’m the kind of person that listens more than speaks. I’m constantly rehearsing conversations so each word is chosen carefully. I take actions for long-term results, and like to build solid foundations for everything I do. Joy — I’m a happy person (even though I may look angry sometimes haha). It’s rare that I’m upset with someone or something. I’m always trying to get the most from the place I’m in, people around me and what I have.

How would you describe your ideal day?

My ideal day would start with waking up early and exercising; I enjoy running, dancing, and crossfit. After that I’d have a nice lunch with my friends or my boyfriend, and then watch some movies in the evening while drinking a glass of wine. Basically a quiet yet productive day, spending time with people I enjoy being around.

Sometimes trying different things…why not? =D

Do you have any personal or professional goals for 2018?

I want to be able to develop a simple blockchain application on my own, without the help of the Auctus’ dev team. Although my role is marketing-focused, I want to stay up to date with the tech which I think will correlate nicely with marketing, since the industry is changing so quickly.

Overall I want to put 100% effort into Auctus so that we can grow the decentralized ecosystem, as this is something I truly want to contribute to.

Thank you Ludmila! I’ll be conducting more interviews until the beta is released in September, so stay tuned!