Welcome to your journey of self-discovery

Hi, I’m Nathalia — welcome to the Diary of Brand Therapist.

There's so much advice about defining yourself as a brand, but very little about how to express who you actually are when building one.

That’s why I started this newsletter.

I’ve been helping people communicate their identity online for 12 years, and my job is not to put them in a box, but to articulate their truth in a way that communicate their value to others.

Every week, clients tell me the same thing: “I know who I am in real life, but I can't figure out how to show that online.”

In the sessions I have with clients, what usually comes up is less about tactics and more of:

— “I don’t know what’s my voice”

— “I’m not sure if I believe in myself”

— “Does my story have value?”

— “I’m doing so many things, am I all over the place?”

In this space, you'll get behind-the-scenes looks at real client sessions, stories from my own messy journey, and insights that help you see your own path more clearly.

I believe that building a brand is an act of self-discovery, and that’s what I hope you get out of this publication.

Who am I?

I’m someone who never chose the traditional path, I had to create my own. I come from a very conventional background in Brazil, but I never felt like I belonged in that version of life. And that pushed me to experiment early on.

At 16, I moved to New Zealand for 7 months, and it was one of the best opportunities of self-discovery I've had.

Back in Brazil, I always knew I was going to have my own business. So I went to business school, but when I finished, I felt something was missing. So I decided to go to fashion school although I had no idea about fashion. Literally, people asked me "what are you doing?" I didn't know, but it felt right.

And I was right, because there I discovered my love for studying identity.

I combined that with business, and I started my path into brand strategy, helping brands to communicate who they are. This was 12 years ago, long before branding was a trend.

But even though my career was growing, I found myself immersed in a life that didn't reflect me.

So I bought a one-way ticket to Europe without any plan. I had a job, stability, friends, family, and I left all behind to figure out how to create a life that felt fulfilling for me.

Starting over wasn't easy. I had no network outside Brazil, and even with years of experience, it felt like I was beginning from zero.

To make it work, I had to build a business that gave me flexibility — a remote practice that allowed me to work with people from all over the world. This was before COVID. Remote work wasn’t a thing yet.

Psychology had always been a passion for me, I've done a lot of self-work, and even my therapist once told me I should be a therapist myself. Turns out, she was right—just not in the way either of us expected. Some clients do call me their therapist to the outer world, because my purpose with the brand strategy work I do is to help people see themselves clearly and express their value to the world.

Well, now 7 years later, I live in a small village by the ocean, a place that's been my home for the last 6 years. Here, I built a life, a business, and relationships I'm proud of because they reflect who I am and what I value. I still face many challenges, but there's peace in knowing this life is my choice.

Everything I've lived from the moment I was born shaped me into the person and professional I became. So I hope you realize that there's no such thing as starting from zero. Each experience in life is a building block for who we become.

This journey has been both a search for my own voice, my truth, and my expression in this world. And just like people evolve, our voice also evolves with us. That's why I understand that finding your voice is not a one-time thing, it's an ongoing process.

That's what I help others do: Discover their voice, and their story, and share who they are with the world. Because I know from experience that when you do, you don't just build a brand, you build a life that feels like your choice.

I'm telling you this because I know what it's like to feel like you don't fit the template—and to wonder if that's a problem or your biggest strength.

Thank you for joining, and welcome to your own journey of self-discovery.

xxx