Maria Ana Botelho Neves, Ma. Frsa, Fsse is a Managing Director at Sociedade Equanima - Projectos Regenerativos Lda. She possess expertise in brand development, co creation, design strategy, innovation management, design management and 45 more skills. She is proficient in French and English. Colleagues describe her as "Maria Ana has been my mentor for many years since I was her student at Central Saint Martins. Her attitude to work and life has inspired so many of us and has been recognised by a best teacher award at our uni when she was teaching us on MA innovation management. She also showed me the importance of listening, being humble and caring, while I was working aside with her in the food charity she co-founded to bring good surplus food to the communities who were suffering from food poverty by the austerity. Her words and actions have inspired so many people and businesses to work together on those very challenging times. Especially now under the covid 19 and hearing stories of job lost and life lost in so many countries, I want to recommend her for the lighting optimism, enthusiasm and creativity that may be badly needed in many places. Until this day, I still remember what she told me “ everything will be alright in the end, if it is not alright, then it is not the end!” " and "I have been working closely with Maria Ana for a full year, where I was mainly abroad and she managed our property of multiple houses in a remote location in Portugal. Maria Ana has proven to be the perfect person for this role, as she has excellent social skills to deal with all kinds of guests and visitors as well as (local) authorities; she can oversee the tasks at hand and prioritise them well. Using the experience she brought with her, and that which she built up, Maria Ana came up with well thought through suggestions for improvement, which showed strategic insight and which she was able to work out to a practical and successful implementation. She also adapted herself to living in this remote place, and making this a home for herself, and establishing numerous good contacts in the locality. This is an issue not to be taken too lightly and it shows her high level of resilience. I have enjoyed every week of working with Maria Ana, being able to trust her completely, and having an equal partner in our conversations, which established such a healthy and fruitful connection. I can recommend involving Maria Ana in similar businesses, start ups or maturing organisations. She is a gem!"