My Transformational Journey as a LALA Ambassador at BSV 2026 (By Cristofer Silva)

Participating in Brazil at Silicon Valley (BSV) 2026 as LALA’s ambassador truly changed my life. The transformation started even before the event began. I was learning things I had never been exposed to before—like how to use LinkedIn efficiently, how to network in a genuine way, and how to maintain those connections so you don’t lose touch, ultimately maximizing their potential and bringing that potential to reality.

I also developed my pitch and understood the dynamics of having only 15 seconds to talk to someone who might change your life. How should you position yourself? I found the answer in personalizing different angles of my narrative to make them more relevant to the specific person I was talking to. That was a game-changer for me, since I had always relied on a “standard” pitch that I used with everyone.

I arrived at BSV with a clear mindset: to develop my entrepreneurial projects and find career opportunities—specifically summer internships—so I could grow as a professional and as the entrepreneur that I am.

The experience was surreal. I actually did it! I received about 12 to 15 summer internship offers. But the coolest part was the exposure. I was interacting with CEOs, powerful market leaders, people who own unicorns and have built billion-dollar companies. And they were right there, talking to me. I even had lunch with a former Facebook founder, who sat there giving me life advice on what I should and shouldn’t do. This was happening constantly, all week long.

I’m 21 years old. I called my mom afterward and told her, “Mom, I think I aged five years intellectually.”

After the event, I felt a bit lost—but in a necessary way. I had to figure out what decision to make and where to take my career and my goals. Having all those doors open at the same time brought a challenge that forced me to mature. For the first time, I had to be the one choosing. Accepting one internship meant saying “no” to 14 others, and that carried a very heavy weight. It was a huge challenge to understand what I really wanted.

Before, when I applied for internships, it was out of necessity—whatever I got was fine. With all these opportunities available, I really started to reflect. Do I want to work in Brazil, Europe, or the United States? Do I want to work with a leader who is detail-oriented and technical, like an engineer, or someone who is a CEO, a builder, and an entrepreneur?

I used to think that company culture and who your boss is were just minor details. I thought all that mattered was the position, the company name, and the salary. But I started looking at things with much more maturity. It was actually funny—I told my mom, “There’s an offer where I have a chance to work in Europe, but I actually prefer another one where I would stay in the countryside of Minas Gerais, in a remote place no one knows, just because I think the leader is much more aligned with what I’m looking for.”

Man, the “me” from just five days earlier would never have thought that way. Never. It was a transcendent experience. I could hardly recognize the person I was just a week before, and that realization was incredibly valuable.

Another amazing aspect of this trip was finding myself in a position of relevance—not in an egocentric way, but in a position where people actually looked at me, listened to my opinions, and valued what I had to say. Their eyes would light up when hearing about my trajectory because they recognized my potential—which is exactly why I received all those offers.

I used this visibility genuinely. I didn’t use it to exploit anyone; I used it to truly get to know these incredible people. Asking a Facebook founder what he values most in life, what his daily routine is, what his regrets are—these genuine connections were incredible because they allowed me to bring all this privilege back to our community.

I recognize how incredibly privileged I am. Thank you so much to Fernanda and the entire LALA team for believing in me and helping me get to this event. Everything I do is my way of saying thank you. LALA has helped me so much—not just with my college scholarship, but by giving me access to this event and everything that has followed.

Being in a position where I can empower other young leaders, just like you did for me, is priceless. Man, I went to sleep yesterday—and I will go to sleep today—with such a light mind. I slept like a four-month-old baby.

I’ve already started giving back. I adopted a “Lalíder” to mentor, I’m helping people with their projects, we’re organizing a hackathon, and I’ve shared several opportunities I found at the event with my friends. Being able to use the opportunities I was given to help more young leaders is deeply rewarding.

I want the LALA organization to know that you can always count on me. I can never fully repay the help and mentorship you’ve given me up to this point. And because I can never truly be “even” with my mentors, I will keep trying by helping others. That’s the beauty of it all, isn’t it? All I can do is help someone else who needs it—someone who won’t be able to repay me either. So they’ll help the next person, and we will perpetuate this cycle of good that we are already building in Latin America.

It is deeply gratifying to be part of all this. There are no words that can fully express what I’m feeling (just hugs).

Article by Cristofer Silva (LALíder).