EN 
PT_BR 
With collaboration of Ericka Araújo
This Friday (8), the world celebrates the arrival of International Women's Day, a date made official by UN (United Nations) in the 1970s and which symbolizes women's fight for more equality and respect.
In the job market, the female figure is increasingly gaining ground and standing out in areas that have historically always been mostly occupied by men, such as the energy sector, whose solar energy is the renewable source that employs the most women across the planet.
To celebrate the date, the Solar Channel brings some stories of women who work in different segments of the photovoltaic sector, from equipment installation to the legal area.
Laís Tamara
Electrical engineer, specialist in asset and product management, Laís Tamada overcame life's difficulties – such as the emergence of a rare disease in 2019 – to become a prominent professional among Brazilian integrators.
Formed by UTFPR (Federal Technological University of Paraná), began to become interested in the photovoltaic sector when he came across the first information about Resolution 482/2012 while still in college.
“I started researching solar energy and becoming enchanted by the possibility of generating energy through panels installed on the roofs of houses. That was fascinating to me,” she comments.
Technology ended up becoming the theme of his TCC (Course Completion Work) on the implementation of a pyranometer thermoelectric at the university for analysis of the solar energy potential in Paraná.
“In short, this equipment measures the irradiance (W/m²) of the location where it is installed. With the completion of this TCC, it was possible to conclude that the irradiance in the city of Curitiba (PR) – the cloudy city as many know it – is as exceptional as the average irradiance in Germany”.
The TCC was a success and began to be cited in several master's theses at the university. However, even after completing college, Laís only started working in the solar energy sector in 2019, four years after graduating.
Before that, he went through commercial sector selling electrical materials, circuit breakers, cables, frequency inverters and the like.
That was when she started a new job as a commercial supervisor at a solar energy integrator and learned how to size photovoltaic systems and simulating the generation of the system using proprietary software.
In 2020, Lais felt that she needed to continue growing in the solar sector and that she needed greater challenges, such as the possibility of issuing her own ARTs with the Crea-PR.
“After that, I climbed a lot on roofs to check whether the photovoltaic modules were being correctly fixed to the rails and well secured with the final and intermediate terminals”, he commented.
“I worked under a lot of sun and, inside the UC, the team continued the connections, installing inverters, string boxes and crimping cables under my supervision. With me, there was really no bad time or rest”, he added.
After many projects, Lais decided to upgrade her career by working in the industrial sector, providing services as a pre-sales analyst at a national manufacturing plant. hybrid inverters.
“The success was so great that, in one year, we doubled the solar energy unit’s revenue,” she commented.
In 2022, Laís accepted an invitation to work in the products sector and started speaking directly with the suppliers of the items that make up the generator kit: fixing structures, cables, photovoltaic modules and technically analyzing each hybrid inverter competitor.
As a woman, Laís says that she never let herself be carried away by life's difficulties, the main one being the discovery of multiple sclerosis at the height of her career, which left her with reduced mobility.
“I never gave up on being able to work in the solar sector and this is what I do today. I intend to do more, talk more and reach as many customers as possible. The solar sector is my life and I will work in this segment until the end of it”, he guaranteed.
Clarissa Zomer
Architect training and doctor in civil engineering, with almost two decades of work dedicated to the research area at the Solar Systems Laboratory of UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina).
Clarissa Zomer is today one of the main references in the Brazilian market when it comes to the integration of solar energy systems with architecture, also known as BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaics).
Founder of Architecting Solar Energy, she works by bringing technical knowledge to professionals in the solar sector across the country and designing systems together with other architects and integrators.
“Even before Resolution 482/2012, I was already immersed in this field of study. Initially, my path seemed headed towards an academic career. Completed scientific initiation, master's degree, doctorate and post-doctorate, including a period in Singapore”, she says.
However, from 2017, Clarissa began teaching postgraduate courses and in 2018 and 2019 she became a substitute professor in the Department of Graphic Expression at UFSC.
“This experience was enriching and I felt fulfilled in the classroom. I then decided to study to become a permanent professor at UFSC”, she revealed.
However, in 2020, the pandemic brought uncertainty and changes of plans to the professional's life. Competitions were suspended and prospects for new vacancies became scarce.
“It was at this moment of speculation and doubts that a previously timid dream began to gain strength within me: sharing my knowledge about BIPV systems directly with market professionals, especially architects and solar energy integrators”, he revealed.
This is how Arquitetando Energia Solar was born, initially as an Instagram profile and, now, the company that Clarissa manages.
“Today, I feel fulfilled, as I have combined my two passions: teaching, through courses and lectures on Solar Architecture, and designing BIPVs together with other architects and solar energy integrators”, he revealed.
Mayara Barreto
Graduated in Social Communication, with a qualification in Journalism, and in Environmental Engineering, Mayara Barreto He also qualified in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure.
His career was developed in companies in the legal areas It is renewable energy, mainly in the solar segment, creating communication and marketing strategies to improve positioning in the sectors in which it operates.
“I always wanted to work in a sector linked to the environment, and at the time I didn't find any opportunities and I also didn't see the possibility of working in the sector as a journalist”, he reports.
According to her, the solution was to start a career and field transition.
“I started going to a second college (environmental engineering), after the first year of college, I started looking for internship positions in the sector and in 2016 I entered the sector as an engineering intern, which didn't last long and I returned to working with communications for implement the MKT area of the company I joined (Greener, which at the time was Enova Solar)”, he says.
Mayara points out that being a woman in a mostly male sector is not easy, and being a black woman, unfortunately, has an additional problem.
“In general, women already go through absurd situations, I have experienced countless situations of prejudice and racism, I have heard things like: “who is this black girl?”, “who does she think she is?”, “You have no capacity” , “It doesn’t fit here”, among many other things”, he comments.
However, these obstacles did not stop her from staying in the sector and growing her career.
“The challenges will continue to exist, so I take them, put them in my pocket and follow my path. And, I've been on this path for 8 years. It's not easy and, as a mentor to young women who are just entering the solar energy sector, I always tell them: don't listen to what they say about you, move forward and be firm in your path. And, yes, we, women, need to come together and support each other so that some change can happen”, she adds.
In 2022, Mayara became the climate reality leader for Climate Reality Project, a movement created by former US Vice President, Al Gore. The professional is also part of the Women of Brazil Group, integrating the Diversity and Sustainability groups. In addition, she is a mentor in the Interligadas project at CHALK, which aims to support the entry of women into the renewable energy sector.
Currently, she serves as executive director of eContent Sustainability, sustainability/ESG consulting company and regenerative marketing for the energy sector.
Marina Meyer Falcao
Lawyer with more than a decade of experience in the solar energy sector, Marina Meyer Falcao has extensive experience and participation in juridical processes It is regulatory from the source in Brazil, with several awards received for his contributions.
One of them involved completing the program Light for All in Minas Gerais, which brought clean energy to more than 300 municipalities in the State.
“We successfully completed the delivery of energy to many small towns in the interior. It was a great project and I even won a prize at the time”, she said.
After that, he gained notoriety in the market for working in several institutes and associations, today accumulating positions in important entities and companies in the electrical and law sectors.
Currently, she serves as legal director and regulatory secretary of the INEL (National Institute of Clean Energy), in partnership with a working group from Solar Alliance, formed by MSL (Movimento Solar Livre) and INEL.
In Minas Gerais, Marina is the president of Energy Law Commission of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association). “I am currently also a professor at PUC-Minas, on the postgraduate course in energy and distributed generation. I’ve been a teacher there for five years now”, she comments.
Furthermore, Marina is also currently the legal director of EGS (Energy Global Solution), a consulting company focused on energy solutions for large companies.
“Within the client hall, we have already provided services to Itaipu, Cibiogás, Engie, Casa dos Ventos, Origo, the large solar farms that started in Minas, Helexia and Voltalia”, he commented.
A columnist for Canal Solar, Marina is also an advisor to the Energy Chamber of the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais, as well as a member of the women's group “Sim, Elas Existe”, a front of initiatives that seeks to promote gender equality among men and women in the energy sector.
Thaís Zampieri Bitencourt
Thais Zampieri Bitencourt, Latin marketing manager DAH Solar, is another of the women mentioned in this report who began to be interested and work in the solar energy sector long before the source acquired the popularity it has today.
The professional began her career in the solar energy sector as an analyst at Fronius, one of the main inverter manufacturers in the world, but at the time it was still beginning to implement a solar energy business unit in Brazil.
Because of this, Thaís says that he had the privilege of seeing up close not only the evolution of the company he worked for but also the solar energy sector as a whole in Brazil.
“It's funny, because when I started we didn't have many competitors. There weren't many companies like there are nowadays (…) I was able to follow the entire growth of the sector, from the first smaller, central inverters, through string boxes and much more”, she says.
At German inverter manufacturer, Thais remained for 11 years, where her efforts and dedication made her occupy important positions within the company, from coordinator to management of one of the company's units.
The professional left Fronius after the company chose to change its strategy and positioning in the Brazilian market, eliminating precisely the position she held.
It was unemployed, however, that she realized how much her name was already being recognized by the market. “I realized that several people in the market already knew me. That’s when DAH Solar contacted me to get started,” she said.
In the new home, Thais is responsible for making all decisions related to the company's marketing in Brazil, and is also responsible for having the other countries in the Latin America in which the multinational also operates under its responsibility.
