Hello, I’m Stefanni Brasil. Brasil is my real name, how cool is that?! :)

I am a community-builder enthusiast and explorer of all things urbanism. I am an avid reader and I constantly run experiments on myself as I learn new ways of seeing the world. I am a volunteer at causes that I care deeply about: active transportation, making streets safer for people, climate change, and veganism.

I co-created hexdevs, where we help experienced software developers keep their skills sharp. We launched an online program, Get to Senior, with more than 50 students back in 2021, leading to a few students being promoted to Senior level. We also create free blog posts, newsletters and used to host coding live streams.

I am currently working as a core maintainer of faker-ruby and contributing to other Open Source projects as part of a paid research study.

You can find my writing here and at the hexdevs blog. I have also written at thoughtbot’s blog.

When I worked with software, I enjoyed working with existing codebases, improving the code and team processes. I loved pairing and working with humans. But since none of that is relevant in the industry anymore, I am now appyling these skills somewhere else.

Currently, my life interests are directed towards my local community. I’ve been volunteering and participating in local communities, and being more connected with my neighbours and like-minded people where I live. I am really interested in building stronger communities through active transportation, sustainable living, and third places. I am one of the organizers of The Kind Fork Faction, a vegan social club in Calgary.

I am a huge believer that everyone is capable of achieving whatever they want for their lives. I’m driven by curiosity, compassion and kindness.

Speaking

My work has been featured on the following podcasts, conferences, meetups, blogs and scientific papers:

Talks

Podcasts

Other media

Fun facts about me

I am from Brazil and I live Canada ⛰️🌧️

I’ve worked with lots of things in the past: as academic researcher, writer and translator; English and French teacher. In 2015, I decided to change my career and work as a Software Developer. Since then, I’ve worked at startups, consulting agencies, bootstrapped companies and contribute to Open Source projects.

I am currently in another ‘spiral’ where I decided to change careers again. After working as a Software developer for almost 9 years, I am pivoting to something completely different.

I love learning, including how to learn more effectively. I like to see how much I can become a better version of myself. And share my mistakes so people can get motivated to try new things and make mistakes on their own.

Once I get interested in something, I’m pretty good at extracting what’s useful for me and changing my habits until I get a positive feedback loop. A few things I’m proud to have learned by myself:

  • To detach my identity from my work. I have explored a lot about how to find meaning in my life, and how to not be my work.
  • I ride my bike everywhere, even during winter, since my bike is my main mode of transportation. I chose to live a car-free life, despite living in North America. Slowly, I gained confidence riding in the snow, which it’s quite calming. My coldest so far has been -15°C at night.
  • To be kind to myself, and take care of my mental health.
  • I learned English by myself when I was a teenager by listening to songs and watching movies. My family didn’t have lots of money to invest in my Education. Also, I lived in a tiny city where school languages didn’t even exist.
  • I adopted a whole foods plant-based diet at the end of 2019. I’m super healthy effortlessly and respect animals as they deserve.
  • I rewired my brain to have a growth mindset and be more positive. I even read self-help books now. All thanks to CBT - Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy and Mindfulness Meditation (and lots of books and coaching). Update in 2023: I’ve started taking anti-depressants, and that has also made a huge positive difference in my wellbeing. I’ve since stopped but it helped me a lot for a period.
  • I read a lot about anything. I basically eat books for breakfast. I also apply what I learn from them, and share my lessons throughout my writing.
  • I have a degree in Portuguese & French Literature. I won a scholarship to study at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, for 2 years. I loved spending my time researching Science Fiction and Media Culture.
  • I learned how to code when I was finishing my Literature degree. I enrolled in a Computer Science degree later but dropped it after 1 year to achieve my dream of moving abroad.
  • I’m on my path to being the first millionaire in my family. I believe that gaining economic power is key to do the changes I want to see in the world. I love talking about personal finances and investing in early retirement.
  • I love exercising! I hike, I practice pilates, I climb, I ski, and do lots of bodyweight exercises. I’m always pushing myself to try new things to challenge my body and mind. I have recently started ‘rucking’, i.e., walking with weight.

I am @stefannibrasil.me on BlueSky. Say hi :)

Want to get in touch? Send me an email at stefanni at hexdevs dot com.