Cleusa Maria da Silva’s story seems like a soap opera – and actually inspired the serial “A Dona do Pedaço”, which aired in 2019, on Rede Globo.
Born in the Rural Zone of Paraná, Cleusa helped her family on the farm since she was 9 years old along with her nine siblings. Before that, she was responsible for looking after her younger siblings. “Can you imagine four children crying at the same time and you, aged 7, 8, needing to take care of them? I thought I would never have children because I was so traumatized”, says Cleusa, in an interview with the podcast
What was already difficult became worse when Cleusa’s father died in an accident and her mother, with her children, was expelled from the farm where they lived and worked. The solution was to live in two rooms at the back of his grandparents’ house. “I created an obsession with having my own home. And I went, with great difficulty, to buy a piece of land, buy the materials and pay the bricklayer. I was happier moving there, with the cardboard door, was greater than moving into a 200 square meter apartment,” he says.
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The turn
Cleusa Maria’s life began to change when, despite having no experience in the kitchen, she responded to the request of a boss’s wife, Dona Rosa. She worked in a speaker factory and Dona Rosa made cakes to sell. “Her husband passed away, she needed to take over the factory and would no longer be able to serve customers. I replied that I didn’t know how to make cakes and I had never even had a birthday cake, but when she broke her leg and asked for my help to deliver one of the last orders – a huge cake, weighing 35 kg, I couldn’t say no”, he recalls. .
Following instructions, Cleusa managed to complete the task and was highly praised. “She gave me a mixer and said she was going to send me the clients (…) I always had an angel who pushed me forward”, he says.
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With orders arriving in droves, Cleusa resigned and, upon termination, bought two bar tables, a freezer and some raw materials to make cakes. “I didn’t even have money to buy a table: I assembled the cakes on top of the freezer lid,” he recalls.
His first store was called Sensações Doces, but the name had to be changed for branding reasons – and this change almost resulted in the company’s closure. Now, Sodiê has 400 stores and should end the year with revenues exceeding R$700 million.
To find out more details about the company’s history and learn about its strategy for the future, see the full episode published last Friday (1) on . The program is available in its podcast version on the main streaming platforms such as , , , , and .
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About From Zero to Top
O podcast From Zero to Top is a production of InfoMoney and brings, every Friday, the story of prominent women and men in the Brazilian market to tell their story, sharing the biggest challenges faced along the way and the main strategies used in building the business.
The program has already received names such as the founder of Brisanet; , from Grupo Simpar; founder of XP Investimentos; , chairman of Cogna; co-founder of the Supley Group; CEO and founder of 3tentos; CEO of Rei do Mate; one of the founders of Mercado Livre; the businessman; , founder and CEO of Cobasi; executive responsible for Renner’s rise; and told dozens of success stories.
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