In the Brazilian corporate scenario, family succession and female leadership have ceased to be just a governance topic and have become a strategic competitive advantage. When the command structure is divided between mothers and daughters, the challenge of separating affection from the cost sheet gives way to a synergy that unites the resilience of experience with the agility of new economies.
The division of roles in the cosmetics brand Boca Rosa, the pharmaceutical company Cimed and the producer Café Por Elas reveals a pattern: while the founders tend to be the guardians of structure, discipline and financial viability, the successor generation acts as the radar for consumer trends and digital innovations.
At Cimed, this dynamic was the driving force behind one of the biggest recent sales phenomena in the pharmaceutical sector. At the forefront of initiatives that boosted the success of the Carmed brand, they transformed the meeting between the experience of Generation X and the bolder look of Generation Z into strategies that combine digital with elements of nostalgia and desire, strengthening the brand’s positioning.
“The new generation sees cultural movements and consumer trends that were often not on our radar. Carmed Fini, for example, was born from the sensitivity of Ju [Juliana Felmanas] in understanding the timing of the market”, says Karla Felmanas, VP of Cimed, about her daughter, who is the company’s director of strategic planning.
In the case of the makeup brand, the logic is repeated in the balance between risk analysis and the feeling of the digital environment. Influencer Bianca Andrade, who founded the business, brings the emotional connection with the community, while Mônica Andrade, her mother, ensures that the boldness is sustainable.
The partnership between the two, however, began well before the consolidation of Boca Rosa as a beauty brand. Mother and daughter worked together at a party buffet, even before the internet dictated the rules of the game, an experience that helped awaken Bianca’s commercial eye and the courage to test new paths, always with Mônica’s encouragement and strategic vision behind the scenes. Today, as co-founder and administrative vice-president, Mônica works side by side with her daughter in the expansion of Boca Rosa Company, consolidating a management in which purpose, origin and female leadership go hand in hand with results.
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“Discipline structures boldness. I bring scenario analysis, cost structure, risk assessment. Expansion needs to fit into the cash flow and planning”, explains Mônica Andrade.
“Professional conflict generates depth”
One of the biggest myths in management between mothers and daughters, according to those interviewed, is the existence of a centralized final word. In companies with greater management maturity, generational conflict is treated as a technical asset, where the final decision is guided by data and governance processes, and not by the family hierarchy.
“Strategic decisions follow flow, indicators and governance. Here, we are partners. Family relationships cannot override processes. (…) Conflict, when professional, generates depth. We have the habit of going back to data, planning and long-term impact. Ideas can arise from emotion, but the final decision is technical”, points out Mônica Andrade.
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This maturity also appears outside the operation: executives like Karla and Juliana have taken this debate to lectures and talks, detailing how generational dynamics structured in data, and not in an affective hierarchy, help to “puncture the bubble” of the traditional market.
At Café Por Elas, the solution was legal and operational independence. Abadia runs production on the farm, while her daughters Julia and Nadia manage the brand and marketing – a delimitation that prevents domestic differences from interfering in the business.
“Disagreements happen. The main way to deal with them is not to take discussions personally. When there is a disagreement, we are discussing what is best for the business, not who is right or wrong”, highlights Julia, from Café Por Elas.
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Lawyers by training, Julia and Nadia started their business with a batch of production from their mother’s farm, which they started selling informally in 2018. From then on, they structured Café Por Elas initially in the B2B market, supplying specialty coffees to restaurants and cafes. The turning point came during the pandemic, when they decided to leave their careers in Law to dedicate themselves fully to the brand, taking over their own roasting and professionalizing the operation.
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Two generations of women, the same barriers as always
Occupying spaces in historically male sectors required Karla Felmanas and Abadia to take a firm stance that now serves as a basis for their successors. Female partnership emerges as an antidote to the isolation of leadership.
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“It was always necessary to prove competence beyond what was expected… Having my daughter by my side brought even more strength. We support each other, validate ideas, strengthen each other’s self-esteem”, reports Karla Felmanas.
In the field, Abadia recalls that, 30 years ago, the challenge was to be heard in a sector that ignored the female voice. Today, the farm operates with a mostly female workforce, combining productivity and a support network.
“In many moments I gave guidance and it was as if I hadn’t spoken. There was a great resistance to accepting a woman leading the farm. That’s why I needed to develop a very firm and consistent stance. I always had a partner, who is my husband, but he was never in the management of the farm. The management of the property, the decisions and the paths we chose for production were always defined by me”, says Nars.
Over the course of 30 years, the farmer has needed to develop patience and resilience to deal with skepticism, which, in her view, always appears when someone proposes something new, be it technology, new management or a new way of working.
“In view of the difficulties I faced at the beginning, I started hiring more women to work on the farm. I realized that they learn quickly, are interested in the process, believe in the project and hope that it works. This solves most of the day-to-day challenges”, she says.
Café Por Elas was born as a direct tribute to this trajectory: the brand’s name recognizes not only Abadia’s leading role, but also that of the producers who work alongside her and the more than 20 partners who today supply grains to the business, all women on Brazilian rural properties.
When the new generation guides
The report identified that innovation often flows from the new generation to the founder, especially on sustainability issues and new consumption models. At Café Por Elas, the daughters challenged their mother to adopt regenerative agriculture models due to the climate crisis.
“The initial provocation came from both of us [filhas]…but the person who really leads this work today is our mother. She embraced the project very seriously”, says Nadia.
Today, in fact, Café Por Elas is financially encouraging three more partner producers to make this transition from monoculture to regenerative systems.
At Cimed, Karla shares that the Carmed case, a milestone in the company’s history, is the result of Juliana Felmanas’ vision.
“She saw something that we weren’t seeing at that time. On the other hand, in the development of Millimetric, for example, my experience in positioning and brand building helped to give direction to the strategies she was already bringing. In the end, this is what makes the work between generations so powerful. One provokes and the other structures. Together we build something greater than each individual vision”, he explains.
