More about Sonia's background...

Sonia Maia - A Brazilian Inspiration

Sonia Maia is a vivacious 'Paulistana', a journalist and social entrepreneur from São Paulo, Brazil's biggest city. She spent the 1980s as a Brazilian Julie Burchill, writing about the country's rapidly expanding rock-pop scene. An urge to discover new bands lead her on a five year odyssey around Brazil, a series of encounters with performers who took the essence of the punk and post-punk movements and injected it into their own musical inheritance. The resulting sounds epitomised urban Brazil's energy and defiance and filled Sonia with enthusiasm 'I really believed this music could bring social and political revolution - a naïve view but one full of unforgettable hope and emotion.'

Sonia's work appeared regularly in BIZZ, at that time Brazil's largest music magazine. From the sounds of the suburbs she moved on to portray the struggle for survival in São Paulo's ghettos. In 1991 Sonia and photographer Nair Benedicto spent three months investigating the lives of children living in São Paulo's streets. Her report appeared in Brazilian Marie Claire at a time when such subjects were generally avoided by mainstream newspapers and magazines. Sonia feels this article is her most important piece of journalism to date, an opinion shared by Marie Claire's readers who voted it the best feature published in the magazine three years after its launch.

In the mid-1990s Sonia became a press officer, organising press coverage for festivals that reached mass audiences of up to 100,000 people. She also acted as a 'bridge' between the press and top executives of companies such as Kaiser Brewery, Hotel Intercontinental and Saatchi & Saatchi. In her quieter moments Sonia found time to edit and launch a collection of poetry, A Arma D'Alma (The Weapon of the Soul) and began to write her first novel, a project 'for my retirement which I intend to dedicate fully to my writing.'

ToBeTupi - the Best of Brazil

Following a move to London in 1999 Sonia began to explore ways of building on her knowledge of Brazilian culture with the aim of bringing it to a UK audience. The result was a new project - ToBeTupi enterprises, launched in 2004.

Collaborating with individual artists and organisations such as IPE, which works to protect Brazil's natural resources, ToBeTupi has presented a range of home and fashion accessories, children's T-shirts and an exclusive core collection made by the country's finest and most adventurous artists, designers and artisans. Many of these items are unique, including a stunning array of rings made from beads, buttons, rivets and semi-precious stones - carnival costumes in miniature.

ToBeTupi's mission is to showcase the extraordinary range of craft techniques that still flourish in Brazil. From perfumed bolas made from coffee beans and chickpeas to handbags with all the sway and display of a peacock's tail these artefacts really do exemplify the variety and passion inherent in Brazil's landscape and people.

Belief in the Brazilian people is Sonia's guiding principle and an invitation from Patricia Michelson to participate in the 2006 Dirt Café debate in London proved to be a defining moment:

'I have a profound respect for Brazilian people, our ordinary people. Speaking at the Dirt Café allowed me to voice our people's deep sense of solidarity and their capacity for joy, no matter how hard the struggle for survival.'

Sonia's campaigning spirit is anchored by her practical knowledge of Brazil, a vast, young country where a 'passion for fashion' is hardwired into the national DNA. Her commitment is to those talented, resilient artists who never stop creating beauty and excitement, even in the midst of social and economic upheaval.

As well as guiding ToBeTupi's development Sonia recently founded the Rosas Group to raise funds for people with learning difficulties in Brazil. These two projects, born out of energy and idealism, reflect Sonia's pride in Brazil and her desire to see all its people prosper.

'I believe in the principle of culture over super profits, of ownership of one's work and of creating meaningful choices. I believe that the best way Brazil can contribute to the making of a new world is through its most important assets - its people and its art.'

Brigitte Istim