Spotlight: Andresa Godoy- GX Intercambio
At WETM-IAC in Munich we ran into Andresa Godoy whom we first met during the IAPA workshop in Sao Paolo in December 2016. As a new IAPA member, we felt it would be nice to feature her on our website and Facebook page and do an interview with her so that we could learn more about her, her agency and her reasons for joining IAPA.
NAME: Andresa Godoy
AGENCY: GX Intercambio since 2006
NATIONALITY: Brazilian
IAPA AFFILIATE MEMBER : since March 2017
QUOTE : “Brazilians are very spontaneous. We are not planners. We’re having a BBQ tonight and not tomorrow!”
“Andresa, how did you get into the au pair business?”
“I was a high school exchange student in Iowa, in the USA when I was 17 and I loved it. I come from a small town called Braganca Paulista and it was a big deal for me to go to the States. I am still very close to my host family and eventually when I went back to Brazil, I opened a language school. I quickly found that my students also wanted to go abroad which led to my au pair agency in 2006.”
“And what made you decide to join IAPA after more than 10 years in the industry?”
“I wasn’t always a full time agency but due to the large demand from au pairs, I decided to focus fulltime on their recruitment as of 2016. I quickly realized that I did not have enough placements for all of my candidates and I decided to go on-line and find more agents to work with. That’s when I found IAPA and I emailed Patricia Brunner who told me about the board’s upcoming trip to Brazil, Sao Paolo. “
“What did you think about the workshop IAPA held in Sao Paolo?”
“Your timing could not have been more perfect for me. I loved being able to talk to other partners and colleagues and it really made me feel less alone in this industry. The workshop in Sao Paolo caused me to be more motivated about my work and made me much more aware of new opportunities. I had no idea for instance, that Brazilian au pairs could go to other countries than the USA. There’s a whole world out there for me and them!”
“What brought you to Munich and how are you enjoying WETM-IAC?”
“People have been very welcoming and open with me and I see tremendous opportunities to grow my business. I love the fact that everyone is an entrepreneur like me. Meeting the IAPA board in Brazil is what led me to the conference and it has been wonderful. I love how personal everything feels and as an IAPA member I feel empowered and really want to get to know as many other agents as possible.
I also cannot wait to attend Seville in 2018 and I plan to bring my husband mom and son. Joining IAPA really makes me feel like I’m part of an amazing community and I love that!”
Interviewed by Ellen Heesen-Hiemstra, IAPA Board Member, March 2017
