Vanessa Barros was born in Paris to a Portuguese actor and a French teacher. She was raised in Portugal and France. She started travelling by herself at the age of sixteen in the US and throughout Brazil the following year. She never stopped exploring the world ever since.
She graduated with a master of science in Management from ESSEC Business School and embarked on an international advertising career for the next twenty years. She ran local, regional and global accounts at Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann-Erickson, Havas, BETC and Ogilvy, working for prestigious clients including Reckitt Benckiser, Nina Ricci, Procter & Gamble, Lolita Lempicka, Danone, Kraft Foods Peugeot and Unilever. She worked on four continents (north America, south America, Europe, Central Asia and Asia), speaks four languages fluently and has gained solid experience in multi-cultural management, team leadership, operations and business development.
Vanessa completed her PhD in cultural intelligence with the Center for Leadership and Cultural Intelligence at the Nanyang Business School (Nanyang Technological University) under the supervision of Professor Ang Soon. Her research focuses on the strategies adopted by senior international executives to manage intercultural conflicts effectively.
Vanessa Barros shares her time between research, education and consulting around the world whilst raising her three sons.
