Chris Apple
Member Services & Development Manager
Arkansas
The CLOC Member Spotlight series profiles the incredible individuals within our community who are driving transformation in legal ops. Each spotlight provides inspiration, fosters connections, and gives readers a chance to learn more about their peers. By sharing these stories, we celebrate the diverse voices and talents that make CLOC a vibrant and connected community.
Gabriela Pereira is the Senior Legal Manager with Zenvia. She serves as a founding regional co-lead of CLOC Brasil and leads the CLOC Brasil mentoring program. Keep reading to learn more about Gabriela.
About me:
A manager first and a lawyer second. This is how I see myself after 16 years working in-house, 13 in a management position.
I remember noticing right away the opportunity to bring more efficiency to the legal department which led me to develop my non legal skills and eventually discover legal operations.
It’s interesting to remember that my first work as an in-house counsel happened by accident, but it wasn’t long before I realized that it was the perfect fit for me: I simply love how dynamic companies are and how we need to be creative, resourceful and collaborative to make things work.
On a personal level, as a woman and mother of two, I like to dedicate time to study about gender and child/human development and to support other women growing in their careers.
Why I love being a CLOC member:
I am part of many legal communities but none is as eager to help and share knowledge as the legal operations community. I strongly believe in the power of connecting and learning from others so I love being part of, and helping grow, such a collaborative community.
My advice for other legal ops professionals:
Legal operations is still in its early stages in Brazil so most companies don’t have a dedicated team – people are either juggling different roles or are a one person team. So my advice is to be resourceful and not wait for the perfect moment to start a new project or initiative. There’s a lot that can be done with little or no investment and the Brazilian community is a great place to learn from, just reach out.
A fun fact about me:
I live in a Brazilian state famous for its barbecue, but I have been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years. In the beginning, it was hard to find options in most restaurants so I took it upon myself to ask the owners of my favorite places to include vegetarian plates in the menu. The fun fact is that I ended up having a sandwich named after me (which made me feel a little like a local celebrity).
CLOC Member Spotlights provide an opportunity to showcase members within our community who are making a difference in their organizations, in their CLOC groups, within the CLOC community and/or the industry as a whole. Do you know of a really cool thing a CLOC member is doing? We invite you to nominate a member of the CLOC Community for a future feature in the CLOC Member Spotlights Series.