O poder da Realização Profissional

episode: 18 title: "Ep. 18 - O poder da Realização Profissional, com Betita Marimba" pub_date: "Mon, 29 Jul 2024 05:00:00 +0000" original_language: english source_audio: "c14ef99a.mp3"

Hello, welcome. I'm Rui and this is the DUEQ Podcast. Hello Betita, how are you? Hello, good afternoon. Look, I have to say that this is one of the most interesting and exciting things for me. As a wedding photographer in Guimarães, we grew up in this profession, looking at the part of the catch as a seal of success. Photographing there always makes you feel part of an elite. And the years went by and that didn't change. We've been to many places, we've photographed in extraordinary places, but the part of the catch remains as one of the most special for us. And for those who haven't heard of the part of the catch, go there one day because that's something extraordinary. So, I would like to thank you very much for accepting this invitation, which is really a great pleasure to have you here. And mainly because you placed Guimarães on the wedding map in Portugal. I think we put it. The part of the catch, which is a park that already exists, has an unparalleled beauty. And we only had the privilege of showing what already exists there to Portugal and the world. So, we can only feel like guardians of something that is very special, which was built by the great-grandfather of my husband's family, a summer house, and that the family has been maintaining for generations and that allowed us, I don't know how, 20 years ago, to explore part of the park and show part of the park to people who wanted to hold their events in that space. The beauty is very beautiful, so it's not very difficult to be a reference. What is there is the reference. We just try not to spoil it. Yes and no. To make the space follow some characteristics of service and quality that follow the base that already exists there. Yes and no. This is a part where your modesty starts to come into play because, as I said, we've been to many places and what is not missing are places with huge potential, amazing houses that are being badly managed and with very poorly treated potential. From that point of view, your service has been extraordinary. Thank you. This is a good question because it is exactly what I was going to ask. For 70% of the areas of our industry, photographers, make-up artists, DJs and a series of guys, entering weddings means buying a machine and trying. It's more or less this. Making a wedding space is not quite like that. My question is, I didn't know this part, but I realized that the building, or part of it, or the park itself already existed before, but how did the idea come about or which parts existed in physical terms of the structure and how did the idea come about of going crazy and doing something special here? Nothing existed. In fact, what existed was the treehouse. The treehouse and the park already existed. We explore a part of a property called Casa da Pãe which was the house where my in-laws lived and we rented it to the family and we explored a second entrance of the property and the place where it was a tennis court and a croquet court. Everything that you know was built by us. The main structure was the tennis court and the appetizers area was a croquet court. In Portugal, you don't play croquet, but at the end of the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century, the date of the construction of the park, which was something that made sense. In reality, this project started like many of our projects that start, there was a base that the family always wanted to explore in this sense. We were irresponsible kids and we said why not? The crazy thing was in the year 2000, I was 24 years old, we were all super young, we wanted to do different things, I think it goes through everyone's head why not start a company? The crazy thing was that the banks at the time and with the support of our parents lent us the money for us to build what is there. All the structures and everything that is there was built by us through a project for which we obtained a financing from banks and something with our own capital and that's how we built what is there. It looks like a giant stove of what is the park. I'm not sure if that's your case, but in the initial team, the people who were in the project, you had architects, are you an architect too? Yes, I'm not an architect but the truth be told, we are now two partners we started the company as five one of the five was and still is an architect and he was the one who made the space project and he is one of the great-grandchildren of the person who designed the park so he was a person who knew the property like no one else he was happy to have grown up in that park, to have played tennis in what is now our space which was built with height and dimension so that if he played tennis inside again which never happened but at the time we still had that hope and so the project was made by him and he was the one who accompanied all the works we I mean, this happened in the year 2000 2001, the wedding industry was happy to be what it is today we did some market research we saw what existed what existed at the time access to information was also very very scarce some people already spoke in other podcasts what it was to be a brand steward or see what a wedding magazine is when we went abroad or when it appeared in a kiosk devouring information was something we did a lot but the information was scarce it was very reduced and very little and very little accessible and we, meanwhile, did a market research and little by little we began to understand what we wanted to check in our project we were very careful with the image, with the aesthetics with a more modern component than space we worked a lot with the lighting things that are now so obvious but at the time were not indirect lighting beamer attention care for the service what is the guest experience all the experience that was primordial for us not only the couple, but all the people who would come to the party we wanted everyone to feel pampered, cared for and that's how it started I think it was a project that was very innovative at the time in the wedding market in Portugal and that, meanwhile, laid the foundations for the company to grow we clearly started as a local company a venue a party space now we have a strong component of organization and support now it's called Wedding Planning or Day Coordination very pompous names for something that is very simple which is to help our clients to have a a huge pleasure and enjoy as much as possible the organization of their wedding and above all be an extension of our own clients as space owners that is, our clients are the owners of Parque da Panha that day and we want them to receive their friends and loved ones in the same way as those who would be at home and we try to bring to us those who are the caretakers that a person at home at a dinner of 10 or 20 people has with their guests that they have them with their guests we try to meet the needs of the guests throughout the process trying to have a service that is above the average that is with age and with people many times they realize why they came to Guimarães because sometimes we have clients but why do I have to go to Guimarães? Arriving there, seeing Avenida das Tílias which is something that I think is unique there are many spaces in Portugal but there are not many spaces with that base of nature when people park the car and see the port all the amplitude all that feeling that they enter a enchanted forest it is something that already existed we simply try not to ruin with sources and crystals we try to keep that naked beauty let me just contextualize this a little for those who haven't because the podcast has already reached many people all over the country and I would like to contextualize this for those who have never been there imagine what it is like to enter a park, a forest completely with huge trees 20, 30 meters high giant things where suddenly the whole building all the buildings that are there integrated in everything that happens the colors a person feels almost as if that had been built and in a way in terms of philosophy it was but we feel as if that had been nature itself doing the extension and that thought it was cool to have some tall windows and that thought it was cool to have a roof but it was nature that thought about it and it is more or less the feeling of being there in the park that there is this this entry into the enchanted world it is a bit, you feel it more and then the environment that you can create on the day itself takes it to another another level which is extraordinary I have no other word but let me ask you a question which is half provocation and half challenge which is in these 20 years of Parque da Penha, more or less actually there are two questions what did you see change in the market and what your description of what you wanted or what you wanted when you started is the same description of what I see you doing now but although the description is the same I believe that the level of realization is not the same and my question is what has changed in your service in your ability to implement in these 20 years this is part of the provocation what did you try to do that you realized was completely impossible well effectively in 20 years a lot has changed we were lucky and of course in all business you need a certain component of luck to have an idea that was cool, in a different place at a time when the market had some difference and some quality the market has changed a lot the most beautiful thing that you could see in 2020 in 2000 when we started or 2001 were some damascus towels with sparkling shine and some chairs with ties when they were not plastic and some arrangements they were gladiolus in palm nothing against gladiolus is again in fashion and some tablecloths when they were the cumulus of exuberance they were only roses because otherwise they were vivacious it was not difficult to make a difference compared to the reality that existed I never harmed our dedication which was always incredible and whole because we started new and as such despite being 5 partners we had another job to keep the park the company for many years the only thing it did was to pay bills and in reality it was paying the investment and we all had to have a different professional activity and it was not rare when we started we would open and close the chairs we would reassemble the tables we would iron the towels we still do not iron towels in 2024 in 2001 we already ironed towels here is the tip if there is something wrinkles in the towels is a very ugly thing we already gave that part we started to try to do some different things that we continue to do this to say that we were lucky in the first year we had 20 years of having clients who bet and believed in our project and we are showing an architecture project or a client who wanted to make an amazing wedding for his daughter without wrinkles in a project in the park and we were lucky to have 4 or 5 clients who believed in our project so it was not very difficult to show the difference now of course we started as owners of a space and event organizers naturally we subcontracted the decoration and catering to partners that at the time we tried to have with the same philosophy and the truth is as the business was growing we were finding gaps in some of our partners and the company was growing proportionally that is, not having found maybe the suppliers that made us have the catering service that we liked we ended up having a partnership and then acquiring a company with the person who was our main supplier always as a business belonging to Parque da Penha or of which Parque da Penha has interests not having found people who from a certain height follow the growth of our project in the creative direction component or in the whole aesthetic component we were developing internally teams to do it and the company perhaps was growing at a time that to fill gaps in the market its investments and its involvement in the whole sector of course after the first year and once I think the market appreciated the difference of personalization and quality that were placed in our services and in our parties we started to be hired not only to have parties in Parque da Penha but to have parties in other places initially more in the north but then quickly it expanded to the whole country and even in some places let me interrupt you at this point this is an interesting moment in what phase did this start to happen? curiously, I think the first work I did with you I may be mistaken I am absolutely sure but the first I remember was in 2012 with Sara and João that if I am not mistaken you organized and I think I had not gone to the park even before that but I may be mistaken it started right from the beginning right from the beginning we started obviously, Parque da Penha is a space that despite the unique natural beauty it is a space that has peculiar characteristics and therefore it is not a space that pleases we are talking about a space that does not have a facade building it is not a palace it is not a palace of light it is not a palace of the bag it is a beautiful natural park that has a structure to make events that is laid out in itself it is super neutral exactly so as not to fight with what is there but it is not that space that a person arrives and it is the facade house and it is all but that it is a space that is laid out everything that we want around the place and at the level of service is that it gives quality, charm and charm because in itself the space is simple we are talking about a structure of iron and glass that does not diminish the beauty of the project because I am super ugly I still think it is one of the most beautiful spaces in Portugal without a shadow of a doubt it is a space that has characteristics that are simple I do not say that they are basic but that are not exuberant and right from the beginning we had customers that liked the service the care the attention to detail the good taste which I think is also a feature of our work without being too ostentatious or oppressive because we are inserted in a market that can have people with some economic power that is relevant there are many guests who do not have it and many times they do not want it to be too oppressive or ostentatious for the guests so we started to have customers who liked all the philosophy and all the cunning that was placed in our work or because it was a space where the sister or cousin had already been married and it was a different space so right from the second or third year we started to be called to do parties either in private houses or in spaces different from ours because effectively the market is not giant one of the things that I think is often not talked about is that Portugal is a very small market and we easily close the cycle and therefore we have customers that although they love the party they look for a place that is different just because, I don't know, the brother got married, the cousin got married, a friend got married within the same group, they already used that space and they look for a different place and right from the beginning but still, when you talk about Maranhos, or the North Portugal is already small when you talk about smaller Maranhos, it gets smaller yes, yes, yes but I think that in my business, in our business and like in all businesses there is a maxim that is, the people in the house don't do miracles and that is true so I don't know if at the moment it was the same thing yes, no doubt Parque da Penha would have taken many years to grow if we had, right from the beginning been dependent on the customers of Guimarães I think that we assumed right away, as a company that was a little more global, far beyond Guimarães and our first customers were people who came from Porto to here, from Braga Viana do Castelo so the North of Portugal was always our market, it's true it's true, oddly enough despite all the rivalry some customers came from Braga many customers came from Braga to Guimarães I think they felt that Parque da Penha didn't fit with Guimarães for some reason it was an enclave it's true, it's true but yes, you were saying that right from the beginning you started we started doing events right in Parque da Penha and out of Parque da Penha and now the name Parque da Penha is the name of a company that does events where they want it to be done which by the way also has a space it's just the most beautiful in Portugal I'm not kidding, one of the most beautiful I'm not kidding but I think that part is undeniable I think that part is undeniable because clearly, as you were saying it doesn't even make sense to put Parque da Penha in a comparison with Palácio de Queluz or Palácio da Bolsa they are completely different things and it's very unlikely that someone is going to be watching one and the other to try to make a decision they don't even make sense to be in the same bag and I think Parque da Penha from the places I've been to has this singularity that I haven't been to in any other place and it has this guaranteed place as one of the most beautiful places in Portugal and I believe that the world outside as well because it has this we sometimes have this problem of not doing miracles this is Edguimarães this mountain is like the others it's very simple for us but when you have people who are not used to this background this landscape they get very fascinated by it and it's true that it's fascinating it's a fascinating place the space has I think we were lucky to be able to show a little bit of that the base is actually unbroken and we are trying not to ruin it trying to keep it but going back to the question I asked you something that you tried that you experienced that was a failure a failure an epic failure some kind of service something that you remember this is spectacular but it doesn't work in the Parque da Penha component no I don't think there were things that we were trying to explore in terms of renting materials we have a lot of materials but we didn't explore them as a business but we have other companies beyond the Parque da Penha within the sector and we had some companies that didn't go well not in this part not in this part of the business not related to the wedding component it was all very organic very natural and the growth and what we were trying to do was always following what the market was asking and the reading that we were doing so that the market wasn't a client or a failure that didn't exist in the market in the component of this podcast I don't think so but our biggest epic and global failure we have one which is having a company with 23 years and not having a website we never had one it's been in construction for 23 years it's terrible but it's an epic failure we are the worst in communication the worst in posting things on Instagram I think we are an example of what not to do in this area I can laugh about that because it's true several times someone asked me I recommended Parque da Penha and to send the website it's a shame it's a shame it's a counter-sense but it's one of those things that I personally like because it validates what I believe when the connection between people exists when the vocabulary exists when the work is well done when the service is well done things will come of course a digital communication helps, facilitates but we don't need to get stuck because now there's the opposite the sensation or the idea that this is the only way to be successful keep believing in a good service a good connection between people that can get you where you want sooner, later, faster in our area I don't think there's a word for it truth be told word for word makes a lot of difference I have international clients from Canada, Brazil, USA India, England, Africa they come to me I don't know how, but the word passes and when I say to them I don't mean that I'm the only one they come to me of course when you want to reach a certain type of client a lack of a digital presence makes things more difficult and if it's true that we were lucky to have the word pass because maybe within some groups we have more international clients that talk to friends and like the job and recommend and the fact that we don't have an online presence makes things a bit more that's a curiosity exclusive things why are these people not even working to have a website effectively to a certain extent it hasn't been totally harmful it hasn't given something I don't say disenchanted but less excited about the online presence be it Instagram social media Facebook because I think in our business it has contributed to a proliferation of I don't say lies but maybe untruths with some exception to companies that work very well sometimes I see a Sunday morning where I realize what the previous party was and I say this is not who I am this is not who we are so I think there is a lack of an identity at a creative level be it of a very strong presence and I'm sorry that at this moment I don't have anyone in the company that can dedicate themselves to this all the time and never have found and this is the reason why the website never came out because I already paid three people it was already paid three people it was already started to work with three people but everything that has intrigued me maybe, certainly because of the lack of dedication from our part the lack of commitment to give the inputs that are necessary for the work to be successful with the companies that did it but I never identified with what has been proposed of course, probably either I have Parque da Penha in more accounts than it is in reality and I hope that the work will be different or maybe because we haven't found the right company that can put in images and in half a dozen sentences what we want to pass and wrongly because I think that sometimes it's better done than perfect and wrongly we have kept in this story that it will come out one day in September it's my project or in October or in March and it will come out one day but tell me one thing you touched on that point and I think it's very interesting what do you feel in the current digital world in your Sunday mornings what do you feel that is, in a summed up way what do you feel is the problem are the comparisons will be the ideas of a portfolio that is not actually a marriage a lack of creativity what do you feel in that part that makes you unenthusiastic there is something very important in this business and I think it has been said by many people people that are here or with whom you have spoken that beyond this being a business obviously and us beyond, not in my case in particular, but in my family being a means of subsistence of our family and many of the families that work with us fortunately but this goes beyond in our case this goes beyond a professional activity anyone that works in this field I think, and once again it's my perspective and maybe when I leave we will stop doing this consider that this is much more than a 9 to 5 job this requires a dedication and commitment in my opinion, obviously I speak what I speak out of the ordinary and that many times goes beyond the hours of work goes the emotional involvement with our clients and the dedication and commitment when it comes to the project I want to say that we also work in this business not only because I speak for myself not only because this is a business but because it's something that gives me a huge pleasure it's not what I receive at the end of a payment or at the end of a marriage but it's what we manage, in a very small amount, to provide to the people on that day and if life is super difficult in our day to day because we all have problems and things are not always heartwarming and wonderful as they are in the days of events there is a day that allows us to live and work in a bubble and the day of the wedding and some days that I anticipate are for our clients and for some families and for some friends that are involved in the organization are days of unique happiness days in which, for moments for hours if the stock market goes up or down if the market is in trouble in any of their businesses what they have to do there is a family health problem or something like that there are small moments of happiness and I think that we all that work in this industry have the privilege of being able to contribute to small moments of genuine happiness not everyone is like that and it is obvious that in 20 years of business not all happy days are happy days some are forced, some we don't see that, but many are and many are really special and I think that one of the, I don't say it is payment but one of the graces, blessings whatever it is, of being able to work in this industry is to live moments like these moments in which we, for hours realize that the world is different that it is not the supermarket line, that it is not the transit line that it is not the bills, that it is not the inflation, that it is not the change, that it is not the war that it is not, I don't know what and that is very special and of course that all of this was done with heart because there are no photographers or videographers or make-up artists that work on Saturdays and Sundays and that leave their children at home and that don't come with them on the day they are free for you to be working on the other days they are at school or that don't come with their parents or grandparents or people this comes because there is something that is special and it is a very big gift when I see later in the day that the way of being in the business is not the same for everyone and that in reality a lot of people want to fill days and do parties and that there is a formula that works and be it a tent with some white roses and that it is all the same and that you see that there is no dedication or delivery and that it is a repetition of a formula and for that I get disenchanted because I who dedicate myself and I think it's not just me maybe all of us in Parque da Penha that leave children at home and that we dedicate ourselves to the maximum feel that we are part of an industry that is not dignified, without a visual identity and that doesn't dignify the name of other professionals for me it makes me sad because it wasn't for that or it's not what I think we do or what we want to do in Parque da Penha maybe we can sometimes at one time or another not be able to and I think that's not what motivates the teams to dedicate themselves and to do what it is to give the extra mark which is often what makes people come back when they feel that the service I offered them was better than what was paid that is, the person paid that but received more, received affection, love received dedication and I feel that if there came a time when they realized, and well, this is a business and that suddenly everything is a formula to do the same and... But don't you feel that you also belong to a tribe? Don't you feel this feeling that there is a group of people, a group of suppliers a group of professionals that really... I don't say it's a tribe I think that yes, maybe it's a tribe or maybe that's what makes me still feel like even though there are weekends when I go out, like weeks without sleeping I can dive into another project and dedicate myself 100% in another project and forget completely what it was painful difficult and hard for everyone and I think that's how it is. If it wasn't like that, I don't think I would do this or that because I think that life has to be different it has to be different but... There is an interesting point of what you say because I understand all this momentary disenthusiasm in certain moments I understand it perfectly but then there is another thing that I find super interesting which is this feeling, we talk a lot about community this feeling of community I think it's seen differently in certain points and I won't say exactly levels but I can put it this way companies or brands that value their work more that have values and work for a higher market curiously, where I see more cooperation is in the higher markets and you are one of those examples I think it was 15 days ago or 3 weeks ago there was one of the most amazing weddings here in Portugal and they were working in that wedding some of the people that in certain moments have concurrent jobs or similar services and so much happened they all worked for the final result which I already saw it's amazing, it's epic I believe it would have been much more if you were there Sofia even Andrea Ferraz had to work with Sofia so you bring together a series of extraordinary people that had to work that in certain moments are concurrent but that had to work for that enthusiasm and that commitment and curiously, I think where this is seen less is in the lower markets and this is interesting to me yes I think there is also in this business there is also a big game of egos egos that we don't have egos that I don't have effectively, in this wedding I was hired to do a part of the job I ended up assuming some functions even though they were hired it was necessary and I'm glad I did it my team of florists integrated Sofia's team as well as other of my teams integrated assembly teams together with the international promoter and everything else because I think that effectively there is something that you talk about a lot in the podcast that you talk about community we perhaps were one of the first of this new generation for us there was never a community I don't think it has ever been because of a lack of humility or a lack of just because we started alone when we started there was practically no one of this new generation working the important players most of which don't exist anymore at this moment and we were following a path that perhaps we thought was right that made sense in our business and it was one that while we were working and dedicating ourselves also gave us some pleasure which is something that I think is super important to take from this business the pleasure it can give us the realization that we can also take away from our work. And so, I never, maybe because we were always very focused on trying to manage a company, which from the beginning took on quite large and intense proportions, and that's it, and obviously we started with five partners, where we were only two, we were acquiring the business, we were making the business grow in another way, so we were always very focused on our path, and not always so connected to what the community could be. I think that together we work in community, I think that together, many of those who have already been here, and others who are certainly on your list, Rui, were people who modified the panorama of events in Portugal, and we owe it to many of the people you've interviewed, and others that you will certainly interview, the quality of what is done in Portugal today. Today, I think that we, with some false modesty, and a series of other companies, we deliver work to our customers at the level of what is delivered around the world. Things that are unique, that many are published, and we do work that is out of the ordinary. And maybe we grow together, not necessarily in a sense of community, but it exists. It may not meet, it may not have dinners, it may not be created in an association, but it exists. Maybe we, with you, are crossing paths. Do you think it was important to organize? I think so, I think so. Because I think we all have a little bit, I think we all have a little bit, some more, some less, I think we all have a little bit to give, to help new segments emerge in the market, new companies emerge. There are new companies with incredible quality. There are people who operate in niches, be it in terms of floral design, be it in terms of event organization, who have a completely different and unique look, who have a very special way of being in the business. And I think we can all gain from the experience of others who have already gone through some of the challenges that these companies will go through. Whether it's growth pains, or having a more professional management, or what it means for this to go from a passion, which is what starts, I think, with all of us, all the companies that work in this business, to a passion for a business. And that this business allows not only for people to sustain themselves, as is obvious, which is something that is super important, a professional realization, which is also something very important, and another thing that has already been mentioned here, which I found, for me especially, but for many other people it is also very important, that the person can separate the dedication to work with their necessary time for peace, to maintain their family, to maintain their relationships, to maintain with their children, because it is very easy to get lost in a total dedication to projects and to establish barriers and limits, and days to rest. And I am sorry that many of our colleagues and friends could go down the path that we have already been on, and where we left off, some more easily than others. I think it was super important. And how are you in this division, in this balance? I am not an example. I am not an example. I belong to the group of assumed workaholics, with total and absolute dedication, so I am not yet in recovery. I am not the example that can separate the work of leisure, the work of dedication. But do you feel the need to separate, or are you fine like this? No, I have a very big realization with what I do, and so I'm fine like this. But I have the notion that not everyone has the same realization as me, that other people need more time and more space than I do. Yes, because many times that happens. I am not an example. Yes, yes, yes, I am not an example. Because we are often trying to find the balance that seems to us to be balanced in someone else, but that is not the balance for us. If you like it and if you have that realization in your work, why try to change? I am a capricorn, and I pretend to be a very dedicated person. I know very few signs, but I know that I am a capricorn, a person who is dedicated. I am dedicated. I am not as ambitious as they say. On the contrary. I am the creative part of the business. I want to do cool things, and the budget does not matter. To get rid of all the people who work with me, and who try to explain to me that this is the business. But I think we all want to do well, we want to make it beautiful, we want to deliver a job that honors us. Yes, and in that sense, how do you evaluate success? What is success for you? For me, and I say this again, for me, who is a person who is not too ambitious, even if I am very hardworking, success is delivering a job that is beyond what our clients expect. A job that makes me proud to have been hired by Panha, to have been hired by Panha, and that he is happy while he does it. And that is something that I have also tried to control a little bit, and that my team is also happy while you do it, and that I also feel that I have not explored them too much, because this is my dedication. Exploring is always a very strong word, but the fact that I am a person who works gives me a lot of pleasure, and the contact with the client, and the result, and I have a very great gratification, a huge satisfaction, for creating moments of happiness for my clients, and that being a fuel for my day-to-day, is not necessarily what the teams that work with me think, and I have tried to improve a lot in that sense. I feel that they also find their space between the personal component and the professional component. Do you feel that this is one of the biggest challenges, managing people? Yes, without a doubt. I speak for Parque do Papai, and I imagine that for other companies as well. The company is growing, and we naturally have a number of events that we need to maintain the structure. As the company grows and assumes a certain type of services, that number of events may or may not increase. In a certain case, in our company, it is the type of events and the scale of the event that is increasing, and in some cases, a certain number of events. We don't do many events per year, we do a lot more than some of the people who have spoken here, because we are lucky to have some volume events that require a lot of dedication. But this is a very seasonal business, and even though we try to organize everything in time, we reach a point where we have these summer months, where everyone wants to be with their families, everyone wants to go out, all the children are more free from school, and we are completely overwhelmed with work, even though we try to anticipate things, and we try to do that as much as possible, but it is invariably more painful and intense for the people who work with us on a daily basis, whether it's Saturdays, Sundays, the weekends, Fridays, when people have to dedicate themselves to work, which in other professions, or often husbands or spouses, are leisure time for the rest of the family, and this is becoming increasingly difficult to manage, as we have more events, and because, invariably, we have events almost every week, so it means that someone will have to spend almost every week working, and of course, it always ends up costing me, because on a Saturday, an event Saturday is a weekend that's over, so it's a Saturday dedicated to the event, then it's Sunday, which is, I'm not saying it's a rest day, but for us, in our case, it's a post-event rest day, when we get up and put our feet on the floor, we don't feel the palm of our feet, and it's not intense. There's an expression that I used a lot, I think it was Carlos, from Video Arte, and it stuck with me, which is the day to lick your wounds. You literally go to war, and on Sunday you're licking your wounds, basically. Yes, and then on Monday, there's the day-to-day work, which is the management of the accounts, dealing with everything else, dealing with everything else, so this is a lot of work, and it's a lot of intense work, and the truth is, it's getting harder and harder to manage, not only the people, but I guarantee that people are still happy working what they do. So, for me, it's a big concern. Not for me, for us, in the PENHA part. Yes, yes. I'd like to go back to the Portuguese, to a part that I think is important. I know you're one of those 8 or 9 people I've seen in every episode. Almost all of them, because there are a lot of them now. I think there's one missing, but he's not there. I think there's one missing. That's for sure. From Alexandra, from Pajarita, and there's a part, a sentence from her that I love, and I believe it's related to you. You're also the type of person who's happier in the fight than in the victory. Without a doubt, without a doubt. So, you finish a process, you have the process, you finish that, and you say, ok, spectacular, let me eat the fries for an afternoon, but tomorrow we're in another one. Sometimes I don't have an afternoon. Yes, yes, I love the process. I love the moment. And I like to create. I like to create. But with that, I don't mean I don't love it's a positive feedback, and that sometimes when it happens, with the people who work here, I don't ask a thousand times, but tell me, in detail, what did you say? How was the person? Because, obviously, the feedback for me is also very important. For us, it's also a fuel to be able to hold on to the next week, and realize that what's being done is being valued, it's being done well or not. A feedback that can be constructive, what we have or not, to improve for the next one. But it's true that we close a chapter and start the next one, because the next creative process, the next family to be happy, the next dream fulfilled. But that's a process, that's a situation that gives you pleasure, it's not something that bothers you to close the chapter and move on. Yes, it gives me pleasure. Yes, it gives me pleasure. Now, one thing is also true, in our case, there's a big involvement, like many people who worked here for the podcast, there's a big involvement with the clients, there's a friendship that will last forever. There are people we may not meet as often as we'd like, there are people we may not see again, in the case of foreign clients, in some cases it's rare that we meet again. But there will be between us and the client, the closest family, a love and a feeling that will last forever, it will never cease to exist. I say it with a lot of love, sometimes my fiancés are my fiancés, they are people that I... They will be once fiancé, once fiancé, but... I do it with pleasure, but I carry it in my heart every project. I have an incredible love and I know perfectly well what my clients ate, how was the decoration, how was the layout of the party room, 20 years ago, this part, without regarding situations, and I carefully keep all the things that happened, things that are not so good, as it happens in all projects, that may not have gone so well, or someone was sick, I have a crazy memory for these things, and so I keep in a very special shelf somewhere in my brain and in my heart all the projects that we follow at Parque da Panha. And in general, I think that everyone that we work with lives this process in the same way, with a very big commitment and with a lot of dedication. What did Parque da Panha give you that you believe you wouldn't have otherwise? Oh, so many things! I grew up with Parque da Panha, I gave my life to Parque da Panha, and Parque da Panha gave me a lot, a lot, a lot of things. It gave me a huge confidence and it grew with me at the business level. I mean, I am a person who graduated in Industrial Chemistry, so I am a type of Sophia, in a mathematical version, I have a PhD in Textile Chemistry, so my background has nothing to do with what I do today, but it made me develop skills, or at least it made me develop skills that I didn't even know I had. I thought I was the most mathematical person imaginable, who only knew how to write with A, B, C and through Excel. And deep down, I learned that I was a super, super, super shy person that somehow I am, and very introspective, that somehow I also am, oddly enough. I discovered my social butterfly at Parque da Panha, and a component that I think, like some ease of dealing with the public, with clients, that I didn't know I had, and I developed a creative vein in me that I never thought I would have, and the more I stimulate and the more I work, the more I can see flourish. So, I owe a lot, a lot, a lot to Parque da Panha. A huge accomplishment. And what did you achieve? Oh, so many things! Youth, time with my friends, all of them, many friends, most of them, those who actually like me because there is no friendship that can resist people who are not present. So, we used to tell our friends that we were that person who only has Sunday afternoon off, between 3pm and 7pm was our free time. So, it took me a lot of family moments, a lot of moments with friends, a lot of moments even as a couple, and so on, but that's what happens in all professions. It gave me wrinkles, I didn't have them, I was a baby, but we grew up together, but I think it gave me more than what it took from me. If it wasn't for Parque da Panha, it would have been something else, it would have been the whole project I was dedicated to. No, of course, balance is only positive, I can't say anything against it, it's only positive, otherwise I wouldn't have to work to not survive some weekends and things like that. So, of course, it's very positive. There's a speech by Jim Carrey, one of those speeches at the end of the year at American universities, in which he talks about going after your dreams, and he gives the case of him where his father also wanted to be, he also wanted to be a humorist, but he went the right way, not the safe way, he was an accountant, but many years later he was fired and lost a lot of money in the reform, and what Jim Carrey said was with this I learned that we can also be unsuccessful in what we don't like, so it's better to try to be successful in what we like, even if it goes wrong, that is, you may have lost a lot, we all have to lose something, but at least we are after what is important. Like everyone, but I think that above all, and I think that age will also help, being happy in what you do is the most important thing that exists, the most important thing, so I think that doing something that makes us happy is super important, and I think that the balance will always be positive. The balance will always be positive. And in our case, there is a misunderstanding that I didn't mention, in addition to the people who cross our paths, like other sponsors, I think that we are very lucky, and maybe many of the people here also, with the people who cross our paths as clients, many of our clients are people that if we had crossed paths at another time, we would have liked them to be our friends, and that is also extremely enriching, and it is extremely gratifying to work for people who recognize the effort that is made, and people who also give us pleasure in serving, because doing what we do for a type of client that is not recognized, and that does not appreciate the effort that is made, would also be very frustrating, and therefore I also wanted to leave a giant cloud of clients. who became friends, others who didn't become friends, others who didn't because of that, but for whom we have a huge affection and who always had a huge consideration for me as one of the people in charge of Parque da Penha, but for all the people in my team and who are amazing people and I also love to dedicate myself because I have to meet people who are exceptional and that I am very happy to have, without my website, or without them being able to reach us. And I am sure that it is your case, that you make restaurants work and make them worth it. We are also very lucky to have people who have crossed our path. I know that now we can choose clients, but it is not always that easy. Indeed, sometimes there are clients who are not fit for our company or for us as people, but in general we have been lucky to have crossed our path with incredible people, unique families and wonderful people and I am also very grateful for that. In the name of Parque da Penha, obviously. And I didn't want to stop praising you because the fact that people trusted me 20 years ago and still today trust us with unbelievable sums of money, that sometimes even for us to be able to translate or materialize those that are their dreams, I will never stop thanking you. It is something that is super important. These relationships you create with the people you have on your path, often, if not always, or naturally it may not be always, but a large part of the time it is what keeps us together. Without doubt. I have two cases, two very funny examples, which is the pediatrician of my children. She was our fiancée in 2016. She was wonderful. And the dentist of my children too, and ours, she was also a fiancée. There are people who enter your path as clients and stay. By the way, in 2014 we got married, Elsa and I got married, and a couple of fiancées that we had in May of that year, we got married in August, but that couple that got married in May came to our wedding. Of course. It was such a quick thing. And even today we are friends, and you may have already heard about them, because they are the ones who have the restaurant, the factory. In the Asa factory, there is a restaurant called A Fábrica. Ángela and Luís were our kids and they are friends since then. I know them, but I don't know what the restaurant is. That is a part that really has a large percentage in our maintenance all these years at work. And it is important. And now, to finish, let's go back a little bit to the beginning, let's go back to talking about cabins, let's go back to talking about this wonderful small area where everything started for you, for me, and for our country. Exactly. So, my question is, thinking about this central part, or this nuclear part, how do you see the role of these less central areas, leaving Lisbon and Porto, how do you see the role of these places in the panorama of national weddings? Well, as much as I think that our country is very regional, I think that it is the least at this time. And a positive thing, and also I didn't phrase that, and that was being unfair, something that was positive for the growth of Parque da Penha from the beginning was the fact that Guimarães had such a good image at the national level. That is, when people came from Porto, Lisbon, Avóio, Coimbra, Braga, and club realities apart, and they came to have Guimarães, they came through Parque da Penha, most of the time, yes, but they also came because Guimarães had an excellent image, in general, in all of Portugal. It was a city that knew how to maintain its charm, and an image of a small, friendly center, and that knew how to maintain its heritage, and that always has things to happen. So much so that our guests, when they came from Porto, and most of the time they started to do the destination wedding in Portugal, they didn't even talk about the destination wedding yet, that is, they all came, they stayed the day before, and so on. It's just because they thought it was cool to stay and sleep in Guimarães. And most of the time they came to marry at Parque da Penha, and they thought it was cool to marry at the Cidade Oliveira church, because it was the church of Superboc's advertising, like a commercial for his father's television 15 years ago, or because they think it's a joke to make a historical component and leave your reality, your daily life, in a bigger city, and come to a city of a smaller dimension, but that is nice, that has good restaurants, and that has a very careful image. And I obviously think that Parque da Penha also won with that. So it wasn't like we were talking about a city that was associated with being ugly, that wasn't at least interesting, with a terrible territorial order, nothing happened. The image of Guimarães in Portugal, and in some cases in the world, also benefited. I think that we also brought a lot of people to Guimarães that wouldn't have come if it wasn't for Parque da Penha, but Parque da Penha also benefited from a positive image of Guimarães. When it comes to the wedding market, it actually happens a lot, there are parties in Lisbon, in Algarve, in Alentejo, and people ask, but why does a company from the North have to come? But there aren't any companies that can do that. About three weeks ago, I did a party in Alentejo, an incredible party, I haven't published it yet, but I will. It was one of the most wonderful and challenging parties we've ever done. And curiously, many of the guests said, I only know how to speak Portuguese. And the truth is, when Parque da Penha goes, in a case like the one where the party was, practically everything was taken care of by us, we took the table staff, so when people serve at the table, they come from the North to Lisbon, from the North to Alentejo, from the North to Algarve, from here to Spain, from here to Florence. Because we have our team, we have a pool of collaborators who work with us at certain times, and because we trust the service, because they already have the way of working, of being able to provide their service according to our values, they are people who follow us, that is, we continue to think that there is a component of care with the client, in this case, care with the guest, a service component, which ends up being, I didn't want to diminish any of the other companies that are working with us, and that do it very well, but I think we have a different pool in the North, especially when it comes to table service, in the way that we are more solicitous and available, and I think people even find that funny. We came with all our pronunciation, which is unique, obviously, just say good morning for people to realize that we are not from Lisbon and that we are in the North of Coimbra, but then, in the end, everything that is provided, all the service that is done, ends up being appreciated, and I say many times, as strange as it may seem, a person from Lisbon coming to a company from Guimarães, or from Porto, I say that the distance from Guimarães to Lisbon is smaller than the distance from Lisbon to Guimarães, I think we end up having to move so much out of our circle, the distance doesn't exist, at a time when I had a lot of clients in Comporta, I went to Comporta once a week, and I went to Comporta like someone who gets up and says I'm going to Vila do Conde, so I went to Comporta, and of course someone from Comporta thought I came from another planet, that I was arriving from Guimarães, it was the same thing, I had just arrived from Mars, I arrived in Haiti, and we end up having to do this so naturally, we do this so often, that the distances become smaller, and they end up being completely irrelevant, I sometimes see my clients from Porto who think it's too far to go from Antas to Foz, and I say, I'm not joking, I go from Perre to Perre and here I am in Guimarães, because if we lived in Paris or London, that would be the space that would change between one area of Paris and the other, so the fact that I live in Guimarães hasn't been an obvious, or us being based in Guimarães, hasn't been obvious in any way to the company's growth, it's when we often have to do mock-ups, tastings and tests, especially for international clients, in which you are completely out of the circuit, that is, a client who comes, who is going to marry in Lisbon and then has to come, or who is going to marry in Algarve, or who is going to marry in the Netherlands, and has to come to Guimarães to do a tasting or to do some mock-up, sometimes it's going to be more difficult to manage, but we have managed to do it in the best way. And from the experience you have, do you think that other cities could also be included in this smaller panorama, from the experience you have, from where you were? I think that, I think that, not even discovering the component that I think is the positive image that Guimarães has in Portugal, I think that any service provider is based where they live, that has something to contribute, different or with quality, live in Covilhã, live in Guimarães, live in Porto, I think there will always be a possibility of affirming themselves. I know that distances are painful, and nowadays, more than painful, they are expensive, that is, when we have a party outside of Guimarães, or in Alentejo, or in Lisbon, we end up having a component of logistics that is significant, but that also has to do with the value proposition of the company itself, that only makes us have to be much better than others, to be able to present our service. I don't want to say that someone who is starting and comes from a region that is, by itself, more distant from a Lisbon export, doesn't end up having more difficulties. I think it does. But, fortunately, I also think that there is a whole market to explore, because the fact that we are very centralist, as a base, means that most companies are in Porto and Lisbon, or nowadays there has been a big growth in the market in Lisbon, which wasn't like this in the past. There is a whole country with people who want to party, there is a whole country with potential to be explored, we have an Alentejo that is unbelievable, we have an Algarve that is unbelievable, that has few players, with unique markets, with few options, differentiated and of quality, we have all the Beiras that are not yet explored and have a lot of things, we have the Loro, with incredible potential, and with few players in the place, and everything else has to go far. So, I think there is a lot of potential to grow in many segments. Fortunately, we have operated in a segment that is half and half high, for a client that has some desire to invest in different parties, but there is still a lot of market to explore, and we have a country with a lot of capacity to make it known and to be able to sell something that we have that is unique and that is not yet explored, completely. For Portuguese and foreigners. Yes, yes. I can't imagine a better way to end with this little bit of yours, because we have an extraordinary country, top to bottom, left to right, islands, we have wonderful things, we just need to create more people, create more companies, sometimes we think we have a lot of competition and that there are a lot of things, we need a lot more, we need a lot more people everywhere to work with us. There are a lot of people working, there is not a lot of competition, and there is a giant market, a giant market. We are just starting to bring foreigners here, but we still have so much to be able to do, so much, so much. And we have so much to show, as a whole, as a whole market. I mean, we compare ourselves a lot with Italy, with France, it is obvious that yes, but there are many authentic things in Portugal that are not minimally explored and that together we can do it, without a doubt. Without a doubt. Not to mention castles, forts, abandoned places, places with potential that are not worked. Of course, everything comes with challenges, but life has a challenge, what is an event organizer does not have a challenge. Challenge is a challenge. Boring, to me, is boring. If everything runs according to plan and is easily executable, it is just boring. Portugal still has a lot to sell and we have incredible suppliers to be able to put the name forward, without a doubt. I think so too. Betita, it was an absolute pleasure to have you here. Thank you, thank you. Many kisses. I think we have a lot of good things here for people to hear. Let's see. It's my perspective. It's an inspiring perspective. It's my perspective of dedication and commitment. I think it's ours and many people's to be in this business. In general, I think it's something that I hope to be able to reduce a little. There is a big difference between people who have been in the market for a few years and people who are just starting out. I think there is a lack of communication between each other. I think there is a lack of communication between each other. We, with a little more experience, have all the interest in guiding the way we know, sharing the experiences in the best way we know. In the same way that we have everything to gain, realizing and drinking a little bit of the irreverence of those who are just starting out. So, if the conversation happens of all people and different generations, we only have as a whole, as a country, as an industry, to gain. Your sharing, your experience is the only thing. Thank you. The only thing is that, very quickly, we, in our day-to-day, and we have met thousands of times, we never had time to talk. When a person ends up being together in an event, you have your moments and we have our moments. And many times, there is a casual, hello, how are you? How is the family? And almost later we can't even be together. When you ask me if it makes sense for people to meet, of course it does, because you, Vanessa and Ivo, Carlos, people who have been here, Sofia and André, are people with whom I have exchanged messages, but with whom, from one moment to another, which happened more recently with Sofia and André for other reasons, we have known each other for years and we know each other. It's like, hello, goodbye, you will have a favorite, you will regret losing this moment. And that's it. That's what's sad, because we've known each other for 10 years or more than that, and we never had... And we never had the opportunity to meet. That's why I think it will make some sense, because some of the people with whom we have crossed our paths are delicious people, and we would love to meet them, even if it's through the stairs. Without a doubt, without a doubt. That will happen. Thank you very much. Thank you for this honor that was given to us, and you can count on us for everything that is necessary. I'm so happy to hear that. And thank you on my part for all the parties, all the wonderful things that you have given us to photograph throughout these 14 years. Thank you for always being there with us. A huge kiss. A kiss for Elsa. A kiss for everyone. Thank you. We have reached the end of this episode, and if you liked it, I ask you to subscribe to the podcast, and see you next week.