Luanna Toniolo: “Success is realizing that you’ve got made the appropriate selections”

At the head of TROC, bought by the Arezzo&Co Group, an entrepreneur says that she has always prioritized her own independence

A lawyer by training and mother of Maria Julia and Benício, executive Luanna Toniolo did not want to work in the family office, in order to have independence. The feature has been around since childhood, when the favorite heroes were Wonder Woman and Catwoman. In 2017, she founded TROC, a circular fashion platform that recently became part of Grupo Arezzo & Co. In this way, she says she has not let her professional life limit her personal life. “I never made those concessions.”

As a child, what did you envision for adulthood? It may sound cliché, but I always imagined being independent first of all, because I had examples like that at home. I came from a family of strong women, with my independent mother and grandmother. I also imagined building a family, having children. Finally, I’ve always wanted to make the world a better place, this has been in my speech since I was little.

Who were your favorite heroes/characters? At the height of my four years, when princesses are pretty much everything in girls’ lives, I throw a Wonder Woman birthday party. Both Wonder Woman and Catwoman were my favorites, for being strong women. I never understood why princesses had to be so fragile for Disney, given that they always had to die or depend on someone to save them, anyway, always so sensitive. That was never quite my reality, so Wonder Woman and Catwoman were my references as a kid.

What was your first professional ambition? I started my professional life as a lawyer. My first ambition was not to work in my family’s office, that is, to work with my mother. I wanted to have my independence from the moment of my graduation, so I soon looked to work in another office and after that I had the opportunity to have my own office, so that was my first ambition, to follow my own path even if in the same area.

What makes you get out of bed today? What motivates you? I think it’s a combination of things. Undoubtedly my family, the constant presence I have from all of them. But also, making sure that every move I make, whether on good or bad days, makes people find their best selves. I am contributing to a better world and in a very direct and not abstract way. Today, we have thousands of people changing their way of thinking and breaking a whole cultural paradigm about circular fashion and this will impact all of us.

What trait or attitude irritates you (in others)? Some characteristics that I don’t agree with are procrastination and lying characteristics, but I think that ends up affecting the person himself. What really irritates me and ends up impacting the lives of others are people who are rude and who think they have the right to treat others badly. Whether due to lack of education or any other reason, she understands herself in the right to treat the other badly and, often, make him discredit his dreams. So what really irritates me is this, despite having other characteristics that I don’t agree with.

Do you consider yourself a person with healthy habits? Yes, I have a relatively healthy diet. I’ve been practicing yoga for many years, I don’t eat meat either, but I always have to improve. There’s a goal I need to focus a little more on.

What has been your biggest achievement to date? And the biggest extravagance? I will talk about personal and professional achievements. In the personal achievement, it was to form my family, today I have my two children the way I dreamed and the way I would like to have. I never let my professional life limit my personal life. I never made those concessions. And in my professional life, my biggest achievement was being able to take a dream off paper, even if it was very unlikely to happen, and make it grow at that speed and bring it to where I am bringing it today. I think this is an amazing achievement and I’m really proud of it. And about extravagance, I think it was at the height of my career, even if I was young, I passed a master’s degree with a scholarship, and even then I decided to say “I don’t want that” to take another path in my life. And that led me to my biggest achievement, which is the TROC.

What determines success? For me, success is knowing you’ve made the right choices. When I look back, I see that I’ve made the best choices for myself and I’m proud of them, that for me is success. Both in personal and professional life. Everything in life has a concession, so, for me, success is being proud of your trajectory and leaving a positive legacy, it implies making the right choice. What determines what makes you successful is, without a doubt, having clarity of where you want to go, having a lot of resilience – that’s the watchword – and working hard. And of course, believe a lot in your dream. So, it is this combination that is success.

What is the biggest collective challenge today? I think technology, when we talk about information and communication. That’s because today we see a lot of people who don’t have so much knowledge about important issues and get into endless discussions, with no depth. In addition, we can also see that families have started to move away and technology, which had everything to bring them together, ends up replacing important moments, so a WhatsApp takes away the importance of a call or a visit.

I think technology has everything to add and has been a tool to connect people, but it has to be used well. People today know each other through Facebook and feel great friends, on the one hand it is positive, they are connected, but on the other hand there is not the depth that we had before in a human relationship.

It worries me a lot to see people moving away, but still feeling close, when in fact they are getting more and more alone. I know this is a little deep, but in the same way that the internet brings people together, it ends up pushing people away and that’s what I understand to be the biggest challenge today.

Among the advances in technology, what impresses you the most? (positively or negatively) The metaverse, without a doubt. I’m still very curious about the subject, I’ve researched a lot, I think we’re still having very small demonstrations of what we should experience in the next decade. So, I think the metaverse is going to take us down paths of no return and I’m very curious to know how all this will play out and participate in it too.

A common sense that you consider to be great nonsense. One thing that bothers me is when people say that “in a winning team, you don’t move”. I think this ends up impacting a process of evolution. People get very comfortable, becoming an inertia and I don’t believe that. If you’re winning, you can improve and move on.

A book, movie, or other art that has impacted you. Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Faced with so many challenges for the construction and growth of the TROC, this book taught me to take advantage of the chaos and uncertainties along the way.

Would you buy a trip to Mars? Would you do space tourism? Not. Maybe before I had my kids, when I risked a lot more, but not anymore. I have a complete list of places I would like to visit while on this planet and travel is always my time to relax and enjoy with my family. I don’t think Mars would be the best option.

Do you consider yourself spiritualized? Believe in God? Life after death? Yes, I consider myself quite spiritual. Faith is part of my day, I wake up and sleep believing and trusting God a lot. And here at home this is something that is always present, in our prayers, this is part of creation and my family.

A happy memory. There are the obvious moments, which are the birth of my children, the main personal and professional achievements, but my most recent happy memories are the simplest days when we are at home, having Sunday breakfast, listening to a song, only being able to connect here to each other, the family itself. And also celebrating the achievements with the ones I love.

Source: Value Pipeline