I, FLAVIAVIRGINIA
I was born in Maceió, Alagoas (Brazil), in 1972. My family went to Rio de Janeiro in 1973 and I was raised there. Like Adam and Eve, I am a migrant.
Music
After I was born and grew up a little, I soon showed an interest in music. I enrolled at Rio Música when I was 16 – a school run by Professor Sergio Benevenuto, who trained many of the musicians on the Rio scene in the 1980s. I also studied there with Carlos Almada, Toninho Monjardim (may he rest in peace) and Dario Galante. Like almost every musician, I started out in a band with friends from school and made my professional debut in 1989, with the song Curumim on the CD "Djavan" (known as "Oceano").
My heroes at that school: Sergio, Almada, Dario, Toninho (who, unfortunately, left us too soon).
My first band was “Combatentes da Cidade”; I was invited by Alex Lima, who was also studying at Rio Música. He soon invited André Negão. Amaro, Alex’s brother, was still a little kid. Their father was the producer. We played at Botanic, in Urca... I was 17.
Alex and André left us, also too soon, and we miss them a lot...
Some time ago, I was showing my first songs to my daughters—the ones I wrote when I was 14 or 16—and I was surprised to see that the central theme in many of them was God. In so, so many.
Along my path, I have come across many people who want to live their spirituality more intensely. Some of them without even realizing it, without having this word or this concept very clear—even because it is difficult to express the feelings that involve the field of spirituality. Sometimes they appear in us only as a longing, a sigh, a longing…
Perhaps especially in today’s world, when the virtual world is taking the place of the concrete world, increasingly playing the role of reality, this spiritual desire is becoming stronger. But I see that many people experience it as despair, emptiness, sadness. And there is no need. Spiritual life is a given of the human being, there is no need to force it. Even less would it be necessary to disconnect it from everyday life: it is often in everyday life that we experience the peak of our spirituality, and not in religious moments, as it would be somewhat obvious to imagine. And it is not only in ethical acts with other human beings that this can be experienced, although being ethical is evidently also necessary and possibly constitutes a large part of current religious discourse. Of course we have to be ethical and value a community with a good life, but spirituality is not limited to this; in fact, on the contrary: it is possible to be fully ethical without healing the spiritual void. These are different things, although many religious people insist on reducing spirituality to the theme of the human.
Spirituality, precisely, is not restricted to this because it is not restricted. It is precisely the eagerness for the infinite, for that which has no restrictions of time, place, people, concepts... it aims to be with the one we most commonly call God. But not just any definition of God, nor even of non-God. Spirituality is the desire of a being who perceives himself as finite, which is us, earthlings, for the infinite, whom we can call God, Cosmos, Superior Intelligence, The Supreme Being, Consciousness, Supra-Mind, among many other names that, in the end, are equally incapable of accounting for His reality.
I, Flavia Virginia, am, in all my movements and activities, a sacred artist.
I, Flavia Virginia, live Torah.
Sacred artist
Biblical and Jewish Studies
Fulfilling a deep aspiration, in 2016 I enrolled in a rabbinical studies program at the Marshall T. Meyer Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, one of the leading in the world, with the main purpose of becoming a biblical scholar, because I understand the Bible not only as a source of religions, but, above all, as a vast library that records a body of knowledge of humanity and the steps of a civilization that has existed for more than 3 millennia. In this direction, I have taught several courses and lectures on the subject.
I took specialization studies in Biblical History and Archaeology in 2020 at Unasp and graduated in Biblical Hebrew from the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies, a partner of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
I was a researcher at the Center for Jewish Philosophy Studies (CNPq) through the CEJ (Center for Jewish Studies) at USP.
Graphic Design
Over the years, I have also become interested in graphic design and web design. I started in 2002 by designing my own websites, including this one. I have designed websites for individuals and companies, and I also create posters, brochures, and other graphic materials.
In recent years, I have chosen to work especially with Jewish institutions and themes.
Philosophy, Logotherapy +
My return to Brazil in 2006 put me firmly on the path of a love as old as music: knowledge. I went back to college to study Philosophy, graduated from the Claretian University Center and specialized in Logotherapy. A direct result of this movement is the creation of an approach to improve the finding of meaning in the public and corporate world: Inteligência Ética, a company I created to give lectures and consultancies based on the meaning of work. I traveled with this consultancy to several cities in Brazil, connecting with very diverse companies. It was a very important work in my life.
In 2010, we created ABLAE (Brazilian Association of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis) among logotherapists from all over the country. I was its First Secretary in the 2010-2012 biennium.
Interested in better understanding the world, I participated in several study centers and laboratories. At USP (University of São Paulo), I studied in the following groups: CEMAA (Center for Mesoamerican, Amazonian and Andean Studies), Prolam (Inter-Unit Postgraduate Program in Latin American Integration), LEA (Laboratory for Asian Studies), GeoPo (Center for Political Geography Studies).
Organizations where I worked as a consultant
Holiday Inn
Zatix
Lar Escola São Francisco
Midrash
Inova
Cefojor
EACH-USP
Faculdade Zumbi dos Palmares
TAM
ACIP-Pindamonhangaba
Centro da Cultura Judaica
InterContinental Hotels
SENAC
TedX
Loga
Fórum de Operadores Hoteleiros do Brasil
CEM
In 2015, I created CEM – Center for Multipolarity Studies, an institute for education, culture and research. Our main focus at CEM was to think about Brazil in an indigenous way, giving us the freedom to choose our sources of inspiration and thus create a Brazilian explanation of the world.
CEM's activities are currently suspended.
Radio and Podcast
I've been doing radio since I was little. My first show was on American Sat in 1998; it was called “Cidadania Musical”. I did it again in Angola, and I did it again in 2017 with Paulo Lopes and then with João Ferreira on Rádio Capital.
I think it's quite magical, this thing of hearing a voice speaking and being guided only by it, like in music. I'm always looking for a way to get back to radio, something I really love.
In 2023, Globoplay invited me to host a podcast, which is a kind of radio 2.0, called “Todos os Caminhos”, with Lama Padma Samten. There we talk about all kinds of subjects with guests from different areas. We wanted to bring a message of hope and overcoming to the listeners.
Angola
I lived in Angola from 2003 to 2006 and worked as a columnist, writing weekly for the country's most important newspaper (Jornal de Angola) and maintaining a radio program, “Lusofonando em Brasileiro”, on the state-owned RNA. I opened a cultural space in the Espaço Bahia restaurant in Luanda, the stage for numerous cultural programs, with an absolute emphasis on national production, hosting the country's greatest artists and expanding the possibilities of access to culture for both artists and the public.
Academic history and other studies
GRADUATE-LEVEL SPECIALIZATION
Logotherapy Applied to Education
Sociedade Brasileira de Logoterapia | São Paulo-BR | 1999-2009
B.A.
Philosophy
Centro Universitário Claretiano | São Paulo-BR | 2009-2011
TECHNICIAN
Music
Rio Música | Rio de Janeiro-BR | 1988-1994
RESEARCH GROUPS
Center for Jewish Philosophy Studies
Universidade de São Paulo | São Paulo-BR | 2020-2023
Geopo–Center for Political Geography Studies
Universidade de São Paulo | São Paulo-BR | 2012-2020
LEA–Laboratory for Asian Studies
Universidade de São Paulo | São Paulo-BR | 2012-2016
CEMAA–Center for Mesoamerican, Amazonian and Andean Studies
Universidade de São Paulo | São Paulo-BR | 2010-2011
PROLAM–Inter-Unit Postgraduate Program in Latin American Integration
Universidade de São Paulo | São Paulo-BR | 2010-2011
EXTENSION COURSES AND CONFERENCES
Themes: Economics, Political Economy and Latin America
FESP, USP, Claretiano | São Paulo | 2011-2012
OPEN COURSES, GROUPS AND PRACTICE MEETINGS
Spirituality in general and religions: Afro-Brazilian religions, Shaivism (one of the currents of religiosity in India), Islam, Orthodox Christianity
CURRICULUM VITAE
BIBLICAL AND JEWISH STUDIES
Rabbinic studies and Modern Hebrew
Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T.Meyer | Buenos Aires-AR | 2016-2021
Graduate-Level Latu Sensu Program in Biblical Archaeology and History of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean
Unasp (São Paulo-BR) | 2020-2021
Biblical Hebrew
Israel Institute of Biblical Studies/Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Jerusalem-IL) | online | 2019-2022
Family
My mother's name was Cida (z”l), the most talented woman in the Southern Hemisphere, and my father is Djavan, a singer and songwriter. My siblings are Max and João and, younger, from my father's second marriage, Sofia and Inácio.
I have three children: Tunis, Laurinha and Mali; Tunis and Tey gave me my dearest grandson, Martín. I have lived in São Paulo since 1995, where I raised my family.
We have a lot of musicians and visual artists in our family.
BIOGRAPHY
Professional experience
BIBLE TEACHER
Beit Midrash Massoret
São Paulo-SP | 2019-2023
Templo Beth El
São Paulo-SP | 2018
SHELICHAT TZIBUR (RELIGIOUS LEADER)
Beit Midrash Massoret
São Paulo-SP | 2019-2023
Congregação Judaica do Brasil
Rio de Janeiro-RJ | 1992-1994
SINGER AND SONGWRITER
Singer and songwriter with two CDs of original compositions
| 1989-present
Recordings and live performances with many artists from Brazil and the USA
| 1989-present
BIBLE TEACHER AND SHELICHAT TZIBUR (RELIGIOUS LEADER)
Independent, working as a guest in various places and platforms and also in her own spaces since 1992 to the present day
Skills
Languages (diverse levels of knowledge)
Portuguese (native)
LATIN
Spanish . French . Italian
ANGLO-SAXON
English
SEMITIC
Biblical Hebrew . Modern Hebrew . Arabic . Aramaic
SLAVIC
Russian
BANTU
Kimbundu