Suzana Castro, who graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree and later earned her MBA in Finance, balances her life as a dedicated mother of four (two daughters and two cats!) and a passionate tennis and beach tennis player, with a dynamic career as a Director, General Manager at Uber. Her professional journey is a story of evolution and adaptability. After a decade in finance, Suzana joined Uber in 2019, leading the Analytics team for Community Operations in LATAM. Her role evolved rapidly, taking her from learning the ropes of Mobility and Delivery to managing Brazil’s New Verticals as General Manager. Today, as the GM for Uber Direct in Brazil, Suzana is at the forefront of innovation in the fast-paced world of Uber. Dive into her story and discover how she blends personal passions with professional excellence, constantly navigating new challenges.
What is Uber Direct?
“Uber Direct is our white-label, delivery-as-a-service, last-mile solution that allows merchants to add-on express delivery of the goods sold on their own channels to their clients. Clients connect to Uber so they can access our technology to connect with the closest courier, a very efficient way of scaling deliveries and surprising their customers.”
There is a misconception that since we don’t have Eats in Brazil, we don’t have any delivery options, but we do! What are some of these options?
“We have a wide variety of delivery options, especially now that Cornershop is fully incorporated in our Uber Eats app. People can order their groceries and so many other items such as pet supplies and pharma. With Uber Direct, we allow companies to offer express delivery to their customers. Our clients are mainly restaurants, pharmacy chains, pet supplies stores, and grocery stores, but we can offer this service to any other businesses as well, as we already have the technology to quickly and efficiently deliver the tools they need.”
Why should people work on the Uber Direct team?
“Uber Direct is a relatively new business at Uber and is growing fast, which makes it an incredible opportunity to build something new in a big company. A start-up within a more established company. Given the momentum, the Uber Direct routine is very dynamic and engaging as we learn every day, adapt the product to what we see for merchant needs, and constantly build strong relationships with merchants.”
What is most exciting to you about your current role?
“Managing a business that is growing at a lightning-fast pace is truly rewarding and it is a sign that we are going in the right direction, combined with the excitement of everything that is still ahead of us given the still early stage of the product. Making decisions as we build the last-mile market has been an incredible experience.”
You’ve made a few career moves at Uber. How has each role set you up for the next?
“I always say that every experience counts, there is always something to be leveraged as we progress in our careers. My other frequently given advice is to always keep increasing your scope. Besides learning new things, it can open a variety of new doors. In my case at Uber, when I was the LATAM Head of Analytics & Insights on the Community Operations team, I saw an opportunity to ask for additional scope and also lead the Community Operations <> Operations Regional Managers, where I learned how the Operations teams worked and the way businesses were managed at Uber. This role directly prepared me to lead my step on the Brazil New Verticals business. The new role (GM NV Brazil) gave 3 new scopes (New Verticals Brazil, Cornershop integration, and Direct), and after many changes in the Delivery business in the country and with the potential Direct was showing, I was then the best person to put in place to manage Direct. Today, Direct is an incipient business that is the third largest globally for delivery.”
Do you have any advice for other women who aspire to be business leaders? How did you drive your own growth?
“Go after the opportunities you are interested in; don´t wait for them to come to you. Ask for new things. Never wait to be 100% ready for something new. That moment might never arrive, so take risks, challenge yourself, and use past experiences as the base for future challenges. Do it for yourself! Believing you are capable of growing is already winning half of the battle.”
Why did you join Uber and why do you stay?
“I joined Uber because of its fast-paced environment and value proposition. Uber has democratized convenience, which resonated with me in the way I want to contribute to society. When moving from finance to another segment, I wanted to ensure I would be at a dynamic company, and after taking a chance at Uber, I am happy to report that I was right with this assessment. Even after 4 years, every day is still dynamic, interesting, challenging, and rewarding. Uber’s extremely fair and welcoming working culture, populated with brilliant minds all around has created an incredible experience that excites me each day. There are so many challenges left to solve and I want to be here to help discover and launch those solutions.”
Are you a part of any Employee Resource Groups?
“In the past 4 years, I have sponsored a community for analytics enablement and currently sponsor the Equal at Uber Employee Resource Group, Uber’s community for socioeconomic inclusion, with mentoring and coaching. My goal is to help those around me find growth opportunities, prepare them for their next challenge, and ensure each mentee has personal and professional support, regardless of their social conditions and background.”
What Uber value resonates with you most and why?
““Go get it”, is the spirit at Uber. We are a dynamic, efficient, non-bureaucratic, and non-hierarchical company, and everyone is part of the building. This spirit is what enables us to always move quickly in the right direction together.”
Posted by Uber
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