Carolina Perez Founder

Carolina was born an explorer, sharing the travel spirit with her mother Teresa – her inspiration and with whom she worked side by side for 16 years at Teresa Perez Tours in São Paulo.
Carolina set off solo in 2009 when she founded Travelweek Sao Paulo and some years later it was acquired by ILTM Reed Exhibitions.

After a sabbatical period, she was ready to start a new venture. In 2016 in Verona, profoundly inspired by the opera Nabucco from Giuseppe Verdi, Carolina came up with DUCO Italy. DUCO was born aiming to uncover the beauty of Italy and its traditions.
A destination oriented initiative focused on the high end travels, in a boutique event format.

Along the past 5 years DUCO’s distinctive format caused a very positive impact in the upscale tourism in Italy.

In 2021, DUCO sets new ground expanding its mission towards France - a land full of history, bravery and notorious for its hospitality excellence.
DUCO France keeps its launch during daunting times revealing the audacity and courage that distinguish the French spirit.

Born and raised in São Paulo, Carolina is a world traveler and a dual Brazilian-Italian citizen. She takes great joy in creating and contributing to tourism in Italy and France.

Carolina lives in Lisbon, enjoys family time cycling and being by the ocean and in the mountains with her husband, daughter, son, and three stepchildren.

Camila Mendes Vice President

While Camila was studying for her degree in communication and advertising, she began her journey in the tourism industry as a marketing intern for Teresa Perez Tours.

Her passion for event planning was sparked when she joined Carolina´s new venture, Travelweek Sao Paulo, and then stayed on for five years after it was acquired by Reed Exhibitions, at ILTM events portfolio.
Camila and Carolina’s stars crossed once again when, after a period of self-discovery through astrology, Camila joined DUCO in March 2019.

Methodical and bossy, Camila enjoys leading from behind the scenes. But when it’s time to relax, she appreciates reading, spinning, chocolate and champagne!

Flavia Brutti Communications Director

Patricia Costa Commercial Director

The art of hospitality and gracious hosting has always been a hallmark of Patrícia’s family. Born in Brazil, the daughter of an urban architect and a sociologist, she would always spend unforgettable moments around a table, sharing delicacies, engaging in good conversation, and creating cherished memories with friends and family.

Having graduated in business in Brazil and hotel management in Portugal, her professional journey evolved from boutique hotels to major hotel chains, particularly Accor and IHG, where she assumed roles as a Director of Sales.

Patrícia proudly joins DUCO as the Commercial Director, with the opportunity to contribute to the summit’s ongoing growth. During her free time, she will be found at beachfront CrossFit sessions every morning, followed by a refreshing swim and sharing family moments with her two teenagers and husband.

Duna Della Santa Exhibitor Relations

Born just a few meters from the sea, in a small fisherman´s village in the northeast of Brazil, she spent her first year barefoot and making sand castles on the beach. What inspired her parents to name her “Duna” were the infinite sand dunes that surrounded them.

Half Brazilian, half American, Duna lived in Sao Paulo most of her life, and her love for travelling and hospitality instigated her to get a degree in hotel management.

After working for many years with events at a Brazilian-Italian family’s hotel brand, she decided to fulfill her life-long dream and travelled to Florence, where she lived for almost 03 years working with tourism.

Daily espressos, morning cornettos, and delicious wine tastings are what brought her to DUCO. Back in São Paulo, Duna aspired to keep close contact with the Italian culture, as well as to incorporate France to her wanderlust.

During her free time, you will probably find Duna sunbathing at the beach, reading a book, out dancing with her friends, or researching maps in a quest to find new cultures and places on the globe to visit.

Isadora Piccoli Exhibitor Relations

Isadora was born and raised in the big metropolis of São Paulo, in a family of Italians and Portuguese’s descendants, a home always full of love, art and food!

At a very young age Isadora was taught the beauty of travelling and learning new cultures. Graduated in International Relations and specialized in Cultural Management, her career passed through foreign trade and planning art exhibitions until she found the high-end tourism niche and has been working within that since 2017. Having experienced different areas in the market and lived in Brazil, United States, France, Morocco and now Portugal, Isadora have joined DUCO bringing everything she learned in her suitcase.

Isadora is a true urban, so you’ll probably meet her in a Nouvelle Vague’s movie section, an art opening or, as a good foodie, in a trendy restaurant. If you want to invite her to do something, she never says no to brunch!

Cíntia Kobayashi Exhibitors Relations Administrative

Milena Calzoni Buyer Relations

The travel bug bit Milena early. As a kid, she spent her holidays traveling to Italy and United States to visit relatives. Not surprisingly, she decided to study Hospitality Management in college. Since then, she had had fantastic experiences working on the luxury travel market, from international hotel chains to a French OTA.

Milena lived in 9 different countries and speaks 5 languages - currently on a mission to learn her 6th language! You can really say she is a citizen of the world.

A Brazilian living in Barcelona, Milena assists DUCO in selecting the top travel advisors to attend the summit.

Rafaela Branco Buyer Relations

Natália Schwarz Marketing

Born and raised in a small town in the Brazilian countryside, Natália got the travel bug when she was quite young, influenced by her parents who didn’t miss a chance to hit the road.

These unique childhood experiences inspired her to get a degree in Tourism. Inside her luggage, you will now find 10+ years of experience in luxury hospitality, acquired while working as a travel agent and designing the most incredible journeys for her clients.

As a citizen of the world, she loves nature and is always up for an adventure! Fun fact: she collects lots of sunset photographs (her favorite time of the day) from her travels all over the world.

Lisieux Baccaro Marketing

Growing up in the countryside of Brazil, Lisieux always wanted to live and travel to different places. After finishing her post-graduation in her hometown, she decided to start a little adventure and moved to Bahia, and from there, she never stopped moving. She spent some years in Rome, Sicily, São Paulo, and finally found another home in Lisbon.

Lisieux worked for more than 14 years as a travel designer in the industry, always dedicated to high-end customers, before joining DUCO Travel Summit as a part of the Marketing Team, a passion she discovered during her many summits, travels, and the people she had the pleasure to meet in all this time.

She is a swimmer, a great fan of movies, soundtracks, concerts, airports, and her daughter, who is currently living in Italy, which makes her travel to Rome as much as possible.

Lucilene Neves Finance Director

Born and raised in the vibrant São Paulo, carrying the warm Brazilian soul and a big smile on her face.

Lucilene has a brilliant background in Accounting and MBA in business management, using numbers and spreadsheets to develop prosperous businesses.

For 10 years as a Finance Consultant, she made a great career. After living in the US for a while she decided to make a bold move and joined the high-end tourism industry working for Travelweek Sao Paulo, then as Finance Manager of the Luxury portfolio at ILTM Reed Exhibitions for more than six years.

Nowadays, Lucilene is DUCO's Finance Director and her purpose of life is to make meaningful changes in people's life and travel the world!

Vanessa Kitamura Administrative

Vanessa is a Sansei, a third-generation Brazilian of Japanese descent. She remembers visiting her father in Japan at the age of seven and how that journey across cultures and continents sparked a passion for travel.

After graduating with a degree in tourism, she started her career working in a hotel before joining Teresa Perez Tours where for eight years she organized once-in-a-lifetime vacations.

She recently came on board the DUCO team and is keen to fulfill her dream of exploring Italy.

Adriana Percussi Event Planner