Hello, I’m Stefanni Brasil. Brasil is my real name, how cool is that?! :)

I am the co-founder of hexdevs, a Senior Developer at Thoughtbot, and a core maintainer of faker-ruby.

I am a self-taught developer, avid reader, and cats lover. I write here on my blog, and at the hexdevs blog. I also write at thoughtbot’s blog.

I enjoy working with existing codebases, and improving the processes and culture of teams.

I’ve been giving lightning talks at local meetups, RubyConf Sao Paulo, RailsConf. In 2021, I delivered a talk at RubyConf on “Perceptual Learning == More Ruby Experts?”. For Speaking inquiries, please see my Speaking page.

I am a huge believer that everyone is capable of achieving whatever they want for their lives. I’m driven by curiosity, compassion and kindness.

Talks, Podcasts and Papers

My work has been featured on a couple podcasts, conferences, meetups, blogs and scientific papers:

Fun facts about me

I am from Brazil and I live Canada ⛰️🌧️

I’ve worked with lots of things in the past: as academic research, writer and translator; English and French teacher. In 2015, I decided to change my career and work as a Software Developer. Since then, I’ve worked at startups, consulting agencies, and contributed to open source projects.

I love learning, including how to learn more effectively. I like to see how much I can change, and how much I can become a better version of myself. And help others avoid the mistakes I made (and continue making).

Once I get interested in something, I’m pretty good at extracting what’s useful for me and changing my habits until I get a positive feedback loop. A few things I’m proud to have learned by myself:

  • To be kind to myself, and take care of my mental health.
  • I learned English when I was a teenager by listening to songs and watching movies. My family didn’t have lots of money to invest in my Education. Also, I lived in such a tiny city that school languages didn’t even exist.
  • I adopted a whole foods plant-based diet at the end of 2019. I’m super healthy effortlessly. It’s good to not contribute to animal cruelty.
  • I rewired my brain to have a growth mindset and be more positive. I even read self-help books now. All thanks to CBT - Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy and Mindfulness Meditation (and lots of books and coaching). Update in 2023: I’ve started taking anti-depressants, and that has also made a huge positive difference in my wellbeing.
  • I read a lot about anything. I basically eat books for breakfast. I also apply what I learn from them, and share my lessons throughout my writing.
  • I have a degree in Portuguese & French Literature. I also won a scholarship to study at the University of Coimbra - Portugal - for 2 years. I loved spending my time researching Science Fiction and Media Culture.
  • I learned how to code when I was finishing my Literature degree. I enrolled in a Computer Science degree later but dropped it after 1 year to achieve my dream of moving abroad.
  • I’m on my path to being the first millionaire in my family. I want to democratize Mental Health and Coaching services. I believe that gaining economic power is key to do the changes I want to see in the world.
  • I love exercising! I run, I ride my bike, I do yoga, I do lots of bodyweight exercises, hiking.

I am @stefannibrasil on Twitter. Say hi :)

If you have something interesting to ask or to discuss, you can find me at stefanni at hexdevs dot com.