Lúcia Mees

Stanford Graduate School of Business

“Driven by curiosity, optimism, and purposeful action, and committed to building unlikely realities that change the world for the better.”

Hometown: Florianópolis, Brazil

Fun Fact About Yourself: Music is very important to me, so I am always looking for new concerts to go to – even if last minute – and try to create a different playlist for every moment in life or mood. This means that my taste is all over the place, going from techno to Hans Zimmer movie soundtracks. I am also working on producing my own music as a hobby, and I’m excited to see where that goes.

Undergraduate School and Major: Duke University, where I majored in Electrical and Computer Engineering with minors in Computer Science and Finance

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I was the Vice-President at IPM, a govtech enterprise in Brazil present in the lives of over 30 million people. There, we built the software ecosystem through which hundreds of Brazilian cities and their public services run – from healthcare and education to taxes and accounting.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Stanford GSB’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Stanford’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and close-knit student community were the deciding factors for me. I grew up in an innovation hub in Brazil and had been working in technology since graduating from college, so coming to Silicon Valley to immerse myself in its startup ecosystem was the next logical step. At the GSB, there were a couple of opportunities that really caught my attention, such as the experiential learning programs such as Lean Launchpad and Startup Garage, and practical summer experiences such as GMIX, Botha Chan, and Impact Design Immersion Fellowship (IDIF). I am a firm believer that we learn best by doing, so it was essential for me to find an MBA program that balanced the academic experience with more hands-on experiences.

Two other things made the GSB the clear choice for me: its close-knit and genuine community, and its balance between personal and professional development. The GSB is unique in the way that so much of the experience is student-led and concentrated in a single block where all the classrooms and residences are located, which creates a welcoming but intense environment. Here, because we are living so many things together at the same time, it’s easy to feel like you have been friends with your classmates for years rather than months. It also impressed me how self-aware and selfless the GSB community is. From Global Study Trips to candid conversations and feedback about our most ambitious goals, it is clear how much effort and intention each of us puts into this experience, which makes it so rewarding and inspiring.

What has been the most important thing that you’ve learned at Stanford GSB so far? Great leadership isn’t about being the one who knows everything or has done the most for the team. At Stanford GSB, I’ve learned that great leaders are the ones who create an environment where others feel empowered to bring their best ideas forward, achieving outcomes together that surpass what could be done individually. This requires being vulnerable, authentic, showing genuine curiosity, and embracing our lows as much as our highs. It’s about listening deeply, asking the right questions, and knowing when to step back so others can step up. Here, I have learned to emphasize principled, innovative, and empathetic leadership to drive meaningful change in my communities, think globally, and lead in a way that is true to myself. In a way, this has also taught me to understand my areas for growth more clearly, embracing vulnerability without fear.

What course, club or activity have you enjoyed the most so far at Stanford GSB? The highlight of my academic experience so far is the course Building and Managing Sales Organizations, which I am taking this quarter with Dannie Herzberg and Joshua Leslie. The course is centered around a series of case studies covering challenges that companies at different stages of growth – from early-stage startups to more consolidated enterprises – face when releasing new products, entering new markets, hiring, or making overall growth strategy decisions. Usually, the case protagonist will come talk to us in class, such was the case with Brian Halligan, the co-founder and executive chairperson of Hubspot. In addition, Dannie and Joshua bring their own insights and complement the cases through their own experiences building and managing sales teams. This creates a combination of highly applicable and relevant content that could be ready to be applied in a work setting outside of the GSB, as a founder or business leader.

What quality best describes your MBA classmates you’ve met so far? Give an example why this is true. Relentlessness. My classmates at Stanford GSB embody a rare combination of drive and genuine curiosity. They aren’t just ambitious, but rather constantly seek to understand different perspectives, challenge their assumptions, and explore ideas that many would dismiss as unlikely. These are the kind of people who find a way to move forward even when all doors seem to be closed, and who will keep a positive attitude even when it’s the 11th hour working on the same initiative. This creates an environment where it’s easy to feel empowered, creating a collective “go for it” attitude where everyone pushes one another to aim higher. I would also say this displays a level of selflessness I have rarely seen anywhere else.  People are genuinely invested in one another’s success, offering their time, energy and knowledge without expecting anything in return. Whether it’s staying late to help a classmate prepare for an interview or providing honest feedback to help a friend navigate one of many life challenges, there’s a shared sense of belonging and generosity.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: One project that was deeply meaningful to me was launching Dara, an AI ecosystem for governments in Brazil with applications in healthcare, education, and general public services. Some of its most interesting features included predicting heart attacks in our public healthcare system, forecasting demand and planning education infrastructure, and servicing hundreds of public services as an AI agent over WhatsApp. What caught my attention was its potential for large-scale impact, as our existing products were already reaching over 30 million people, and its focus on AI for the public sector, which was unique in the market. Usually, companies would not even think about investing in emerging technologies for governmental applications until years after implementing them in the private sector, while our goal was to work where the greatest possibility for change and positive impact was.

For me, this was also an opportunity to step up and take on a leadership role on a much larger scale, going out of my comfort zone by working in marketing and go-to-market, which I had no previous experience in, with a team much more experienced than me, and in a product that at the time was the first-of-its-kind (and our most important launch to date). All of this in an incredibly compressed timeframe: less than a month between being assigned the leadership role of a product that still did not have a name, and launching what then became Dara. Today, this ecosystem fulfills over 150 million citizen demands per year and grows at an impressive rate, which means more and more people are able to access the governmental services they need whenever they need it, at no cost, and in a way that is so convenient that it rivals that of B2C companies.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I came to the GSB knowing I wanted to leave a positive mark on this community, giving it back to support others the way I felt supported by the school and our class. This has motivated me to become a part of the Student Association Academic Committee since my very first week on campus, where I get to work directly with the Deans and other MBA students on improving the academic experience for all of us currently at the GSB and the future classes to come. What has made this experience particularly special to me is knowing that we are living in a moment of profound change in education, particularly with the rise of AI, shifting geopolitical relations, and increasing automation. All of these factors are reshaping how we learn, work, and lead, and I feel privileged to be able to contribute to shaping an experience that is so transformational for so many of us.

What has been your best memory as an MBA so far? People have been a key aspect of my experience at the GSB so far, so it’s natural that my best memories revolve around quality time spent with my classmates – many of whom I consider to be some of my closest friends. I have been intentional about getting to know the GSB community beyond the academic setting, which has enabled me to learn a great deal about new fields, explore new entrepreneurship ideas, and make new friends that I hope to stay in touch with for life. It often feels like it does not matter how unlikely an idea might seem, because at the GSB there will always be others to push you even further and come onboard with you. From our Global Study Trip to Shanghai and Hong Kong, where we got to meet some of the leading technology companies in Asia, to candid conversations and feedback about our most ambitious goals, it is clear how much effort and intention each of us puts into this experience, which makes it so rewarding and inspiring.

What advice would you give to a prospective applicant looking to join the Stanford GSB Class of 2026? Invest time into finding what really makes you unique, what drives you, and what it is that you want to leave for the world. So many people will put in a lot of time and effort into trying to guess what the Admissions Office is looking for, but there is no such thing as a “type” of MBA student at the GSB. Our class is incredibly diverse, but we are all similar in the way that we understand and celebrate what makes us who we are, and we have bold ideas of what we want to do next. Getting to this level of self-awareness and reflection takes time, but it is immensely valuable and rewarding. And don’t be afraid to lean into the parts of your story that may seem unconventional. Often, what you perceive as different or unexpected is what makes you memorable.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE STANFORD GSB MBA CLASS OF 2026