Mônica Spada e Sousa (

Bauru Bauru () is a Brazilian municipality located in the interior of São Paulo state, recognized as the most populous city in the Central-West region of São Paulo. It is one of the 19 municipalities comprising the Bauru Immediate Geographic Region ...

, September 28, 1960) Pags: 67-92 is an entrepreneur, executive director of Mauricio de Sousa Produções (MSP) and inspiration of her father,

Mauricio de Sousa Mauricio Araújo de Sousa (; born October 27, 1935), known artistically as Mauricio de Sousa or mononymously just as Mauricio, is a Brazilian cartoonist and businessman who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's co ...

, for the creation of the character Monica, of the

Monica and Friends ''Monica and Friends'' (), previously published as ''Monica's Gang'' in Anglophone territories and as ''Frizz and Friends'' in London, is a Brazilian comic book series and media franchise created by Mauricio de Sousa. The series originated in a c ...

Childhood

Mônica Sousa was born in

, daughter of designer and entrepreneur Mauricio de Sousa and Marilene Spada. She is the second daughter of the couple, who were also parents of Mariângela, Magali and Mauricio Spada, who died in 2016. In 1963, when she was two and a half years old, her father created the character for

Folha de S. Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...

, inspired by some traits of personality and the daughter's appearance: slightly toothy, short, fat and quarrelsome, besides carrying a stuffed rabbit, but of yellow color. The idea of creating a female character came after a journalist colleague of Mauricio said that the creator was

misogynist Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised ...

, because he created only male characters. The character's debut took place on March 3, 1963, in the Folha de S. Paulo ''Ilustrada'' section. Monica would discover herself to be the inspiration of the character at the age of 7 or 8, after a schoolmate told her that she was the character of the comic strips of Folha, which made her curious, and had her doubt confirmed by her father, but her acceptance was quick.

Career

At the age of 18, she started working at the Monica and Friends park store, became interested in sales, and moved to the commercial department some time later, being currently the sales executive director of Mauricio de Sousa Produções. Together with

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the righ ...

, Monica made a commitment to increase the influence of Monica and Friends to encourage female autonomy in girls of various ages, and created the ''Donas da Rua'' project in 2016. In 2017 she received the title of advisor to the ''Winning Women'' project, from ''EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women Brazil'' and was one of the winners of the 12º Prêmio Excelência Mulher 2016 (12th Women Excellence Award 2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Monica Brazilian people of Italian descent 20th-century Brazilian businesswomen 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Businesspeople from São Paulo 21st-century Brazilian businesswomen 21st-century Brazilian businesspeople 1960 births Living people People from Bauru