viernes, 30 de marzo de 2018

Julia Kristeva


(1941)

Born  24 June 1941 (age 74) (1941-06-24Sliven, Bulgaria


Alma mater  University of Sofia (and others)

Awards  Holberg International Memorial Prize Hannah Arendt Award for Political Thought VIZE 97 Prize

Era  Contemporary philosophy

Spouse  Philippe Sollers (m. 1967)

Parents  Stoyan Kristev, Christine Kristeva
Books  Powers of Horror, Desire in language, Black Sun: Depression and Mela, Strangers to Ourselves, Revolution in poetic language


Julia Kristeva ([kʁisteva]; Bulgarian: Юлия Кръстева; born 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a professor emeritus at the University Paris Diderot. The author of more than 30 books, including Revolution in Poetic LanguageTales of LoveBlack Sun: Depression and MelancholiaProust and the Sense of Time, the trilogy Female Genius, she has been awarded Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, the Holberg Prize, the Hannah Arendt Prize, and the Vaclav Havel Prize.
Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva site officiel
Kristeva became influential in international critical analysis, cultural studies and feminism after publishing her first book, Semeiotikè, in 1969. Her sizeable body of work includes books and essays which address intertextuality, the semiotic, and abjection, in the fields of linguistics, literary theory and criticism, psychoanalysis, biography and autobiography, political and cultural analysis, art and art history. She is prominent in structuralist and poststructuralist thought.


Kristeva is also the founder and head of the Simone de Beauvoir Prize committee.

Julia kristeva trange trang re



Life

Born in Sliven, Bulgaria to Christian parents, Kristeva is the daughter of a church accountant. Kristeva and her sister attended a Francophone school run by Dominican nuns. Kristeva became acquainted with the work of Mikhail Bakhtin at this time in Bulgaria. Kristeva went on to study at the University of Sofia, and while a postgraduate there obtained a research fellowship that enabled her to move to France in December 1965, when she was 24. She continued her education at several French universities, studying under Lucien Goldmann and Roland Barthes, among other scholars. On August 2, 1967, Kristeva married the novelist Philippe Sollers,  Philippe Joyaux.
Kristeva taught at Columbia University in the early 1970s, and remains a Visiting Professor. She has also published under the married name Julia Joyaux.

Work

After joining the 'Tel Quel group' founded by Sollers, Kristeva focused on the politics of language and became an active member of the group. She trained in psychoanalysis, and earned her degree in 1979. In some ways, her work can be seen as trying to adapt a psychoanalytic approach to the poststructuralist criticism. For example, her view of the subject, and its construction, shares similarities with Sigmund Freud and Lacan. However, Kristeva rejects any understanding of the subject in a structuralist sense; instead, she favors a subject always "in process" or "on trial". In this way, she contributes to the poststructuralist critique of essentialized structures, whilst preserving the teachings of psychoanalysis. She travelled to China in the 1970s and later wrote About Chinese Women (1977).

The "semiotic" and the "symbolic"

One of Kristeva's most important contributions is that signification is composed of two elements, the symbolic and the semiotic, the latter being distinct from the discipline of semiotics founded by Ferdinand de Saussure. As explained by Augustine Perumalil, Kristeva's "semiotic is closely related to the infantile pre-Oedipal referred to in the works of Freud, Otto Rank, Melanie Klein, British Object Relation psychoanalysis, and Lacan's pre-mirror stage. It is an emotional field, tied to the instincts, which dwells in the fissures and prosody of language rather than in the denotative meanings of words." Furthermore, according to Birgit Schippers, the semiotic is a realm associated with the musical, the poetic, the rhythmic, and that which lacks structure and meaning. It is closely tied to the "feminine", and represents the undifferentiated state of the pre-Mirror Stage infant.
Upon entering the Mirror Stage, the child learns to distinguish between self and other, and enters the realm of shared cultural meaning, known as the symbolic. In Desire in Language (1980), Kristeva describes the symbolic as the space in which the development of language allows the child to become a "speaking subject," and to develop a sense of identity separate from the mother. This process of separation is known as abjection, whereby the child must reject and move away from the mother in order to enter into the world of language, culture, meaning, and the social. This realm of language is called the symbolic and is contrasted with the semiotic in that it is associated with the masculine, the law, and structure. Kristeva departs from Lacan in the idea that even after entering the symbolic, the subject continues to oscillate between the semiotic and the symbolic. Therefore, rather than arriving at a fixed identity, the subject is permanently "in process". Because female children continue to identify to some degree with the mother figure, they are especially likely to retain a close connection to the semiotic. This continued identification with the mother may result in what Kristeva refers to in Black Sun (1989) as melancholia (depression), given that female children simultaneously reject and identify with the mother figure.
It has also been suggested (e.g., Creed, 1993) that the degradation of women and women's bodies in popular culture (and particularly, for example, in slasher films) emerges because of the threat to identity that the mother's body poses: it is a reminder of time spent in the undifferentiated state of the semiotic, where one has no concept of self or identity. After abjecting the mother, subjects retain an unconscious fascination with the semiotic, desiring to reunite with the mother, while at the same time fearing the loss of identity that accompanies it. Slasher films thus provide a way for audience members to safely reenact the process of abjection by vicariously expelling and destroying the mother figure.
Kristeva is also known for her adoption of Plato’s idea of the chora, meaning "a nourishing maternal space" (Schippers, 2011). Kristeva’s idea of the chora has been interpreted in several ways: as a reference to the uterus, as a metaphor for the relationship between the mother and child, and as the temporal period preceding the Mirror Stage. In her essay Motherhood According to Giovanni Bellini from Desire in Language (1980), Kristeva refers to the chora as a "non-expressive totality formed by drives and their stases in a motility that is full of movement as it is regulated." She goes on to suggest that it is the mother's body that mediates between the chora and the symbolic realm: the mother has access to culture and meaning, yet also forms a totalizing bond with the child.
Kristeva is also noted for her work on the concept of intertextuality.




Anthropology and psychology

Kristeva argues that anthropology and psychology, or the connection between the social and the subject, do not represent each other, but rather follow the same logic: the survival of the group and the subject. Furthermore, in her analysis of Oedipus, she claims that the speaking subject cannot exist on his/her own, but that he/she "stands on the fragile threshold as if stranded on account of an impossible demarcation" (Powers of Horror, p. 85).
In her comparison between the two disciplines, Kristeva claims that the way in which an individual excludes the abject mother as a means of forming an identity, is the same way in which societies are constructed. On a broader scale, cultures exclude the maternal and the feminine, and by this come into being.

Feminist

Kristeva has been regarded as a key proponent of French feminism together with Simone de Beauvoir, Hélène Cixous, and Luce Irigaray. Kristeva has had a remarkable influence on feminism and feminist literary studies in the US and the UK, as well as on readings into contemporary art although her relation to feminist circles and movements in France has been quite controversial. Kristeva made a famous disambiguation of three types of feminism in "Women's Time" in New Maladies of the Soul (1993); while rejecting the first two types, including that of Beauvoir, her stands are sometimes considered rejecting feminism altogether. Kristeva proposed the idea of multiple sexual identities against the joined code of "unified feminine language".

Denunciation of identity politics

Kristeva argues her writings have been misunderstood by American feminist academics. In Kristeva's view, it was not enough simply to dissect the structure of language in order to find its hidden meaning. Language should also be viewed through the prisms of history and of individual psychic and sexual experiences. This post-structuralist approach enabled specific social groups to trace the source of their oppression to the very language they used. However, Kristeva believes that it is harmful to posit collective identity above individual identity, and that this political assertion of sexual, ethnic, and religious identities is ultimately totalitarian.

Novelist

Kristeva wrote a number of novels that resemble detective stories. While the books maintain narrative suspense and develop a stylized surface, her readers also encounter ideas intrinsic to her theoretical projects. Her characters reveal themselves mainly through psychological devices, making her type of fiction mostly resemble the later work of Dostoevsky. Her fictional oeuvre, which includes The Old Man and the WolvesMurder in Byzantium, and Possessions, while often allegorical, also approaches the autobiographical in some passages, especially with one of the protagonists of Possessions, Stephanie Delacour—a French journalist—who can be seen as Kristeva's alter ego. Murder in Byzantium deals with themes from orthodox Christianity and politics; she referred to it as "a kind of anti-Da Vinci Code".

Honors

For her "innovative explorations of questions on the intersection of language, culture and literature", Kristeva was awarded the Holberg International Memorial Prize in 2004. She won the 2006 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought. She has also been awarded Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of Merit, and the Vaclav Havel Prize.

Scholarly reception

Roman Jakobson said that "Both readers and listeners, whether agreeing or in stubborn disagreement with Julia Kristeva, feel indeed attracted to her contagious voice and to her genuine gift of questioning generally adopted 'axioms,' and her contrary gift of releasing various 'damned questions' from their traditional question marks."
Roland Barthes comments that "Julia Kristeva changes the place of things: she always destroys the last prejudice, the one you thought you could be reassured by, could be take [sic] pride in; what she displaces is the already-said, the déja-dit, i.e., the instance of the signified, i.e., stupidity; what she subverts is authority -the authority of monologic science, of filiation."
Ian Almond criticizes Kristeva's ethnocentrism. He cites Gayatri Spivak's conclusion that Kristeva's book About Chinese Women "belongs to that very eighteenth century [that] Kristeva scorns" after pinpointing "the brief, expansive, often completely ungrounded way in which she writes about two thousand years of a culture she is unfamiliar with". Almond notes the absence of sophistication in Kristeva's remarks concerning the Muslim world and the dismissive terminology she uses to describe its culture and believers. He criticizes Kristeva's opposition which juxtaposes "Islamic societies" against "democracies where life is still fairly pleasant" by pointing out that Kristeva displays no awareness of the complex and nuanced debate ongoing among women theorists in the Muslim world, and that she does not refer to anything other than the Rushdie fatwa in dismissing the entire Muslim faith as "reactionary and persecutory".
In Intellectual Impostures (1997), physics professors Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont devote a chapter to Kristeva's use of mathematics in her writings. They argue that Kristeva fails to show the relevance of the mathematical concepts she discusses to linguistics and the other fields she studies, and that no such relevance exists.



Selected writings







  • Séméiôtiké: recherches pour une sémanalyse, Paris: Edition du Seuil, 1969. (English translation: Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, Oxford: Blackwell, 1980.)
  • La Révolution Du Langage Poétique: L'avant-Garde À La Fin Du Xixe Siècle, Lautréamont Et Mallarmé. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1974. (Abridged English translation: Revolution in Poetic Language, New York: Columbia University Press, 1984.)
  • About Chinese Women. London: Boyars, 1977.
  • Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
  • The Kristeva Reader. (ed. Toril Moi) Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.
  • In the Beginning Was Love: Psychoanalysis and Faith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987.
  • Black Sun: Depression and Melancholia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
  • Strangers to Ourselves. New York: Columbia University Press,1991.
  • Nations without Nationalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
  • New Maladies of the Soul. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
  • "Experiencing the Phallus as Extraneous." parallax issue 8, 1998.
  • Crisis of the European Subject. New York: Other Press, 2000.
  • Reading the Bible. In: David Jobling, Tina Pippin & Ronald Schleifer (eds). The Postmodern Bible Reader. (pp. 92–101). Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
  • Female Genius: Life, Madness, Words: Hannah Arendt, Melanie Klein, Colette: A Trilogy. 3 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001.
  • Hannah Arendt: Life is a Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001.
  • Hatred and Forgiveness. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  • The Severed Head: Capital Visions. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
  • Marriage as a Fine Art (with Philippe Sollers). New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

  • Other books on Julia Kristeva:






  • Irene Ivantcheva-Merjanska, Ecrire dans la langue de l'autre. Assia Djebar et Julia Kristeva. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2015.
  • Jennifer Radden, The Nature of Melancholy: From Aristotle to Kristeva, Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Megan Becker-Leckrone, Julia Kristeva And Literary Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
  • Sara Beardsworth, Julia Kristeva, Psychoanalysis and Modernity, Suny Press, 2004. (2006 Goethe Award Psychoanalytic Scholarship, finalist for the best book published in 2004.)
  • Kelly Ives, Julia Kristeva: Art, Love, Melancholy, Philosophy, Semiotics and Psychoanalysis, Crescent Moon Publishing Édition, 2010.
  • Kelly Oliver, Ethics, Politics, and Difference in Julia Kristeva's Writing, Routledge Édition, 1993.
  • Kelly Oliver, Reading Kristeva: Unraveling the Double-bind, Indiana University Press, 1993.
  • John Lechte, Maria Margaroni, Julia Kristeva: Live Theory , Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2005.
  • Noëlle McAfee, Julia Kristeva, Routledge, 2003.
  • Griselda Pollock (Guest Editor) Julia Kristeva 1966-1996Parallax Issue 8, 1998.
  • Anna Smith, Julia Kristeva: Readings of Exile and Estrangement, Palgrave Macmillan, 1996.
  • David Crownfield, Body/Text in Julia Kristeva: Religion, Women, and Psychoanalysis, State University of New York Press, 1992.

  • Novels







  • The Samurai: A Novel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.
  • The Old Man and the Wolves. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
  • Possessions: A Novel. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
  • Murder in Byzantium. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
  • Teresa, My Love: An Imagined Life of the Saint of Avila. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.


  • ALCHETRON






  • domingo, 25 de marzo de 2018

    Gisele Bündchen



    PESSOA

    Gisele Bündchen / Dois meses após dar à luz


    Gisele Bündchen

    by Patricia Bündchen, gisele's twin sister

    The country girl essence

    Gise, as she’s called by her family and close friends, and I were born on July 20, 1980 in Horizontina, a small town in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul. She’s the third daughter, and I’m the fourth. Our parents, Vânia and Valdir, had another two  girls after us. Growing up in a household with so many sisters was really special. We had a wonderful childhood and would play out in the street or among the trees, ride our bikes, or play volleyball. Both our parents worked to try to make ends meet and struggled to raise six  girls. Of course, the older ones helped take care of the younger sisters, and that’s how we  grew up. We learned early how to do things on our own and everyone chipped in with the household chores.
           One of Gisele’s favorite places was our  grandparent’s small farm, where she could ride on a horse-drawn wagon with  grandfather, milk the cows and collect fresh eggs with  grandmother, harvest strawberries from the vegetable  garden, and shuck corn to feed the animals. She has always embraced her deep connection to nature and the simple things in life. 
           Her love of animals also blossomed early. She was devoted to taking care of our dogs and cats and was especially drawn to horses. Of the six  girls, she was the most fearless. In fact, she was bold about everything, very adventurous and loved the adrenaline.
           As a child, Gisele was very active in different sports, from ballet to  gymnastics to track & field and volleyball. On the court, she stood out not only because of her height but also her devotion to the sport. Gise has always taken everything very seriously. She never missed practice and helped her teammates fire up for a  game and stay focused. During a  game, she was competitive and  gave it her all on the court.
           Even though being tall was  great for the sport, it didn’t do much for her self-esteem as a teenager living in a small town. Kids made fun of her and she was tagged with silly nicknames by the boys, such as Olive Oil, because she was tall and thin. And at parties, it was hard to find a boy her height to dance with.

    Breaking into fashion
      A year before her 15th birthday, in 1994, Gisele attended a modeling course with our sister Gabriela, some friends, and I. We wanted to  get ready for the Sweet 15 Debutante Ball the following year. The course ended with a trip to Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. We had never traveled to these big urban cities, and it was during this trip that scouts spotted Gisele in a mall and invited her to come to their modeling agency. She was reluctant in the beginning as she wanted to  go to an amusement park with the rest of the  girls, but she ended up  going with our mother to the agency.

          Ever since this very first encounter with the fashion world, which was totally unfamiliar to us, Gisele has never stopped. Agency staff saw that Gisele was the right type for modeling and urged her to start. My parents authorized her to do a photo book and later, during summer vacation, she flew to Sao Paulo to shoot her first fashion editorial as an aspiring model. That same year, mother saw a great opportunity to assess Gisele’s modeling potential by enrolling her in a big modeling pageant. Gi didn’t win, but she was named runner-up in the national stage and placed among the four finalists in the final stage at Ibiza, Spain.


          The thought of Gisele becoming a model affected the entire family because we didn’t know anything about this field. The profession caused a lot of insecurities and distrust, and the fact that Gi was only 14 at the time added to the family’s concerns. But after much thought and family meetings, which we always had whenever there was a problem or something to be discussed, and lots of conversations with the people at the agency, our parents authorized her to move to Sao Paulo.
          In 1995, she left her hometown on a 1,000-km bus journey to Sao Paulo and never returned to live at home again. Gisele traded her calm, simple country-girl life for the hustle and bustle of the big city. Her first challenge arose when she arrived in Sao Paulo. She was mugged and the cash that our dad had  given her for the first month in the city was stolen.
          Once settled in, she began her pilgrimage of castings and more castings. It was hard at the beginning because she lacked experience and wasn’t very articulate in the profession. But Gi was never one to  give up. She once told me she didn’t want to disappoint mom and dad as she had already  gained their trust to leave home. She knew deep inside she would make it.


    One step at a time – initial challenges

    No, no, no… you’re too young, your nose and chest are too big, you’re not the right type for this job… this is what she was told over and over again in the beginning of her career. Someone even told her she would never be on a magazine cover because of her big nose! Well, imagine that! Today she’s a covers record holder! Of course, this business is heartless with the  girls who  get into it at a tender age. Only those who stay strong and confident have a chance of making it.
          Still in ’95, Gisele traveled to Japan. This was where beginning models made some money to pay their heavy expenses back in Sao Paulo. It was particularly difficult for a family with another 5 kids to raise. When she came back, Gisele brought lots of  gifts for everyone, and every time she returned from a trip, her  generosity was evident.
          Unfortunately, mother couldn’t live in Sao Paulo with Gisele or  go with her on trips because she had another five  girls at home, one still quite young. But someone from the family would always  go visit her. Then, slowly, things started happening. She started shooting magazines for teen audiences, do runway shows, editorials and some advertising campaigns. Mother would save all the magazines in which Gi appeared, and the whole family was so proud of her.
          Next came the opportunity to live in New York. Though she didn’t speak English, there wasn’t a moment of hesitation about moving to N.Y. It was an opportunity not to be missed. Her first trip there was in 1996 and a year later, at 16, she moved permanently and once again started from scratch. The difference this time was that she was much more articulate and experienced as a model and knew how to live on her own.
          This was again a time of apprehension for the family. How could a 16-year-old  girl live alone abroad? Father asked the international agency for a business plan so he could check which paths Gisele’s career could take. He would always send one of the sisters to spend some time with her in N.Y. and offer her support. But Gi has always been self-sufficient, and she thought she was the one protecting everyone else. In fact, this is one of her traits since she was a child – protecting her sisters with all her might.
          Her career in New York took a while to take off, even though she went to many casting calls. She would  go all over the city looking for work opportunities and doing tryouts. Of course, there were some difficult times. She lived with many girls and sometimes found herself in embarrassing situations because her roommates would play practical jokes on her because she couldn’t speak English. Gi didn’t seem to mind, though, and took everything in stride. Her focus was on achieving her  goals.
          Gi’s persistence was rewarded after trying out for 43 different fashion shows and being chosen for only one of them. This single “Yes” was the opportunity she needed to showcase herself. People who have seen her on the catwalk say her presence is truly powerful. After this, she started collecting titles, such as “the body”, “the most beautiful woman”, “back to the curves”, “the most desired”… Her name appeared on magazine covers and everyone wanted to know who that fresh new face in fashion was.
          Gisele ushered in a big change in the era’s stereotype. It was out with the pale-faced, pencil-thin bodies with dark under-eye circles and traces of androgyny, dubbed “heroin chic”, and in with the sexy look, healthy body, curves and a  golden tan. In fact, Gisele would sometimes come in for a fashion show with a slightly darker tan and  get chided for it. This natural and healthier look of hers slowly incorporated itself into fashion.

    Acknowledgment and hard-won success

    At 19, in 1999 she was elected the best model in the world, turning her life upside-down. Her home was inside a plane. As she was constantly traveling and was away from her family, she bought herself a little dog and named her Vida, meaning life. She was Gi’s  great companion and brought her comfort in times of loneliness. She also  got a star tattoo on her wrist, saying it was her  guiding star.
    Gisele definitely had something different about her. Her beauty wasn’t perfect or angelical. Her facial features were well-defined and her personality was strong. And she was friendly, cordial and felt deep empathy with those around her. To Gisele, it was important to always treat people equally and appreciate the work done by everyone at the studio. And she was always eager to learn. Today, people say she photographs so well because she knows a little about everything, from lighting to the perfect angle to delivering exactly what the client wants. Another thing that people always point out to me is how professional and committed Gisele is. To her, a modeling career has always been her profession, and it deserves putting forth her very best. She learned how to be flexible and not take things personally despite working in a field where people’s egos can be hard to handle.
    At the pinnacle of her career, she enjoyed accomplishment after accomplishment. At the time, a model was either fashion or commercial, but Gisele broke this standard. She was cool, super fashion and did commercial jobs all at the same time. She was seen as a chameleon because of her ability to transform herself. She could be beautiful and  glamorous for one job, happy-go-lucky in another and more boyish in yet another. Sometimes she would shoot without any makeup and even then, she was impressive. It was like she had this special inner  glow.
    Our family was up-close and personal about Gisele, and it took a while for us to understand the magnitude of Gisele’s accomplishments and how the fashion world works. Handling the press, fans… everything was so different. Once when Gisele was in Brazil, we went to the mall – something quite normal for everyone – but we were unable to leave the mall without being assisted by many security personnel. That’s when it all fell into place! It was hard dealing with this in the beginning; after all, we had  grown up in a small community where everyone knows each other and you kept your door unlocked. We had to learn the hard way that we needed to protect ourselves from harassment and that not everything is rosy and  glamorous in this business. But we’ve always relied on each other for support.
    Gisele made it to the top of the fashion world. She posed for the world’s  greatest photographers,  graced uncountable covers and did editorials for the top fashion magazines, walked the runway and did campaigns for the most illustrious fashion brands, sang, danced, did cameo appearances in movies, and closed the biggest business contracts in history.



    Übermodel – one of a kind
    Her path was so outstanding that a new term had to be coined to define her presence in fashion. The term “Übermodel” was born, meaning more than a super model. A British newspaper once wrote: “there are supermodels and there is Gisele Bündchen”. A model spends her life trying to  get on the cover of Vogue America, for example. But in 1999 alone, Gisele graced the magazine’s cover three times and during her career, she appeared 11 times. And ’til today, she continues surprising everyone and keeps pushing the envelope in the fashion business. She recently starred a campaign for a famous perfume manufacturer which had never before used a model, only the most famous actors and actresses of all time, such as Marilyn Monroe and Brad Pitt. These are only a few examples of Gisele’s relevance in the business.


    In 2003, at 23, Gi was tired of her hectic life, so she took a break from her career, spent some time in Horizontina, traveled to Africa with our parents, made time for herself and just chilled out. As she started working at a young age and took on adult responsibilities, she missed out on a stage of life that I personally found to be the most fun – the teen years. From 14 thru 20, it was all about work. She never cared for parties but enjoyed  going out with friends. Her priority was work and she was bent on being successful.
    During this time of introspection, Gi had time to think. She felt there was something  greater behind all of her accomplishments and had a deep yearning for reclaiming her roots and the simple things, such as being in touch with nature. That was where she usually took refuge to renew her energies and find her center.
    In 2004, she visited an indian tribe on the Xingu River and saw up close the problems the community faced due to deforestation and polluted rivers. Since then, she has championed environmental causes and supported countless projects, including our family’s own project for cleaning up the water in our home town, named the Projeto Água Limpa (Clean Water Project). She was acknowledged by the U.N. for her efforts and named a Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment by UNEP.
    But Gisele’s career didn’t stop there. Just when we thought she would slow down or  go into another business, she would always surprise us and reinvent herself. She even did cameos for movies and recorded two songs. Her lasting success is closely tied to the choices she has made along the way. She has built a solid career based on  good values, integrity, and a positive outlook on life. She has become a true icon in a field where short-lived careers abound. Where as before she was hired as a model to interpret a role, a concept in a campaign, today she is chosen because she adds value to a brand. The concept is GISELE.
    And the coolest thing about all of this is that despite the fame and the huge success, Gi hasn’t lost her essence. Indeed, she is still down-to-earth and continually seeks to improve herself as a person. For us, she is our source of inspiration and  good examples.
    Today her priority is her family. Gisele is the mother of Benjamim and Vivian and married to Tom Brady, but she continues chasing her dreams and working to make them a reality. As she always says: “dreams drive us, that’s why it’s so important to never stop dreaming”.