At 53, Simone Is Reinventing Her Life — Again

After a lifetime of change,  once again Simone  Cavalcante, 53, is at a turning point —  ready to transform her life, both professionally and personally.

After nearly three decades of teaching Portuguese at American institutions, including at the University of Oregon and the University of Pennsylvania, she is preparing to step beyond academia building on hands-on leadership experience from leading a nonprofit in Portugal that supports the LGBT community.  This May, she will complete a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership with an emphasis in environmental sustainability, with the goal of building a new career grounded in impact.

Simone, who spent several years in Lisbon studying Portuguese literature, is exploring opportunities in Portugal’s growing nonprofit sector and in the private sector, where she hopes to lead sustainability initiatives. She is also open to working in the United States. “All up in the air,” she says.

Reinvention is not new to Simone. At 17, she moved to the United States with her father after her mother’s death from cancer, a loss that forced her to navigate grief and identity at a young age.

“When I came to the US, it was winter, so it was a drastic change… I had never seen snow. I attended Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. Everything was different, and my English was not very good either. So I was very insecure.”

Two years later, she returned to Brazil for university, even as she held onto a long-term vision of building her life in the United States.

The years following her mother’s death were marked by confusion and emotional isolation as she tried to make sense of her experiences without the person who had grounded her. Over time, she learned to accept—and embrace—who she was and who she was not.

She remembers her mother as a source of unwavering acceptance. “I knew from an early age that I was different, but my mom cherished it,” she says. Her relationship with her father was more complicated, but over time, they rebuilt their bond. Today, she looks forward to celebrating her graduation with him and his wife in Philadelphia.

“Looking back, how courageous I was to pursue my degree and put myself out there, even though I was not 100% sure what I should answer, what I should say, and now, when I look back, it has been more than 30 years.”

But as she looks further into the future, her heart remains in Brazil. Simone has learned to view her country with empathy. She left her country not because she disliked it, but because she felt that studying and working abroad would give her the insights needed to better understand it.