She started as an intern with a fear of the ocean. Now she's a scuba diver and environmental compliance leader.
Cleysiane Sousa used to be afraid of water — the idea of jumping into a river or the ocean “gave me butterflies in my stomach.”
So she took up scuba diving and whitewater rafting to conquer her fears head-on. “It was a way to challenge myself and connect with nature,” she says. “I still get butterflies, but in the end, everything is OK.”
For Cleysiane, the connection only makes sense. As Cargill’s environmental compliance director for material and waste management programs, she helps drive compliance and promotes waste reduction efforts. She ensures our facilities remain good neighbors in our community and good stewards of the environment.
It started with water: as an intern, she helped pilot a project to reuse wastewater at our Uberlandia, Brazil complex. That grew into Project Acquarius, an ambitious effort that cut the plant’s water use by 30%, a major milestone toward our global water sustainability goals.
Twelve years later, her responsibilities cover the safe, responsible and sustainable management of chemicals, hazardous materials and waste worldwide.
It’s a big job, and one where the safety our people, our communities and the natural world are all at stake.
“We have to think about what we’re bringing into our facilities, how we manage those materials, what we produce, and how our activities affect people, communities, and the planet,” she says. “ We are generating the capabilities and expertise to get to zero harm.”
Success means navigating a global patchwork of legal and regulatory requirements that cover everything our facilities are receiving, producing and shipping. She’s working to build expertise and best practices across the company.
“We are in the beginning of the journey,” she says. “We have the opportunity to take big steps to improve, and I’m proud of what we’re doing.”
Cleysiane at Fernando de Noronha, an island nature preserve off the coast of Brazil.
A chemical engineer by training, Cleysiane’s interest in stewardship isn’t strictly professional — she’s an avid traveler who favors ecotourism destinations in pristine natural settings.
And her trips are rarely strictly recreational. On one a vacation to Fernando de Noronha — a group of breathtaking protected islands off the coast of Brazil — she spent a week hiking, diving, canoeing and watching dolphins at sunrise. But she also took the opportunity to learn about the programs that protect the region, from waste management rules to restrictions on plastic to the taxes and regulations that underpin the entire system.
“I was able to see how it all works,” she says. “Every trip I take, I learn something. I learn about conservation, I learn about how people see and interact with these natural resources. I learn about the challenges.”
As a native of Uberlandia who still lives there (she was supposed to move to Minneapolis before the pandemic hit this year), Cleysiane hopes to motivate more Latinas and Latinos to build their careers in Cargill.
She says she’s never felt limited by her identity — only by her willingness to jump in.
“Put in your mind that there is no barrier for you,” she says. “Do not carry prejudice with yourself. Develop yourself, and believe in yourself.”