Meet the Wuillaume-Esteves Family!
Globetrotters and artists.
The Collective Old Oak is home to an amazing and diverse community. It brings together more than 500 people from around the world, from all walks of life. Together they create a rich network of perspectives and experiences. Continuing our series We Are The Collective, our community members tell us their stories.
Today we’re featuring our first ever family living at The Collective Old Oak — freelance interpreter Lucilia, photographer Ricardo and their lovely daughter Anna Clara. And here’s the kicker — this time, they’re interviewing each other. They asked each other some personal and intriguing questions.
Ricardo: Lucilia, tell me the one thing that happened to you and changed your life for the better.
Lucilia: I was born in Brazil from a Brazilian mother and a French father, with English origins. When I was a freshman, my parents sent me to London to learn English. It was my first trip abroad and, even though the language school took most of my day and I stayed in a lovely host family, this trip opened doors that guided my entire future life. I know it sounds silly but I learned English so fast, that one fine day, I realised that I understood all the lyrics of a song I adored. It was mind blowing!
Also, a miracle took place and my shyness vanished. I learned to be more confident and take risks. Getting in contact with my French and English origins made me realise how tiny the world that I had been living was. When
I got back to Brazil, I slowly and unconsciously took steps that led me to quit medical school and work in the hotel and hospitality industry. Later, at 27, I left for Europe again and learned Italian and French and entered the incredible universe of the simultaneous interpreting. That has been my profession for more than 25 years.
Ricardo: Lucilia, imagine that you wouldn’t need to work for money anymore, just for pleasure. What would you do?
Lucilia: Oh lá, lá! So many things! I’m fascinated by art, and it would be great to study art history and work in a museum or art gallery. I also love reading, so a job at a library would suit me well. I can see myself talking for hours about the books I loved with the clients. At the same time, I have great fun and fulfilment dealing with people, communicating with them, solving their problems and building relationships.
I have wonderful memories of my job as a Guest Relations Manager, in a big and busy hotel in Rio. I remember locking outside of his room a very well know Formula 1 pilot, because he hadn’t paid his bill for over a week. I dare say he was quite mad. But I made so many friends within the pilots and their wives… Crazy, but wonderful times. Did I say that mountaineering
for a living would be lovely? Interpreting for fun is also on my list, even though it is a terribly stressful profession. But so interesting!
Anna Clara: If you weren’t a photographer, what you would love to do?
Ricardo: Do you know that your grandparents pushed me to a career as a businessman? But after college, I realised that it didn’t make me happy. So I began to work as a photographer, one of my passions.
But I have a second passion: that is, of course, dealing with people. If I wasn’t a photographer, I would like to work in public relations, because I always liked to have friends from all walks of life — to meet different people and interact with them.
My greatest pleasure at school was going from a group of friends to another, never belonging exclusively to one of them. This is probably why I’m a portraitist. I have a great sense of fulfilment establishing a connection with those people and being able to show — in an instant — a significant aspect of their personality.
I have a great sense of fulfilment establishing a connection with people and being able to show — in an instant — a significant aspect of their personality.
Anna Clara: What’s a perfect world for you?
Ricardo: A world where we all respected one another, where the differences between us would stop being a problem and turn out to be our most valuable treasure.
Ah, and in a perfect world, all days would be a bit gloomy and cloudy. I absolutely love clouds, all kinds of clouds. I think cloudy days are largely discriminated against! They have a beautiful light.
Lucilia: What are the greatest differences between your life in Paris and in London? In what way it is better here?
Anna Clara: In Paris I was at school, so that makes a big difference, because now I’m working and learning English. But I think the biggest difference and a very good thing about living here is the way people interact in the UK. Usually, the English are way more friendly than most French people — apart from my French friends here, of course. I also think that in London people are more open minded than in Paris. I miss French food though.
Lucilia: How do you see your life in 10 years from now?
Anna Clara: I’m taking a gap year now to improve my English and have work experience, so in 10 years I’d have probably finished my psychologies studies either here, or in Paris. Then I don’t know…but I sure miss the sun and the more easygoing life in Brazil. But, I have lived in so many places already that it wouldn’t be a surprise if I moved to a totally different place. Close to the tropics though!
