Herika Mutz started a business to pay for college. Today, on iFood, she shows how studying and all types of work count towards professional growth
You’ve probably come across the question “how far would you go to achieve your dreams?” For Herika Mutz, 28 years old from Espírito Santo, there was no distance and no effort was spared so that today she can repay all the help she received at age 19, at the beginning of her professional journey.
Sometimes we don't realize it, but how much can happen in a space of 10 years? In Herika's last decade there was study, the beginning of her professional life, entrepreneurship and, more recently, a position as a sales executive at iFood.
Herika has a story very similar to that of many Brazilian men and women: she wanted to change her life and help her family, but she did not have the financial means to cover the expenses of a private college. And as she passed the accounting course at the University of Vila Velha (UVV), it was necessary to create a strategy so that the dream didn't end right away.
Herika's first step was to join the college's Student Academic Directory. This guaranteed him a scholarship for the first six months of a course that lasts 4 years.
“I needed to keep paying and, for that, I had the essential help of an internship at Banco do Estado do Espírito Santo”, recalled Herika. “But I didn’t stop there and created the Candy Balloon with my mother, selling some of the sweets on the bank’s sidewalk,” he said.
In her routine, Herika went to her internship in the morning, while her mother, Aparecida, sold sweets on her bike on the same street. During her lunch break, she helped her mother with sales and then went back to work. At night, I went to college with a bicycle full of sweets in search of more customers.
“My family and I were going through financial difficulties and what I received from the internship and from sweets was our only source of monthly income. I couldn't stop, and it was through Balonê Doces that I guaranteed our income and the maintenance of my course”, he explained.
What can you learn by selling sweets on the street?
Herika and her mother's business began to grow. Hérika says that she started her day at 5am because she had to make sweets before going to her internship, selling and studying. Every day in the same routine, for two years.
“This experience on the streets, face to face with customers, helped me meet a lot of people, network and understand the importance of listening to people”, he commented. Herika graduated and continued to juggle selling sweets with her mother and working in marketing and sales. Until in 2021, his journey gained another chapter.
In October of that year, Herika started researching more about iFood when she saw a vacancy for a Sales Executive. She did her homework and went in search of other people to find out more about iFood. “It was a vacancy 79 km from Vila Velha, in a city called Aracruz. But it was within what I wanted and in a company with the profile I liked: humanized, concerned about people”, he recalled.
Giving back for all the help you received
Nine months after this movement, a lot has happened. Today the sweets business is managed by her mother (who even has savory snacks on the menu).
Herika is now dedicated to helping iFood's partner restaurants in Aracruz grow. “It’s a job that has a little bit of everything: I help entrepreneurs evolve and connect with customers, by participating in promotions, menu creation, advertising and much more,” he said.
Herika told a little of her story in the Linkedin and received a shower of positive reactions by showing that all work is worthy and there is no need to be ashamed when you start with very little. “Two things helped me get to where I am: education, which enabled me to achieve much of what I achieved, and the practice of communication along with the dedication to always listen and talk to the people around me”, explained Herika, entrepreneur and sales executive.
