Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Today, Ariane is the IT coordinator at Liebherr Brasil, responsible for the implementation of the ERP LN Cloud – a cloud-based enteprise resource planning system – alongside a dedicated team for project ‘Tucano’.

‘Being able to actively participate in Liebherr, being able to take a stand, to lead, is a challenge, but very rewarding,’ Ariane says. ‘I'm very happy to be able to express my opinion, whoever is at the table, as the professional I am.’

But getting to the position she’s in now took Ariane a lifetime.

Determined from the very beginning

Ariane's future seemed settled from the moment she was born. With two crooked feet and hip problems, difficulties were present from the very beginning of her life. In fact, when she was just two years old Ariane received a certificate that would enable her to ‘retire’ as a child and receive the disability pension each month for the rest of her life. Instead, when she turned 18, she left her hometown of Campos de Cunha in Cunha and moved more than 80 kilometres away to Lorena in São Paulo – completely against her parents’ advice.

In Lorena, she started a technical course in computer science at ETEC (State Technical School) in 2011. During her first year of studies, she used her pension to cover living and food expenses, as well as to help her parents. She also interned at the Teresa D'Ávila University Center (UNIFATEA), in partnership with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), receiving a research grant in 2012.

In 2013, Ariane saw an opportunity and applied for an administrative assistant position within Liebherr Brasil’s IT department, a position that had been designated for a person with disability. Once again, she forged her own path, defying the expectations of those around her.

An impressive overachiever

Ariane had always wished to work and was thrilled when she was successful in obtaining her administrative assistant role at Liebherr Brasil. She worked as an administrative assistant in the IT department for 18 months and then, in 2015, she took on the role of systems assistant and she started her undergraduate degree in computer science at Unisal in Lorena. For the next few years, she continued to prove herself and take on new activities, until she progressed to the position of analyst in 2019.

While working as an analyst, you wouldn’t be too far off in calling Ariane an overachiever: she graduated from her computer science degree at Unisal in 2019, where she was the only woman in a group of 15 men; took 2 MBAs – business process management and project management at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) – in 2023 and 2025; implemented new projects at Liebherr; received mentoring from her leaders, Alexandre Hanashiro and Caroline Reis; and developed her skills. She also visited two of Liebherr's European factories – the wheel loader factory, Liebherr-Werk Bischofshofen GmbH, in Austria and Liebherr-Logistics GmbH, Liebherr’s internal logistics provider, in Germany – to deepen her knowledge of Liebherr’s warehouse processes.

In all areas that Ariane has worked in during her time at Liebherr, the same feedback has been given: she is a fast and dedicated employee.

‘I do everything with great dedication. The learning process is challenging, but I always approach it positively, and value each opportunity to deepen my knowledge.’

And on top of all of her other achievements, Ariane also went to London, England, on her own to improve her English.

Looking back

Ariane's condition definitely hasn't prevented her from achieving the future she wanted for herself.

‘Looking back on my professional career, I had never thought that I would be able to reach a coordinating position, to be at an organisational level. I only expected to come out of retirement and work, to have a purpose in life, and not just survive. My challenge has always been to prove that I didn't need assistance, but rather an opportunity to show what I could do. And Liebherr gave me that opportunity.’

Ariane's present is more than she could have ever imagined for herself, and she is proud of everything she achieved and the way she is seen by people.

‘Nowadays I'm very happy for achieving the goals that I had set myself, but that I didn't even know I could achieve. I came from nothing to achieve everything I have today. Liebherr opened doors for me and transformed me into the professional I am today.’

Furthermore, her mother, who initially discouraged Ariane from leaving the house for fear of what she would face, now understands and applauds her daughter.

‘I am a source of pride for my family, a source of inspiration.’