Olivia Kalicinski growth · branding · code
Head of Growth @ Comida de Dragão (Lets Fly). Paid acquisition, lifecycle and CRO for DTC — and I build the stack too: React, SQL, agent automation.
Summary
I launched a DTC pet-food brand for a Brazilian insect-protein biotech and I own its acquisition P&L — paid media, creators, CRM and CRO — and I build the system that runs it.
In practice:
- I lead a team of four and the company's marketing objective: CAC, checkout close rate, cart recovery, 90-day repurchase and winning creator videos.
- I found one ad driving 29 of 63 purchases on 13% of spend. Fixing its destination moved the account from 34 to 40 purchases and CPA from R$102 to R$95 in a single week.
- I replaced ROAS with contribution margin per landing page as the budget rule, so every page carries its own CPA ceiling.
- I build what I run: 20+ landing pages in a React/TypeScript portal (564 commits), dashboards, GA4 tracking and scheduled agent automations.
Before this: six years at a family-owned cheese company, where I created the trade marketing department and built its team — fourteen young women from the town, none with previous work experience — and brand management at L'Oréal (Garnier).
From 2021 to 2025 I worked as a visual artist — ceramics, photography and installation, awarded at Festival do Minuto 2024. Not a detour: it is where the eye and the storytelling come from.
I'm looking for a remote Head of Growth or Growth Lead role with an international team.
Brazilian citizen, based in Rio de Janeiro (GMT-3). I don't hold US work authorization and I'm not seeking sponsorship — I work as an independent contractor, or through an employer of record (Deel, Remote.com, Oyster).
I hold a valid US visitor visa with 8 years remaining, so retreats and on-site meetings need no lead time.
Experience
January 2025
— present
1 yr 10 mos
— present
1 yr 10 mos
Head of Growth · Lets Fly | Alimento que regenera
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Comida de Dragão is the DTC pet-food brand of Lets Fly, a Brazilian biotech that converts organic waste into insect protein (Black Soldier Fly). The brand did not exist when I arrived. I led it to market, and I own its full acquisition P&L and the system that runs it.
- Took the brand to market from zero: led positioning, launch and product communication for every product in the catalogue — six products between January 2025 and October 2026, for dogs, cats, reptiles and amphibians
- Inverted where the company's revenue comes from: in the first four months of 2025, 87% of it was B2B — a few large contracts that predated me. In the same months of 2026, direct-to-consumer and resale are 67%, with B2C up more than tenfold, while the old B2B channel shrank 22%
- 5,077 buyers and delivery to 598 Brazilian municipalities across 26 states, on a Shopify store I run end to end — 15.1% of the base has bought more than once
- Built the creator programme in-house instead of hiring an agency: 2,310 creators approached and 233 active partners today, across 25 states, each with a tracked code. Read its incremental effect by comparing weeks with and without paid support — coupon sales double with media and keep running without it
- Rebuilt the attribution the whole company reads: found the purchase event firing on order creation instead of payment, which inflated every platform ROAS by about 12% (measured across 250 orders: 10% cancelled, 2% refunded), and found the Meta click id being dropped between domains, so only 57% of purchases came back identified. Both fixed in code; the 12% discount is now a standing rule before any budget decision
- Measure LTV by channel over a 12-month window against media-only CAC: R$90.42 LTV on a R$64.44 ticket, 1.28 orders per customer, 64 days between purchases. I retired my own blended LTV/CAC when I found it was inflated, and when two sources disagreed I treated the result as a range instead of a decision until the tracking was fixed
- Rebuilt a landing page and took initiated checkout from 1.0% to 5.9%, with attention on the page going from 3.1s to 12.2s
- Found that cold-traffic abandonment was copy, not price: 22 of 22 carts between R$140 and R$150 dropped at the delivery step and none at payment, because the banner promised free shipping above R$150. One sentence changed; abandonment in that band fell from 53.7% to 30.0%
- Own the company's marketing objective and the five numbers I am accountable for: CAC, checkout close rate (23.8% against a 26% target), cart recovery (11.9% to 15%), 90-day cohort repurchase (14.5% to 16%) and profitable creator videos (2.3 a month to 4)
- Lead a team of four across paid media, creative, creators and CRM, with weekly one-on-ones built on each person's own numbers. Paid media, creative, CRO, data, CRM and creators are all in-house — the brand has never used a media agency
- Run 18 active fronts: Meta, Google and TikTok Ads, creators, Instagram, WhatsApp and email lifecycle, marketplaces, CRO, retention, checkout and pricing
- Build and maintain 20+ landing pages in a React/TypeScript portal (564 commits), plus the Shopify storefront, the dashboards, the GA4 and UTM tracking implementation and scheduled agent automations
- Set the company's budget rule: contribution margin per landing page instead of ROAS, so every page carries its own CPA ceiling
- Found one ad driving 29 of 63 purchases on 13% of spend; fixing its destination moved the account from 34 to 40 purchases and CPA from R$102 to R$95 in a single week
January 2021
— February 2025
4 yrs 2 mos
— February 2025
4 yrs 2 mos
Visual Artist · Photography, Ceramics, Installation
Independent · Miguel Pereira and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Independent practice in ceramics, photography, printmaking and installation. I fire clay in open pits together with electronic waste, organic matter and discarded materials — work about the cycle of life, death and life, and about what human intervention does to the land.
- Award, Festival do Minuto 2024 — Nano Minuto category, for the short film “Incêndio”
- Casero Art Residency 2024 — ten days in the Atlantic Forest, Itatiaia National Park, curated by Fernanda Lopes and Bruno Miguel
- Group shows at Casa da Escada Colorida (2023) and EAV Parque Lage (2021)
- Ongoing critical mentorships with André Penteado (full scholarship) and Bruno Miguel
- Commissioned photography and video for brands and private clients
This is where my eye comes from. It taught me to turn complex ideas into images and narratives, and to judge the work by what the material actually does rather than by what I intended.
April 2015
— May 2021
6 yrs 2 mos
— May 2021
6 yrs 2 mos
Project & Marketing Manager · Sítio Solidão
Rio de Janeiro and region, Brazil
Family-owned artisanal cheese company founded in 1987, supplying Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding region.
- Created the trade marketing department from scratch and built its team: fourteen young women from the town, none of them with previous work experience, hired and trained from zero
- Managed key retail accounts, including Zona Sul and Hortifruti
- Led the company's professionalisation: implemented management systems across departments and rebuilt logistics and administrative workflows
- Built the marketing, communication and PR strategy, from positioning to point of sale
Six years of operations, retail and team leadership inside a growing business — and my first lesson that a brand is decided at the shelf, not in the deck.
April 2014
— March 2015
1 yr
— March 2015
1 yr
Trainee · Airswift
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Global recruitment company for Oil & Gas projects.
- Recruited specialised professionals across project stages: screening, interviews and face-to-face client meetings
- Trained in Houston, Texas, in commercial, sales and recruitment programmes, working with global teams and clients
- Named best trainee of the year, March 2014
My first exposure to international business and to commercial work.
February 2014
— March 2014
2 mos
— March 2014
2 mos
Trainee · Airswift
Houston, Texas, United States
- Oil & Gas training
- Commercial training
- Sales training
- Recruitment training
- Live recruiting
October 2012
— April 2013
7 mos
— April 2013
7 mos
DMI Intern, Skincare & Deodorants for Garnier · L'Oréal
International marketing development (DMI) for Garnier skincare and deodorants.
- Developed new product concepts with the global marketing team
- Ran packaging development briefings end to end
- Contributed to advertising briefings and campaign development
- Conducted market analysis and consumer research
My first school in brand management and consumer behaviour, inside a global marketing operation.
January 2010
— July 2010
7 mos
— July 2010
7 mos
Trainee · Panorama Consultoria Internacional — Empresa Júnior
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Student-run consulting firm focused on international business projects.
- Managed relationships with client companies and institutional partners
- Contributed to international consulting projects from planning to execution
- Supported internal marketing initiatives and communication strategies
Early exposure to consulting mindset, project management and client-facing work.
Education
September 2024
Casero Art Residency
Mentorship.
2024
Critical mentorship with André Penteado
Photography · full scholarship.
2023
Critical mentorship with Ana Elisa Lizidia
Casa da Escada Colorida · six-month programme, selected · scholarship recipient.
2022
School of Visual Arts at Parque Lage
Critical mentorship with Bruno Miguel.
2021
School of Visual Arts at Parque Lage
Languages of Space and Time: Return to the Physical World.
2018 — 2020
Ceramics mentorship with Vera Machado
2016
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
Postgraduate, Governance in Family Businesses · management tools and governance structures for the long-term sustainability of family-owned companies.
2012 — 2013
School of Visual Arts at Parque Lage
Visual arts foundation, with Ivair Reinaldin and Ângelo Venosa.
2010 — 2013
Ibmec Business School
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA).
2010 — 2012
Goethe-Institut
Advanced German language programme.
Skills
Growth
Paid media on Meta, Google and TikTok · creators · email and WhatsApp lifecycle · CRO, checkout and pricing · marketplaces
Data
GA4 and UTM architecture · SQL · dashboards · contribution margin per landing page as the budget rule
Build
React · TypeScript · HTML and CSS · Git · scheduled agent automation
Lead
A team of four today. A department of fourteen before.
Languages
Portuguese (native) · English (full professional) · German (intermediate) · Spanish (elementary)
Contact
olivia.kalicinski@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/olivia-kalicinski
Miguel Pereira · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil