Heloiza Canassa
Public Relations and Communications Director (LATAM) at Binance
Before moving to crypto, you worked across Brazil's most important financial institutions, including Brazil's Central Bank and with the former Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles. How did your path in financial communications begin?
It started with journalism. I spent over a decade as a financial journalist, covering macroeconomics and financial markets for major Brazilian and global outlets. That's where I learned that information actually shapes how people see the world and act in it. Policy decisions, market moves, public perception — it's all connected, and I was fascinated by that.
Then I received an invitation to be a PR Advisor to the Governor of Brazil's Central Bank, and that changed everything. Leading communications at one of the country's most trusted institutions, working side by side with the governor and deputy governors, is what allowed me to see up close how credibility gets built or lost. I learned how a single message can calm markets or move them and how trust is really created in finance.
What I didn't expect was how much this work matters beyond any one institution. Communication, when done well, informs and educates the public. It helps people understand decisions that affect their lives. That realisation stayed with me when I moved to the private sector, and it's what drew me to crypto. Digital assets are still new, often misunderstood, and full of potential to change how people relate to money. Being part of that transformation, helping millions of people understand it, is what makes this chapter meaningful.
You say that a single message can instantly change market behaviour, but you also contributed to writing a book. That’s a very different format of work, not to mention a very personal one. What led you to write it, and how did that experience shape the way you think about communications?
Being invited to co-write Brasil Fintech by Jihane Halabi, Mareska Tiveron, and Bianca Lopes was a turning point both professionally and personally.
I found myself surrounded by 30 women from across the Brazilian fintech ecosystem, who were all building companies, regulating markets, and shaping an industry that was transforming finance in real time. Each one of them brought a different angle, and being a part of that group meant standing alongside women who were quite literally defining innovations.
That experience reinforced the idea in my mind that the most powerful narratives come from different voices and collective perspectives, creating a richer, more complete picture. When dozens of women from different corners of fintech speak together, the narrative gets more nuanced and harder to ignore.
It also sharpened my view of influence. I think it's earned by showing up in rooms where your perspective is needed and making the conversation better because you were there. The book proved that point and showed that when women claim space in an emerging industry, that industry really benefits from it.
After years in traditional finance, your career took you to crypto, which is a very fast-moving and often misunderstood industry. What were the biggest challenges you faced as a PR professional when you first started working in this space?
The biggest challenges were twofold, and they ran in opposite directions.
The first one was public scrutiny and myths: crypto attracts strong opinions, often from people who've never touched the technology. Many times the narrative was shaped by headlines and fear, and walking into that means you need to explain misconceptions and build something constructive instead.
The second one was technical complexity, which actually reminded me of talking to people about monetary policy or exchange rates. Just like in traditional finance and macroeconomics, it is abstract and full of jargon, but most importantly, people don't see how it connects to their daily lives. Crypto faces the same issue, but it is even greater here because the pace of innovation is faster.
So much of what we do at Binance is helping people understand what digital assets are, what the risks and opportunities look like, and how this technology connects to their financial lives. That's what makes communications here so hard and, honestly, so rewarding, because you actually help people understand how everything works.
You mentioned having to work with misconceptions, and the one that often comes up is about who this industry is for. Crypto and Web3 are still perceived by many as male-dominated fields, and that makes me wonder what your experience has been as a woman building authority in this sector?
The perception does exist, and I understand where it comes from. It happens because crypto grew out of a developer-driven culture, which shaped how people see it. But at Binance, I work with many other women who lead regions and shape strategy. Across the whole of Latin America, I see them building companies or advising policymakers, and from my perspective the industry is more diverse than its reputation suggests, though there's still ground to cover.
Building authority in any fast-moving industry comes down to competence and consistency. In crypto, where the rules are still being written, you have to be sharp and deliver results regardless of your gender. What I've noticed is that effective communication here requires a kind of dual approach. There's the hard one, which is understanding technical and economic complexity, and then there's the softer one — understanding human behaviour, cultural context, and what builds trust. Women I've worked with tend to navigate both well.
I wouldn't frame my experience as “overcoming” a barrier, as it's been more about doing the work and letting the results speak for themselves. I believe perception shifts when it becomes hard to ignore the evidence.
You point Binance out as a good example of diversity in this sector, since it has many strong women at the highest levels of the company. From your perspective, how important is female leadership for the future of crypto and Web3? What message does it send to women who are still finding their place in this industry?
Women leading the world's largest crypto platform matters much more than just being a symbol. The decisions shaping the product, the strategy, and the public face of the company are influenced by women who understand both the technology and the people it serves.
That combination is critical in Web3 as crypto is still earning its place in people's financial lives. It requires leadership that pairs ambition with understanding, and vision with empathy. Different perspectives lead to better decisions, especially in a space building trust from the ground up.
To all women reading this, I want to say that there's room for you here, and the industry is better when you're part of it. Web3 is complex, fast, and still misunderstood, so it needs the best people who don't fit a single profile.
Seeing as you already decided to directly address the women wanting to enter the industry, what advice would you give them? Especially as some of them may feel intimidated by the industry's complexity or male dominance?
I won't pretend that the complexity, speed, and male dominance aren't real. But I'd say that in an emerging industry like this one, what makes you vulnerable is not the lack of understanding of every technical detail — it's not understanding people.
Every role I've had — journalism, the Central Bank, private-sector PR — was always about translating something complex into something relatable and trustworthy. That skill applies across every industry, so if you can read a room, understand what people need, and communicate clearly, you already have an edge.
Finally, don't let the jargon intimidate you because it’s really just a gatekeeping tool. Once you're on the inside, you learn the language fast, and then realise that Web3 needs people who can speak beyond the jargon far more than those who speak it.
