Joseph Low and
Claudia Brito Low are the authors of
“THEY DON'T SPEAK SPANISH IN BRAZIL” combines the personal and professional experiences of an American expatriate and a Brazilian native, both successful executives at major multinationals. After twenty years of answering Brazil–related business and legal questions for their colleagues, Joe and Claudia Low wrote a book that provides the fundamental information foreigners need, from everyday living and relevant culture to business management and tax strategies. The authors use personal experiences and hard data to translate cultural characteristics, management tactics, and law to avoid common pitfalls and achieve business success.
Listen to the Talk 2 Brazil interview by Tom Reaoch with Joeseph and Claudia Brito Low on LA Talk Radio May 20, 2013: PLAY or DOWNLOAD. A Kindle edition of the book is available at
Amazon .
Joseph Low is a strategic management and marketing professional with over 20 years of experience leading cross-cultural teams focused on Latin American business development. Having lived in Brazil for more than four years, and worked and traveled in many other countries located in Latin America and Europe, Mr. Low maintains extensive knowledge of various global markets. He has years of experience with the development of geographically dispersed cross-cultural teams and their associated leadership and competency development. Currently, Joseph is commercial director with SFE In Action and based in Florida. SFE is a consultancy located in Sao Paulo which is focused on commercial effectiveness and regularly providing support to clients such as GSK, Gillette, Abbott, Pfizer and BP. Prior to joining SFE, Mr. Low served as VP, Carrier Relations, at Research in Motion (RIM), and also as a VP with Nokia’s Latin American focused business unit.
While at RIM, he was responsible for sales efforts to Telefonica in Latin America and the management of 14 separate markets with a total P&L of $900 million USD; he achieved a year over year net sales increase to Telefonica of 53%. During his tenure with Nokia, Mr. Low led the company’s Latin America focused mobile phones division where he was responsible for $4 billion USD in net sales with P&L accountability for 40+ devices.
Mr. Low also successfully built Nokia's CDMA terminal business in Latin America into an entity producing well over $1 billion USD in net sales. Commonly referred to as one of the “pioneers” of Brazil’s early wireless growth in the late 90’s, he co-founded Nokia's operations in Brazil (Sao Paulo) where he was also responsible for the development of Nokia’s B-band licensee relationships, the promotion of the company to key channel sales partners, and the selection and hiring of the company’s first Brazilian team leaders. At Nokia, he also served as the VP of the North American market focused "Go to Market" organization where he was responsible for all solutions based offerings presented to key North American wireless carriers customers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, and Rodgers-Canada.
Mr. Low maintains Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Kansas in both Latin American Studies and History, graduate studies course work in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, and an MBA with a focus in International Marketing from the University of South Florida.
He is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.
Claudia Brito Low, a Brazilian bar (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil) registered attorney who is internationally recognized for being an expert in the field of Brazilian taxation, currently is a Latin America focused tax executive with UPS (United Parcel Service) based out of Miami, Florida.
Prior to UPS, Claudia worked with KPMG Peat Marwick in Sao Paulo and, for many years, also owned her own tax consulting practice in San Diego, California. Claudia is very much renowned for making the often times challenging areas of Brazilian taxation and fiscal incentives that much more understandable and ultimately applicable for non-Brazilian business persons.
Claudia Brito Low has a law degree from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Sao Paulo , Brazil. Mrs. Low also served as a federal tax judge within the 1º Conselho de Contribuintes in Brasília (US Tax Court in the United States) she is the youngest judge to ever have been selected to serve there in the history of the body.