Maria das Graças Foster is no average Brazilian executive. For a start, the chief executive of Petrobras is a woman — in fact, the first woman to lead an oil major. Nor was she born into a life of privilege but raised in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most dangerous slums. After collecting scrap metal for cash as a child, she joined Petrobras as an intern in 1978 and accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer that would put any boss to shame.
玛丽亚•格拉卡斯•福斯特(Maria das Graças Foster)并非等闲的巴西企业高管。首先,这位巴西国家石油公司(Petrobras)的前首席执行官是位女性——事实上,也是执掌大型石油企业的首位女性。她也没有显赫出身,相反她是在里约热内卢最危险的贫民窟之一长大。小时候曾捡废金属卖钱的她,于1978年以实习生的身份进入巴西国家石油公司,逐渐对这家国有石油生产商了如指掌,足以让任何一个老板自惭形愧。