Meet our team

João Machado has been many things. A kid selling a stapled zine at school at 12. A teenager throwing illegal raves in the Sintra forest. Then a design concept store, a marketing studio, and Dharma5, with its community events and retreats.

The same things show up in all of them: creativity, risk, building, culture and bringing people together. He has always been deep into personal growth. He started Lifable in 2025, as a tool for one of his groups heading to Indonesia. You'll also find him teaching workshops, surfing, skateboarding, travelling and, lately, scuba diving.

Cátia Martha started as a designer, making packaging labels and trade fair stands for a food company. She left to build a concept store of her own, with a design studio inside it, and grew it to four locations. She calls it her first real school.

Alongside it she ran her own design studio. Then came UX for an education product across Portugal and Brazil, and marketing design at Dharma5. Along the way the design turned into the system behind it: how work gets delivered, and by whom. At Lifable she runs operations and partner relationships. Off the clock: painting, surfing, Lego and travel. Mostly travel.

When Maria Brasil was born, her parents took her to a Balinese priest, who said her luck would be with her forever. She grew up in Indonesia and is the youngest on the team: Gen Z, fluent in the death stare, delivered like a mini boss, and the first to turn anything into a storyline for social media.

Outside Lifable she runs a community for solopreneurs, so fewer of them build alone, and helps founders with their personal brands. At Lifable she looks after social media and the brand. She dreams of being an influencer. For now, she has to work. When she isn't, you'll find her on the beach or in the skate bowls of Bali.