Soé is a Brazilian cultural impact startup founded in the state of Paraíba, transforming culture and regional identity into business opportunities. Our first product line focuses on women's accessories: earrings featuring distinctive original designs and rich regional narratives.
Soé brings innovation to cultural storytelling by connecting its products with digital content that reveals the stories, traditional knowledge and creative processes behind each collection — expanding the brand's role in education and communication. We also create immersive experiences, such as workshops and exhibitions, that bring audiences closer to these cultural references, encouraging interaction, learning and engagement with Brazilian culture.
Soé promotes its region, celebrates traditions and creates cultural impact. We do all this because we believe that sharing Brazilian identity with the world begins with pride in our roots in Paraíba.
To develop our collections, we have created our own methodology combining cultural research, original design and consumer behaviour analysis.
Our creative process begins with immersion in local communities and their cultural landscapes, exploring their histories and traditional knowledge, and interpreting these references through original fashion accessory design and communication.
Throughout this process, we identify and validate products and their narratives with our audience, establishing criteria for the size, weight, comfort and proportions of our accessories. These insights guide the development of new pieces, reducing uncertainty in the creative process and increasing the commercial potential of new launches. In this way, we combine creative freedom with decisions informed by data and our customers' experiences.
We connect tradition, innovation and market knowledge, enhancing the perceived value of our products while transforming the shopping experience into an opportunity to engage with and appreciate Brazil's cultural heritage.
Paraíba, in northeastern Brazil, is home to a rich diversity of cultural expressions, traditions and knowledge that inspire Soé's creative work. Our collections are born from this tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Each collection is developed through research into the stories, techniques, artistic expressions and elements of regional identity that define Paraíba. Through digital content, we document and share the cultural references behind our creations, helping to spread knowledge and preserve cultural memory.
Acrylic is Soé's main raw material. We use acrylic manufactured in Brazil and incorporate surplus materials from other companies into some of our creations, making more efficient use of available resources. Our commitment to resource efficiency also led to the creation of Ecoar, an accessories line developed from acrylic offcuts generated by our own collections.
Through upcycling, we transform materials that would otherwise be discarded into new pieces featuring geometric and minimalist designs. This initiative has already enabled us to reduce the amount of material discarded during our production process by 20%, demonstrating how creativity and material reuse can contribute to more efficient production practices.
Soé's business model brings together cultural research, original design and product commercialisation.
We operate through direct-to-consumer sales (B2C), using digital channels such as our website and WhatsApp, as well as participating in creative economy events, including those held outside Paraíba. We also build commercial relationships with retailers and develop special projects for businesses (B2B), diversifying our revenue streams and exploring new opportunities for growth.
Building on this experience, we aim to expand our commercial connections and explore new markets, including opportunities to bring our products to international audiences.
Soé's potential has already been recognised by Brazilian public programmes supporting entrepreneurship, innovation and the creative economy, securing nearly BRL 200,000 in grants and financial support to date.
The startup was awarded funding through Programa Centelha II in Paraíba, with resources from the Superintendência do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste (Sudene), Brazil's regional development agency for the Northeast, and support from the Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba (Fapesq/PB), the state's research funding foundation.
Soé also completed an incubation programme at the Parque Tecnológico Horizontes de Inovação (PTHI), an innovation and technology park supported by the Government of Paraíba, and was invited to join the institution's first impact business incubation programme.
More recently, Soé was selected for Inova Cultura, a programme led by Sudene and Brazil's Ministry of Culture (MinC), aimed at strengthening innovative initiatives in the cultural sector.
These achievements reinforce the connection between culture, innovation and entrepreneurship that guides Soé's development.
Soé was founded in 2019 in João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba, in northeastern Brazil. The startup is led by two women who bring together complementary skills and professional experience.
Founded by journalists Ellyka Gomes and Maria Livia Cunha, Soé began with a clear purpose: to build an economically sustainable business that transforms Paraíba's rich cultural heritage into market opportunities, while strengthening pride in belonging to the region.
We believe in an approach to entrepreneurship that values women's autonomy, work-life balance and respect for the different circumstances and stages of women's lives. These principles guide our vision for the future and our commitment to developing more flexible and sustainable management and working practices.
We believe that culture can create value far beyond its place of origin.
At Soé, we transform Brazilian cultural references into original design products, accompanied by stories that deepen their meaning and create new connections with audiences. We combine research, creativity and business vision to develop distinctive products, explore new markets and build commercial and cultural partnerships.
We are looking for partners who recognise the potential of authenticity, design and cultural diversity to create value and reach new audiences.
We are interested in taking Brazilian design — and the stories of Paraíba — to new places.
We welcome conversations with:
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Soé — Designed and made in Paraíba, Brazil.
