About
Sandra Chayo is a Brazilian entrepreneur best known for steering Grupo HOPE—one of the country’s largest lingerie and lifestyle groups—alongside her sisters. As style and marketing director she turned the family brand into a national fashion reference, launching sub‑labels such as HOPE Resort and Bonjour Lingerie and expanding to more than 270 stores and thousands of multibrand points of sale. In 2022 she swapped the boardroom for prime‑time TV, joining Shark Tank Brasil as a resident investor, where her branding know‑how and focus on sustainability guide budding founders through tough decisions. That same year, Forbes Brasil placed her on its “Mulheres de Sucesso” list, underlining her influence in business and culture.
Beyond corporate titles, Sandra hosts the weekly podcast Papo Íntimo, chatting from her living room with guests about purpose‑driven entrepreneurship. Her candid style and curiosity have helped the show rack up dozens of episodes and a loyal following since 2023.
Before Fame
Sandra was born in São Paulo about a decade after her dad, Lebanese‑Brazilian immigrant Nissim Hara, started a small underwear factory in the Brás district in 1966. Raised amid rolls of lace and threads, her aesthetic sense was formed but did not immediately define her career. She earned a degree in architecture at FAAP and spent her early twenties designing buildings rather than bras.
Everything changed during a 1998 internship inside the family company. Immersed in every production line, she spotted untapped potential to turn intimate wear into fashion. By 1999 she had joined HOPE full‑time, overhauling sourcing, pushing a bolder palette, and championing Brazil’s first lingerie e‑commerce site in 2006. Her big break arrived in 2010 when she signed Gisele Bündchen for an iconic campaign that catapulted the brand beyond national borders.
Trivia
- Plant‑powered pioneer: Sandra adopted a vegetarian diet in 2013 and went fully vegan in 2015. She often shares her favorite plant‑based restaurants around the world and looks for startups that align with her green ethos when investing on Shark Tank.
- Podcast passion: Recording Papo Íntimo is now her Monday tradition. She feels that loose talks demystify business and encourage listeners to pursue purposeful work.
- Branding ace: Marketing initiatives like the Bündchen and Anitta campaigns, along with early franchise growth, made HOPE a brand known for daring narratives in a conservative category.
- Wellness advocate: Daily yoga at dawn, long runs, and quiet meditation underpin her demanding schedule. She credits self‑care for keeping creativity high and stress low.
Family Life
Family and business have always been intertwined for the Chayos. Sandra works with sisters Karen Hara Sarfaty and Daniela Hara Shalev, while honoring her late father’s credo of empowering women through confidence‑boosting design—Nissim passed away in 2020, but his story still guides strategic decisions.
Off‑screen she shares a home life with her husband (a finance professional she jokingly calls her “personal banker”) and three children now in their late teens and early twenties. Motherhood at 22, she explains, tapped into new reservoirs of empathy and resilience that inform her leadership today. Weekends are spent on family dinner and short breaks; phones remain on silent as pasta cooks.
Associated With
- Nissim Hara: Founder of HOPE and Sandra’s greatest mentor. His immigrant grit set the cultural backbone she still defends.
- Karen & Daniela Hara: Co-directors who balance Sandra’s artistic vision with operations and product know-how at Grupo HOPE.
- Gisele Bündchen & Anitta: Celebrity collaborators in headline-making campaigns that rewrote the rules for marketing lingerie in Brazil.
- Camila Farani, João Appolinário, Caito Maia & other sharks: Co-stars on Shark Tank Brasil whose on-camera repartee highlights various investment strategies—and occasionally gives rise to friendly competition about promising entrepreneurs.
