From Asian Fashion to Tech: Victor Dellorto's Journey
The Deskfy founder reflects on how childhood theater and living in China shaped his business career.
Victor Dellorto reflects on his modeling career from ages 8 to 18 and his experience living in China as a teenager. The executive explains how theater and Eastern cultural immersion shaped his business vision.
Victor Dellorto, founder and CEO of Deskfy, spoke with Bruno Gimenes on Marketing - The Podcast about the early stages of his career, which began in childhood modeling and included living in Asia before he entered the tech ecosystem. The original episode also explores topics such as multi-location marketing and governance.
Dellorto's first exposure to the market occurred around ages seven and eight in Brasília, when he started working as a commercial model after his mother enrolled him in preparatory courses. In addition to runway classes and photo shoots, his training included theater—an experience he considers pivotal to his later success in the corporate world.
"It was one of the best investments my mother ever made, and I highly recommend it—especially theater, which helps immensely with interpersonal communication later in the corporate world," Dellorto points out. His first major breakthrough campaign was for Caixa Econômica Federal's Youth Marathon, when he started seeing his face featured across shopping malls and bus stops in Brazil's capital.
Moving to Asia at 16
At age 16, after participating in regional events such as Goiânia Fashion Week and appearing in local magazines in Goiás's textile hub, Dellorto received an offer to work as an international model across Asia. Making the move meant putting high school on hold in Brazil to live abroad on his own for two years.
"I often say that from ages 0 to 16 I lived in the West, and from 16 to 18, I lived in the East. Even though it was only two years, it was a very independent, intense life full of work. So my mindset was able to experience both of these ways of thinking," the executive explains, recalling the impact of landing in Hong Kong and settling in Xiamen, a city in southern China.
In the video above, Dellorto details what adjusting to daily life in China was like, along with the visual and cultural contrasts he encountered on his very first drive from the airport to his apartment.
Philosophical Readings and Worldview
Years after returning to Brazil and establishing himself as an entrepreneur, Dellorto sought a deeper understanding of his experiences in Asia by studying Chinese philosophy, particularly the teachings of Confucius. That study helped him connect everyday rituals he observed in China to organizational structures in the West.
"The civil service examination system we have today for public sector hiring—especially in Brasília, where so much revolves around civil service exams—was actually invented in China by Confucius centuries ago," Dellorto points out. Having not visited the country since 2014, he plans to take his daughter to Shanghai in the future to show her what life is like on the other side of the world.