He was a teenager when he entered the circus arts. It wasn't a career plan: it was what he felt like doing. Then came the cruise ships, performing for an audience that changed nationality at every port — and a trip around the globe that way.

Then came Las Vegas, with Cirque du Soleil. Broadway. Over seventy countries and the biggest stages in world show business. Every audience demanding a different reading of the same act. That's where he learned what he now brings to companies: that the audience decides in the first seconds, that improvisation is preparation by another name, and that the curtain goes up on time — always.

The turn came when his interest switched sides. Johnny started looking less at the spotlight and more at what was behind it: the structure, the rigging, the lighting, the materials, the build schedule. He became a nationally renowned set designer and entrepreneur.

Today he designs stages he would once have stepped on. Luísa Sonza at Rock in Rio and The Town. Jão at Rock in Rio. The CBLOL final. Award-winning booths at the largest supermarket trade show in the Americas. At the head of Magic, a live-marketing agency with design and factory under one roof, he leads projects where the idea has to become something standing — with an invoice, a schedule and a set time.

He brings the same stage creativity to other businesses: food, as a partner in four restaurants in São Paulo; architecture, at magic.arq; and luxury experiences, at AWA. He is a partner in all of them and sits on every board. And since 2017 he has taken the experience to auditoriums — first schools, then companies.

He isn't a speaker who became an entrepreneur to have a story. He's an entrepreneur who spent his life on stage — and now uses the stage to share what he learned. At home, he's a father of twin girls: the most demanding audience he has ever had, and the one that teaches him the most about patience, listening and being on time.