INMA Elevate Scholar: Marcello Henrique Santos Correa da Silva of Valor Economico
Editor's Inbox | 28 March 2024
In December 2023, INMA and Google News Initiative (GNI) awarded their fourth annual Elevate Scholarship to 50 news media professionals from 31 countries. This series features these impressive media professionals who are shaping our industry.

Marcello Henrique Santos Correa da Silva’s interest in business and economics has been on full display throughout his career. Although he launched his career in 2012 as an intern at Brazil’s O Globo newspaper, covering a variety of desks including sports, politics, and media, he soon found his calling in economics.
When he became a full-time reporter a year later, Marcello specialised in macroeconomics and fiscal policy, which led to his outstanding coverage of the country’s economic crisis in 2015-2016.
His understanding of finance and economic policy led to co-authoring the award-winning series, Surviving Crisis, and he gained rich experience looking at topics through the lens of datasets and exploring how economic policy affects everyday life.
That ability saw him work his way up to the position of assistant editor, covering important subjects along the way.
“I covered the Ministry of Economy during Jair Bolsonaro’s administration in the capital of Brazil,” he said. “And I had the opportunity to report on critical topics, including the negotiation of pension reform in Congress and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In 2021, Marcello decided to further his education and relocated to the U.S. to enroll in New York University’s Studio 20 programme, which provided the opportunity to collaborate with various news organisations on innovative projects. Most notably, he said, “I partnered with The Intercept to develop its TikTok channel, focusing on creating a digital guide to optimise their presence on the social platform.”
After completing the programme and returning to Brazil, he became a coordinator for Valor Economico, a prominent finance-focused newspaper. Now, he works with other coordinators to oversee a team of 20 reporters specialising in politics and economics. This allows him to play a central role in coordinating coverage and editing both digital and print editions.
As an Elevate Scholarship recipient, Marcello said he looks forward to learning more about product innovation — particularly in situations where resources are limited. He also wants to learn more about such things as creating product roadmaps, involving the right stakeholders, and launching minimum viable products in a major newsroom setting.
“I already learned some of these concepts during my master’s at NYU, but I want to improve these skills because the news industry keeps changing,” he said.
And, like most people in the industry right now, he hopes to learn more about how to leverage Artificial Intelligence: “I’m excited about using AI to improve our products, like understanding our large readership better, which is a big challenge at Valor.”