ASKMARCIOUNIVERSE
Marcio Dpaulla's career began in 1993 in the administrative offices of a Brazilian hospital. Thirty-three years later it has covered hospital administration, executive leadership of a publishing organization, a consultancy founded in 2010 that still serves clients in the United States and Brazil, eight years teaching business, finance and technology to adult learners in California, and, since 2022, aviation security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Today he is a Master Transportation Security Officer and Security Training Instructor there. The industries have changed, but the job has stayed the same: take something complex and high-stakes, whether a balance sheet, a tax filing, a classroom or a security checkpoint, and make it work reliably for the people who depend on it.
That experience is what the machines run on. After three decades of watching what fails when people are rushed, tired or overloaded, Marcio now designs and runs his own AI ecosystem: local and cloud models, autonomous coding agents, automated workflows and multi-agent orchestration. The stack is always changing. New tools get tested, the best ones earn a place, and each task goes to whatever handles it best. They take the repetitive work so people can focus on judgment. None of it replaces what those years taught him. The facts get checked by hand first, and only then does the system run. The same principle is behind everything on this site, from the four books he has published to the free learning he offers to anyone ready to start again.
Before Sea-Tac and before the classroom, there was a ledger. Marcio's career began in Brazil in 1993, and he spent the next nineteen years in finance and administration, first in hospital administration and then as Executive General Manager of a publishing organization, where budgets, people and daily operations were his responsibility. He earned a Tecnólogo diploma in Finance Management from UNINOVE and registered with CRA-SP, the São Paulo Regional Administration Council. In 2010 he founded AskMarcio to advise clients on accounting, financial strategy and compliance, building a practice around one simple idea: numbers should be understood, not just filed.
When he moved to the United States in 2012, he didn't leave that work behind. His career split across two countries instead. He rebuilt in California as a teacher of business, finance and technology, then in Washington in aviation security, and through every change the consultancy kept serving clients on both sides of the equator. Brazilian accounting is still something he loves. It is one of the most demanding financial systems in the world, and staying fluent in it, while working every day in the American system, is a discipline he chooses to keep.
That same move between countries, languages and careers built another passion: writing. Crossing borders teaches translation in the fullest sense. It means taking something complex, whether a tax system, a security threat or a career change, and turning it into something a real person can understand and use. Marcio has published four books on cybersecurity, the quantum age, cloud-based work and starting over after 40, and he writes articles that do the same work in shorter form. For him, writing isn't a side project. It's how three decades of experience get passed on to the next person who needs them.
Ask any Brazilian accountant where the real workload is, and the answer is o departamento fiscal. In most countries, accounting records what happened and taxes are settled periodically. In Brazil, a company has to prove its activity continuously and digitally to federal, state and municipal authorities at the same time, and each of them has its own taxes, rules and deadlines. SPED, the country's public digital bookkeeping system, connects all of it. Electronic invoices such as NF-e for goods and CT-e for transport are validated by tax authorities when they are issued, then cross-checked against the company's periodic filings, so a single mistake can show up in several reports at once. Services are moving to a single national electronic invoice standard, the NFS-e Nacional, which adds another system to learn while the old municipal ones are still in use.
On top of that, the whole system is being rebuilt while it runs. Brazil's tax reform introduces two new consumption taxes: CBS at the federal level and IBS at the state and municipal level. 2026 is the test year. Invoices show CBS at 0.9% and IBS at 0.1%, and those amounts are offset against the PIS and Cofins the company already owes. Since August 2026, filling in the new fields has been mandatory, starting with goods and transport invoices and extending to services by January 2027. Authorities have delayed the automatic rejection of incomplete invoices, but they have been clear that the obligation still applies. In 2027, PIS and Cofins are eliminated and CBS takes their place. From 2029 to 2032, the state ICMS and municipal ISS drop by ten percentage points a year until IBS fully replaces them in 2033. For seven years, Brazilian professionals will manage two tax systems at once, learning the new one while the old one keeps running. That is the world Marcio's Brazilian clients operate in, and it's why the work calls for precision, patience and partners who never stop studying.
SOURCES: RECEITA FEDERAL DO BRASIL · COMITÊ GESTOR DO IBS (CGIBS) · PORTAL NACIONAL DA NFS-E · 2026 OFFICIAL GUIDANCE
In São Paulo, Renata Cristina Santos of RCS Assessoria Contábil runs the accounting on the Brazil side: the ledgers, trial balances and monthly closes that every Brazilian fiscal filing depends on. In a system where one wrong entry can spread across federal, state and municipal reports, her precision is what makes everything else possible. She knows the fiscal department from the inside, keeps up with each new rule as it arrives, and brings the kind of care that turns a heavy compliance load into something a client can rely on. She has been Marcio's business associate and close friend for years, and when a client's Brazilian books are in her hands, they are in the right hands.
In California, Shelley Baker, EA, has spent more than 20 years preparing individual and business tax returns for clients across Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. As an IRS Enrolled Agent, she holds the highest credential the IRS awards and is authorized to represent taxpayers before the agency. Her story is also personal. Shelley was Marcio's student before she became his colleague, and watching her build a respected practice of her own is one of the proudest outcomes of his years in the classroom. Today she is a trusted colleague and dear friend, and someone he refers clients to with complete confidence.
Their stars orbit close to the sun in the universe, tap RENATA or SHELLEY out there.
Learning works best when it leads somewhere you can use. The Academy pairs study with evidence, modules, reviews, and credentials that carry their own verifiable IDs.
Every book Marcio writes starts with a question ordinary people are already asking but can rarely get a clear answer to. Thirty-three years across finance, education, business and aviation security have taught him that the hardest part of a complex subject is rarely the subject itself. The hard part is the distance between the experts who understand it and the people who have to live with it. His books are written to close that distance. They cover how to stay safe in a digital world, what the quantum age means for the security we rely on, how cloud tools are changing the way people work, and whether it's ever too late to start again. Each one uses plain language and real examples, and leaves the reader with something they can put to use right away. The complete collection is available on Amazon below.
A Citizen's Guide to Surviving the Cybersecurity Revolution, what it means for the ordinary person trying to stay informed.
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Mastering Cybersecurity in the Quantum Age, a new technological era brings new questions about protection and preparedness.
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Why Millions Are Choosing Google Workspace Over Expensive Office Software, the familiar suite is no longer the only way to work.
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Aviation after 40, does a new direction have an age limit? A conversation about the possibility of starting again.
View on AmazonNew chapters in progress, security, business, technology, and the craft of making complex things understandable. The archive publishes continuously.
The articles hold to the same standard in a shorter form. Each one starts with a real question, whether about protecting your data, understanding a tax change on either side of the equator, using AI responsibly at work, or finding the courage to change direction. It then works through the facts until it reaches something useful. You can read them at your own pace or listen to them on the go, during a commute, a workout or a quiet moment between tasks. New pieces are added regularly, so there is always something worth exploring below.
A calm starting point: organize four items, calculate a total, and check your work. Technology, professional growth, and the practice of learning.
Security, business, technology and professional growth, the complete collection publishes to the archive continuously.
Master Transportation Security Officer, Security Training Instructor · TSA · Founder, AskMarcio.com & Serafim Dpaulla Consultancy · Independently Published Author. Three decades connecting healthcare administration, accounting, adult education, aviation security and writing, across two countries.
Eleven chapters. Thirty-three years. Written as it happened.
Marcio began his professional career in July 1993 at Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Avaré, in Brasil. Working in reception and hospital administration, he supported patient coordination, diagnostic imaging, billing, and medical records.
A hospital provided an early understanding of the importance of administrative work. Behind each appointment or procedure were schedules, documents, communications, and financial information that needed to reach the right people. Attention to detail supported both the institution’s operations and the people depending on its services.
His later appointment at Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte continued that foundation. These experiences introduced responsibilities that would remain relevant throughout his career: organizing information, maintaining confidentiality, coordinating across departments, and understanding how individual tasks contribute to a larger operation.
Over the following years, his work expanded into management support, financial administration, accounting, and fiscal responsibilities. Each organization brought different processes and expectations. He developed his experience through the practical work of maintaining records, coordinating information, supporting reporting, and meeting deadlines.
At UNINOVE, Marcio’s studies emphasized business administration and financial management, building on the administrative, accounting, and fiscal experience he had developed in Brasil. This academic foundation strengthened the connection between managing an organization and understanding its finances. Completing his qualification in 2011 brought formal study together with years of practical responsibility and supported his continuing development in business and consulting.
At SRC Soluções Empresariais, Marcio served as Head of the Tax Compliance Department, known in Brasil as the Departamento Fiscal. He led fiscal work involving tax documentation, reporting requirements, and departmental coordination during a period of expanding electronic invoicing.
It was there that he first met Renata Cristina Santos, Head of the Accounting Department, who became his colleague and friend. Renata led accounting while Marcio led tax compliance. Their departments had distinct responsibilities, but their work required close coordination.
Together, they also shared responsibility for human resources, payroll, and business registration and corporate administration. These duties included company formation, registrations, amendments, and licensing. Their collaboration connected accounting and taxation with employment administration and the formal requirements of operating a business.
For Marcio, this chapter remains meaningful because of both the work and the friendship. He and Renata brought complementary knowledge to their responsibilities and formed a strong team. Their partnership is a part of his professional history that he remembers with appreciation.
It was also during this period that AskMarcio began. Founded on February 10, 2010, while Marcio continued working for other organizations, the venture created a place for his independent professional interests to develop.
AskMarcio.com and Serafim Dpaulla Consultancy became part of that independent identity, connecting his business and financial experience with education, communication, and consulting. Over time, AskMarcio would grow to include technology projects, learning resources, and books.
Moving to the United States in 2012 brought a new professional and educational chapter. Marcio arrived with years of experience from Brasil while entering a different working environment, with new terminology, systems, and expectations.
He returned to the classroom as a learner, completing a 900-hour Accounting Specialist program at Martinez Adult Education. He also pursued teaching preparation through UC Berkeley Extension, building on his previous experience while preparing for a new role in education.
This transition became an important part of the perspective he later brought to teaching. An adult learner can arrive with considerable knowledge and experience while still needing support with a new language, technology, subject, or professional setting.
Marcio understood that starting again does not mean starting without experience. His own education in the United States helped connect what he already knew with the skills and context he needed for the next stage of his career.
Beginning in 2014 at Martinez Adult Education, and later through a concurrent appointment at Mt. Diablo Adult Education, Marcio developed an extensive role in adult learning. As a lead teacher, he brought together professional experience, subject knowledge, and an interest in helping students prepare for practical responsibilities.
His teaching extended across accounting, business, finance, communication, information technology, business law, and business communication. His accounting instruction included Accounting I, II, and III, international accounting, governmental accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, and QuickBooks.
These subjects connected financial concepts with the records, software, and processes students would encounter in professional settings. His experience in Brasil provided practical context, while his own education in the United States informed the way he approached instruction.
Technology formed another substantial part of his teaching. He taught Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access, along with web design, computer skills, and keyboarding. These classes supported learners developing foundational skills as well as those strengthening their ability to use technology at work.
His responsibilities also included Career Connections and work with learners with special education needs. Across these areas, the goal was to make instruction understandable and relevant to students with different experiences, abilities, and professional objectives.
The breadth of his teaching allowed him to connect subjects that students would use together. Accounting knowledge supported work in QuickBooks and spreadsheets. Computer proficiency supported business communication. Career preparation helped students connect their classroom progress with employment opportunities.
For Marcio, adult education involved more than presenting information. It required recognizing the experience students brought with them, understanding where they needed support, and helping them develop confidence through practice.
Marcio’s work with educational technology began at Martinez Adult Education in 2014, when he introduced Blackboard into his teaching. He later helped transition to Canvas, making the platform a familiar part of his students’ learning experience.
His responsibilities grew to include Canvas administration, implementation, and support. This connected his classroom work with the systems used to organize and deliver instruction. His support also extended into K–12 school settings in California.
He taught students and fellow educators how to use Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for online learning and communication. These tools complemented the course materials and activities delivered through Blackboard and, later, Canvas.
By the time the COVID-19 pandemic required a rapid shift to remote instruction, Marcio and his students were already comfortable using online learning platforms. That familiarity gave him practical experience to draw on while supporting others through the transition.
As a lead instructor, he assisted peers and teachers from other schools as they moved their instruction online. His contribution combined technical knowledge with an educator’s understanding of the task: teachers needed to continue delivering lessons, communicating with students, and making their courses usable in a different environment.
What began with introducing Blackboard in 2014 developed into a broader role in digital learning. It brought together several parts of his professional identity: teaching, technology, collaboration, and helping people become more confident with unfamiliar systems.
Marcio’s involvement in adult education extended beyond his classrooms.
He collaborated with California adult education consortia, sharing his knowledge and skills with colleagues across the state’s adult education community. These exchanges created opportunities to contribute experience developed through teaching, educational technology, and learner support.
He was also a member of the California Council for Adult Education, known as CCAE, and served as a local treasurer in Contra Costa. This added professional association service to his instructional responsibilities.
Through Martinez Adult Education and Mt. Diablo Adult Education, he contributed to WASC accreditation work as a volunteer. His involvement connected his daily educational responsibilities with the broader work of institutional review and improvement.
He also administered and proctored national certification examinations. This supported another stage of students’ professional preparation: the formal assessment of skills developed through instruction and practice.
Together, these responsibilities show the breadth of his work in California. He contributed as a teacher, a lead instructor, a learning-platform administrator, a colleague supporting other educators, and a participant in the professional community surrounding adult education.
The relationships formed during these years remain an important part of Marcio’s story.
At Martinez Adult Education, he met Shelley Baker, a former student who became a friend. Their connection continued after the classroom experience, and he remains glad to assist her with accounting and tax-related questions.
For Marcio, this friendship represents a meaningful aspect of education: the opportunity to remain connected as people apply their knowledge and continue developing their lives and careers.
Alongside the subjects taught and the systems implemented, these personal connections are part of what made his years in adult education significant.
Marcio left his adult education positions in 2022 to join the Transportation Security Administration in Washington. He entered TSA service in August of that year, bringing with him experience in operations, documentation, instruction, technology, and working with diverse learners.
In May 2024, he became a Master Transportation Security Officer, Security Training Instructor.
This role brought his teaching background into aviation security, where clear procedures, defined responsibilities, and consistent performance are central to the work. It continued a relationship that had developed throughout his career: understanding a task, explaining it clearly, and helping others prepare to perform it.
His previous experience contributes to that perspective. Healthcare administration required accuracy and coordination. Fiscal and accounting work required organized records and attention to obligations. Adult education required communication, patience, and an understanding of how people learn.
His aviation security career brings these experiences into a different operational setting while continuing his professional commitment to instruction and service.
Learning remains part of Marcio’s life beyond his formal responsibilities.
Technology is both a professional interest and something he enjoys exploring. His interests include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, automation, digital publishing, and tools that support research, writing, teaching, and everyday work.
He enjoys investigating how a tool operates, trying its capabilities, examining its limitations, and deciding where it might be useful. Some projects begin with a practical need. Others begin with curiosity and the opportunity to understand something new.
That exploration is accompanied by an appreciation for accuracy and accountability. A tool needs a clear purpose, and its results need to be assessed. His interest in innovation remains connected to the importance of judgment, established practices, and responsible use.
AskMarcio provides a place for this continuing work. It connects his interests in technology with the subjects that have shaped his career, including business, education, security, and communication.
Writing offers Marcio another way to develop ideas and share them.
His published books include QuantumShield, QuantumShield 2.0, The Cloud Office, and Second Runway. Their subjects connect cybersecurity, workplace technology, and career reinvention with his broader interest in making information understandable.
Writing extends the learning process. Developing a book requires organizing information, examining connections, and considering what a reader needs in order to follow an idea. It creates room to explore a subject beyond the limits of a lesson or conversation.
There is also enjoyment in the creative process. A question can lead to research, an experience can suggest a story, and a difficult concept can become an opportunity to find a clearer explanation.
For Marcio, his books belong alongside his teaching and his interest in technology. Each offers a different way to engage with ideas and invite others into the learning process.
The titles already published are part of an ongoing journey. As his interests develop, there will be new questions to explore and more to write.
Now based in Renton, Washington, Marcio continues to connect his roots in Brasil with the life and career he has built in the United States.
His Brazilian background remains part of his identity. His experiences in the United States have added new educational opportunities, professional responsibilities, and relationships. Both contribute to his perspective.
Portuguese, English, and Spanish are part of that journey. Moving between languages and cultures has reinforced the importance of context, careful explanation, and attention to how another person understands an idea.
AskMarcio brings these parts of his life together: professional experience, teaching, consulting, technology, books, and the relationships formed along the way.
It reflects an experienced professional who continues to enjoy being a learner, an instructor who looks for useful ways to explain, and a writer whose curiosity keeps creating new subjects to explore.
Its purpose is to share that experience thoughtfully, make knowledge accessible, and provide a starting point for learning, conversation, and practical progress.
Hospital reception and administrative support: patient coordination, diagnostic imaging, billing, medical records. Where the discipline began.
Administrative Assistant. The foundation continued at a second major hospital.
Manager. First leadership responsibility, operations and administration.
Tax & administrative support for seasonal livestock auctions.
Tax compliance professional.
Tax assistant / bookkeeper.
Financial manager.
Tax & personnel administration assistant.
Led the Departamento Fiscal: tax documentation, reporting, coordination. Met Renata Cristina Santos, Head of Accounting: colleague, friend, the partnership behind The Bridge.
AskMarcio.com & Serafim Dpaulla Consultancy, the independent venture connecting business and financial experience with education, communication and consulting.
Business administration and financial management, formal study joined to years of practical responsibility. Evaluated at 92.75 US credits by Foreign Credits, Inc.
900-hour Accounting Specialist program at Martinez Adult Education (4.0 GPA) + teacher preparation at UC Berkeley Extension. Starting again, not starting without experience.
Accounting, business, IT, law, communication. Introduced Blackboard, then Canvas administrator. CCAE local treasurer. WASC accreditation volunteer.
CT scanners, AIT, CAT-2 biometrics, ETD detection. >90% accuracy on Threat Image Projection evaluations.
Designs and delivers federally mandated TSA training, mentors Assistant Training Instructors, conducts Level 3 assessments. TSST member, deployed for the 2025 Presidential Inauguration.
Law Enforcement & Homeland Security emphasis, Des Moines Area Community College. The mission continues.
Every record below is a real document from the archive, scanned and catalogued. Open any of them to read the credential and its context. Filter by field, or browse the full archive.
Official diplomas
Certificates · transcripts · verified records
Official recognition for performance in the first and second quarters of 2024.
Outstanding contributions to national security operations, above standard requirements.
Selected for the Transportation Security Support Team, one of the highest-profile national security assignments in TSA.
Honored for sustained commitment to accessible, high-quality adult education and lifelong learning advocacy.
Free tax preparation for the community, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance & Tax Counseling for the Elderly.
WASC accreditation contributor; California Council for Adult Education, Bay Area chapter treasurer.
A dedicated note from Marcio: it is not too late to enter this new digital era. The tools are new, but the judgment you already have is the advantage, the runway is longer than you think.
Consulting, mentorship and career resources across borders, in English, Portuguese or Spanish.
Accountant, RCS Assessoria Contábil. Brazilian tax compliance, bookkeeping and fiscal operations, the Brazil side of The Bridge.
RCS ASSESSORIACross-border consulting and mentorship. Thirty-three years across finance, education and aviation security, connecting the two systems.
IRS Enrolled Agent. U.S. federal tax representation and preparation, the American side of The Bridge.
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Published books and ongoing writing, cybersecurity, workplace technology, career reinvention, made understandable.
A Citizen's Guide to Surviving the Cybersecurity Revolution, what it means for the ordinary person trying to stay informed.
View on Amazon
Mastering Cybersecurity in the Quantum Age, a new technological era brings new questions about protection and preparedness.
View on Amazon
Why Millions Are Choosing Google Workspace Over Expensive Office Software, the familiar suite is no longer the only way to work.
View on Amazon
Aviation after 40, does a new direction have an age limit? A conversation about the possibility of starting again.
View on AmazonA calm starting point: organize four items, calculate a total, and check your work. Technology, professional growth, and the practice of learning.
Security, business, technology and professional growth, the full article collection publishes to the archive continuously.
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