From Brazil to the United States

On May 19, 2024, Marcio became a Master Transportation Security Officer, Security Training Instructor at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The appointment brought two substantial parts of his career together: operational experience across checkpoint and checked-baggage functions, and years of teaching adults in California.

His instruction supports nationally developed TSA training programs, including new-hire learning and qualification across assigned screening functions. He also supports recurrent training, return-to-duty learning, and remediation, helping officers reinforce knowledge or rebuild skills. Within established requirements, he adapts or develops local materials and uses explanation, demonstration, practice, and feedback to connect the course with the work officers will perform.

Coaching is an important part of that process. Marcio provides individual mentoring in response to training needs and mentors Assistant Training Instructors as they develop their instructional practice. He administers and scores assigned tests, including job-knowledge and image-interpretation assessments, and supports practical skills observations and follow-up assessments within his authorized role. Reviewing outcomes helps him identify where another explanation or additional practice may be useful.

His classroom work requires attention to both the subject and the learner. He manages classroom dynamics, addresses routine instructional issues, and creates opportunities for officers to ask questions and practice. He monitors sessions and offers recommendations for improvement, drawing on adult-education experience to maintain clear expectations while working with people at different stages of development.

Behind the instruction is the administrative work needed to deliver and document training. His responsibilities include support for Online Learning Center records and data entry, rosters, training documentation, classroom resources, materials, supplies, and preparation. He also assists with test administration and communicates with instructional staff, managers, and supervisors about learning needs and training concerns through the appropriate channels.

Marcio continues assigned frontline screening duties to maintain operational proficiency and required qualifications. When given acting supervisory responsibilities, he supports checkpoint coordination, communicates with leads and supervisors, and helps address operational issues. He also observes the emergency-essential obligations and health and safety requirements applicable to his work.

His Network Information Officer responsibilities draw on another aspect of his communication experience. He shares authorized threat-awareness information, helps teams understand relevant briefings, coordinates with appropriate supervisory personnel, and protects information according to its handling requirements. The work connects clear explanation with responsible information-sharing.

Passenger support remains part of his broader contribution. As a Passenger Support Specialist, he assists travelers with disabilities, medical conditions, and communication needs, emphasizing dignity, clear explanations, and coordination with screening personnel. The same patience and attention to understanding that inform his teaching also support these interactions.

Through the Transportation Security Support Team, Marcio contributes to National Deployment Force support assignments. His experience includes support for the 2025 Presidential Inauguration. Such assignments draw on teamwork, adaptability, and the ability to apply established skills in an unfamiliar location or under changing demands.

His completed DMACC Certificate of Specialization in Homeland Security, FEMA learning, and continuing study complement this professional work. Across instruction, operations, passenger support, information-sharing, and deployments, he continues to connect learning with practice. His approach is consultative and deliberate: understand the responsibility, communicate clearly, perform carefully, and help others develop the confidence and ability to do the same.

Marcio entered TSA service on August 14, 2022, bringing his background in administration and education into federal aviation security. His experience includes Snohomish County Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where his work developed across passenger screening, travel-document review, carry-on property, and checked baggage.

In travel-document checking, he used approved authentication tools and referred concerns through supervisory channels. His experience includes Credential Authentication Technology, including CAT-2, boarding-pass scanning, biometric identity verification, and document-inspection tools. Working at an early point in the passenger's journey also called for clear directions, calm communication, and coordination with fellow officers.

Passenger preparation and property flow connected that communication with the practical operation of the checkpoint. Marcio helped travelers understand screening directions and worked with colleagues to address confusion and support cooperation. His assigned screening responsibilities included walk-through metal detection, advanced imaging technology, X-ray and computed-tomography review of carry-on property, explosive trace detection, and bottled-liquid screening.

Checked-baggage work added experience in image review, explosive-detection systems, and assigned baggage-resolution duties. Together, checkpoint and checked-baggage responsibilities gave him an operational perspective that would later inform his instruction.

The equipment represented in his experience includes CAT-2, boarding-pass scanners, document magnification and ultraviolet inspection tools, and digital microscopy. His screening-system experience also includes CEIA walk-through metal detectors; Leidos ProVision and Rohde & Schwarz imaging systems; Rapiscan X-ray systems; Smiths Detection CT and IONSCAN systems; CEIA and Smiths Detection bottled-liquid screening systems; and Leidos CT80 DR+ and Smiths Detection 9400/9800 checked-baggage systems.

As a Passenger Support Specialist, he assists travelers with disabilities, medical conditions, and other support needs. Clear explanations, communication accommodations, and coordination with screening personnel help him approach this work with respect for each person's dignity. His teaching background and cross-cultural experience contribute to the way he offers assistance.

Marcio continues to maintain the qualifications required for his assigned duties and develop his operational knowledge. His recognition includes Model Officer honors for the first and second quarters of 2024 and a TSA Individual Cash Award. The skills and experience developed in frontline service became an important foundation for his Security Training Instructor appointment in May 2024.

Marcio served as Lead Teacher at Mt. Diablo Adult Education from August 2018 to June 2022. This was a separate school role within California adult education, bringing his experience in business, accounting, and technology to another community of learners.

His teaching covered accounting, business and finance, business communication, Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, computer skills, and career preparation. The connection between these subjects was practical application: understanding business information, using the tools needed to work with it, and communicating clearly in a professional setting.

He related concepts to recognizable tasks, made room for practice, and adapted explanations to the learner’s experience. Working with adults from different backgrounds reinforced his focus on accessible instruction, helping students connect new material with what they already knew.

Learning platforms and digital communication were another part of his contribution. During the move to remote instruction, his familiarity with these tools supported collaboration with fellow educators and continuity for students. This brought together his classroom experience and his work with educational technology.

He also contributed to the school’s WASC accreditation work, connecting daily teaching with institutional review and improvement. The role formed a distinct part of his California teaching career, combining subject instruction, digital learning, collaboration, and service to the school community.

At Martinez Adult Education, Marcio brought years of business and financial experience into the classroom. As a lead teacher in Career Technical Education, he worked with adults strengthening their skills, preparing for employment, or considering a new career. His responsibilities grew beyond teaching individual courses to include curriculum, program coordination, technology, certification testing, and professional service.

Accounting was a central part of his instruction. He taught Accounting I, II, and III; international and governmental accounting; payroll; bookkeeping; accounting fundamentals; and financial reporting. Through Accounting Basics, Accounting Technician, and Accounting Specialist pathways, he connected concepts with the records and tasks students would encounter at work. QuickBooks instruction included fundamentals, practical applications, and certification preparation, alongside preparation for bookkeeping certification through the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

His business teaching covered administration, finance, business law, business communication, and communication skills. These subjects complemented the technical courses: understanding a financial record was connected with explaining it clearly, and learning a business process was connected with carrying it out responsibly.

Technology instruction ranged from foundational skills to widely used professional applications. Marcio taught Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access, together with web design, keyboarding, computer fundamentals, hardware, operating systems, file management, and basic troubleshooting. He also helped students use computers and smartphones to access services, manage applications, communicate by email, and protect personal information.

Digital safety formed part of that practical learning. His instruction addressed safe internet use, digital hygiene, cybersecurity awareness, phishing, scams, social engineering, and responsible social media use. He adapted these subjects for adult learners, English learners, and students returning to education, recognizing that confidence with technology develops through explanation and practice.

Career Connections linked classroom progress with employment preparation through resumes, professional conduct, workplace communication, and career readiness. Projects, simulations, guided practice, and feedback gave students opportunities to apply what they learned. He supported English learners through adapted instruction and specially designed academic instruction in English, and worked with students with special education needs. His own experience as an immigrant and adult learner helped him recognize both the knowledge students brought and the support they needed.

His educational-technology work began at Martinez in 2014, when he introduced Blackboard into his teaching. He later helped transition to Canvas, making online materials and activities part of regular coursework before the pandemic. His responsibilities developed into Canvas administration, implementation, course organization, and user support, including assistance extending into K–12 school settings.

Marcio developed online and hybrid teaching approaches and taught students and fellow educators to use Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. When the pandemic required a rapid move to remote instruction, he and his students were already comfortable with these tools. As a lead instructor, he assisted peers and teachers from other schools, combining platform knowledge with an understanding of what teachers needed to continue delivering usable courses.

Professional certification provided another connection between education and employment. He served as an authorized administrator and proctor for Microsoft Office Specialist, QuickBooks Certified User, and Adobe Certified Associate examinations. He also worked on articulation agreements with Bay Area community colleges involving accounting, payroll, QuickBooks, and Microsoft applications, supporting students' opportunities to continue their education. Collaboration with publishers and subject-matter specialists helped him review resources and keep instruction aligned with program requirements and workplace needs.

During administrative transitions, he assumed interim department-chair duties involving scheduling, budgeting, and faculty coordination. He contributed to WASC accreditation cycles through self-studies, evidence documentation, and improvement planning, and collaborated with California adult education consortia to share instructional and technology experience beyond his own classrooms.

His service included CCAE membership and local treasurer responsibilities in the Contra Costa adult education community. Employer connections, career events, and individual coaching extended his support for students, and he received recognition as a Friend of Adult Education in Contra Costa.

The relationships formed at Martinez remain part of his story. Shelley Baker, a former student, became a friend, and he continues to assist her with accounting and tax-related questions. When Marcio left California adult education in 2022 to enter TSA service, he carried forward both these personal connections and extensive experience in instruction, mentoring, program leadership, and technology.

Moving to the United States in 2012 brought Marcio into a new language and professional environment. He arrived with an established background in administration, accounting, and fiscal work, while facing the task of understanding different systems and expectations.

That transition also brought him back to the classroom. His later accounting studies and teaching preparation helped connect his earlier experience with the responsibilities he would take on in California adult education. The experience of being an adult learner in a new country would become an important part of his perspective as a teacher.

The business journey behind AskMarcio began on February 10, 2010, as Serafim Dpaulla Consultancy. It gave Marcio a foundation for developing his independent consulting work while continuing his professional responsibilities with other organizations. That beginning remains part of the story of the business he leads today.

A subsequent chapter brought his partnership with Renata Cristina Santos under the name Santos & Serafim Dpaulla Consultancy. Their collaboration connected Renata's accounting experience with Marcio's background in tax compliance, business administration, and financial management. The partnership grew from the professional relationship and shared responsibilities they had developed at SRC, linking the consultancy's story with a lasting working relationship and friendship.

Today, Marcio leads AskMarcio.com as CEO & Founder. The current identity brings together that consulting foundation with his continuing work in education, communication, and technology. The earlier ventures and his partnership with Renata are part of this history, while AskMarcio provides the present home for his own professional work, resources, and developing projects.

His consulting helps professionals, small business owners, and organizations turn plans into practical next steps. Working with clients across the United States and Latin America, he draws on experience in retail, education, aviation services, and nonprofit operations. Strategic planning and business structuring are connected with the everyday questions of who is responsible for a task, what resources are available, and how information moves through an organization.

Financial organization is a substantial part of that work. His consulting and educational support include budgeting, forecasting, reporting, bookkeeping, payroll, and tax-related organization within the scope of each engagement. He helps clients bring their records into order and interpret business information, connecting financial analysis with the administrative practices needed to use it. His UNINOVE studies, fiscal-department leadership in Brazil, and accounting education and teaching in California all contribute to that perspective.

His role as founder connects the direction of the business with the practical work behind it. Consulting, educational material, professional communication, and the development of AskMarcio's digital presence are parts of the same continuing undertaking. His experience across different workplaces informs that direction, bringing together the perspective of a department leader, an educator, and a business owner.

Technology provides another connection between his professional interests. He supports the adoption of digital tools and customer relationship management systems, considers how workflows can be improved, and helps people become comfortable using the systems selected for their work. Training for business owners, professional teams, and emerging leaders includes cross-functional learning and written, verbal, and interpersonal communication.

AskMarcio also creates room for mentoring, professional discussion, educational resources, and selected free consulting support. His books, QuantumShield, QuantumShield 2.0, The Cloud Office, and Second Runway, extend that work into cybersecurity, workplace technology, and career reinvention. Artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity awareness, business intelligence, and digital publishing remain continuing interests that he explores through study and practical projects.

Today, the AskMarcio website brings those interests into a shared space for learning and professional connection. The Academy, articles, books, and Job Hub reflect his commitment to making useful information more accessible, while professional services provide a route for people seeking more focused guidance. These areas continue to develop; the purpose is to connect what visitors learn with decisions and practical steps they can take in their own work.

Portuguese, English, and Spanish are part of his experience across cultures. Working in Brasil and the United States has shaped the way he explains ideas, builds relationships, and helps people approach unfamiliar systems. Developed alongside his employment, AskMarcio continues to connect the different parts of his career with his enjoyment of learning and sharing what he knows.

At SRC Soluções Empresariais, Marcio served as Head of the Tax Compliance Department, known in Brazil as the Departamento Fiscal. His role combined technical fiscal work with department leadership: coordinating the team's responsibilities, reviewing fiscal books, addressing tax-related issues, and supporting clients with obligations at the federal, state, and municipal levels. This placed him at the connection between the firm's daily work and the requirements its clients needed to meet.

His technical responsibilities covered calculations, filings, and reviews involving PIS, COFINS, IRPJ, CSLL, ICMS, ICMS-ST, and ISS. The breadth of that work required attention to different tax requirements and the records supporting them. Alongside departmental coordination, he remained involved in the detailed work of examining fiscal information and resolving questions that arose during preparation and review.

Electronic fiscal documentation was another substantial part of his leadership. Marcio led work involving NF-e and NFS-e, connecting compliance research with practical implementation. His responsibilities included testing, digital certificates, state-system integrations, and resolving rejected submissions. This work brought taxation and technology together: understanding the requirements, preparing the systems and documents, and addressing problems when submissions did not proceed as expected.

He worked closely with Renata Cristina Santos, Head of the Accounting Department. Renata led accounting while Marcio led tax compliance, with each bringing a distinct area of responsibility to their collaboration. Their partnership connected the fiscal and accounting sides of the work rather than treating them as isolated functions.

Together, they also shared responsibilities in human resources, payroll, business registration, and corporate administration. Their work included company formation, registrations, corporate amendments, and licensing. These responsibilities extended Marcio's experience beyond tax filings into the practical administration of businesses, linking fiscal requirements with employment matters and the formal steps involved in establishing and maintaining a company.

SRC was also an important chapter in his development as an entrepreneur. AskMarcio began on February 10, 2010, during his time at the firm. Department leadership, technical fiscal work, electronic systems, and collaboration across business functions formed part of the professional foundation he carried into his independent consultancy. His lasting friendship with Renata remains a personal connection to that period of shared responsibility and professional growth.

At Orcose Contabilidade e Assessoria, an accounting and advisory firm, Marcio worked across tax and personnel administration. His responsibilities included tax calculations and reconciliations, continuing the fiscal experience he had developed through earlier accounting roles.

He also became involved in the transition toward electronic tax documentation. This included researching and interpreting requirements for XML-based records, the structured digital files used to exchange invoice information, and Brazil’s electronic tax-invoice system, known as NF-e.

His work involved reviewing electronic signatures and helping adapt office procedures to digital documents. It connected tax knowledge with technical investigation: understanding the requirements of a document while also considering how it would be created, authenticated, and handled electronically.

The experience helped prepare him for the electronic fiscal-document responsibilities he later led at SRC. It was a practical bridge between established fiscal bookkeeping and the increasing use of digital systems in Brazilian tax administration.

As Financial Manager at Data Mello Informática, a technology business, Marcio took responsibility for cash-flow management, budgeting, financial planning, and credit analysis. This role brought his administrative and accounting experience into a position focused on the organization’s financial operations.

Cash flow, budgets, and planning required him to connect day-to-day financial activity with the business’s resource needs. Credit analysis added another aspect to that responsibility, while financial reporting brought the information together for review.

He oversaw financial reporting during a period of growing interest in electronic invoicing in Brazil. Working within a technology company provided a setting in which financial processes and digital tools were closely connected.

This chapter broadened his experience from processing and reviewing fiscal records to managing financial operations. It also reinforced an interest that continues in his work today: understanding how technology can support business administration and financial organization.

Working with Marilene Rodrigues Domingues as a Tax Assistant and Bookkeeper, Marcio continued developing his specialization in fiscal recordkeeping. He processed incoming and outgoing tax documents and maintained the information needed to support reporting.

His responsibilities included municipal and state tax calculations and the recording of transactions in fiscal ledgers. In practical terms, this connected the documents received or issued by a business with the records used in its tax administration.

The appointment reinforced the detailed side of his accounting experience: consistent document processing, careful transaction recording, and attention to the information supporting a calculation. It formed another step toward the broader financial and fiscal roles that followed.

At El Shadai Assistência Contábil, an accounting-services firm, Marcio worked in a dedicated tax-compliance department serving business clients. His focus was fiscal bookkeeping: recording, checking, and processing the transaction documents used to calculate and report Brazilian taxes.

He worked with purchase, sales, and service invoices, examining the information recorded for each transaction and reconciling fiscal records. The role required attention to how individual documents contributed to each client’s overall reporting, rather than treating invoice entry as an isolated task.

His tax calculations covered municipal, state, and federal obligations, including ISS, ICMS, PIS, and COFINS. These included taxes on services, the movement of goods, and federal contributions. He also prepared routine compliance reports, connecting the underlying transactions with the obligations being reported.

This appointment strengthened his experience in a client-serving accounting environment. Document review, reconciliation, tax calculation, and reporting formed a connected body of work that prepared him for later fiscal responsibilities and department leadership.

Marcio took a brief seasonal position with WBF Brasil Relações from May 1 to June 11, 2004. The business operated livestock auctions involving cattle, horses, and premium animals. The short duration reflected the seasonal nature of the work, providing a distinct experience between longer appointments.

He handled tax-related work and traveled with the team for its auction activities. This brought his administrative and fiscal responsibilities into an event-based business, connecting the office records with work taking place alongside the auction operation.

His responsibilities included processing accounts-payable and accounts-receivable information, organizing commercial documents, and recording invoices and receipts. He reviewed and classified incoming documents, checked tax calculations, and maintained fiscal books.

The assignment gave him experience in a different commercial setting while continuing the transition toward specialized tax work. It combined travel, seasonal operations, financial documentation, and the tax responsibilities associated with the business.

Marcio joined Associação Evangélica Literária Pendão Real as Assistant Manager and was promoted to Manager before leaving the organization. Pendão Real was a church-affiliated publishing organization associated with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil. His progression marked an important move from administrative support into responsibility for managing the association.

His work involved executive schedules, board correspondence, and institutional communication. These responsibilities connected organizational leadership with the information and coordination needed for day-to-day activity. As his role developed, so did his responsibility for keeping administrative work organized across the association.

He worked with daily logistics, communication between departments, and institutional filing systems. Contact with vendors and suppliers added an external dimension to that coordination. In a publishing and church-related organization, these duties supported the practical operation behind its institutional mission.

Financial tracking and budget monitoring were also part of his responsibilities. They connected his administrative experience with the resources and decisions involved in running an organization. His advancement from Assistant Manager to Manager is a significant part of this chapter: by the end of his appointment, he was managing the association, rather than remaining in a management-support position.

At Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte, Marcio continued his career in hospital administration as an Administrative Assistant. Building on his earlier experience in Avaré, he worked with institutional correspondence, administrative documentation, and the information exchanged between departments.

His responsibilities supported the internal coordination of the hospital. Correspondence and departmental documents formed part of the everyday work of communicating requests, maintaining records, and keeping administrative information organized. The role called for care with both the content of a document and the way it was handled.

This period extended his experience beyond front-desk patient coordination into the administrative work supporting a healthcare institution. Accuracy, responsible handling of information, and attention to procedures remained central. It strengthened the organizational foundation he later brought to management and financial administration.

Marcio began his professional career on July 7, 1993, at Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Avaré, a charitable hospital in Brazil. Working in reception and administrative support, he helped coordinate appointments, admissions, patient registration, and referrals. His work connected patients with the information and departments involved in their care.

He coordinated scheduling and patient information for diagnostic imaging, including X-rays, computed tomography (CT scans), and ultrasound. These responsibilities required attention to appointment details and communication between patients and hospital departments. They gave him practical experience in organizing information within a busy healthcare setting.

Hospital billing added a financial dimension to his role. He reviewed procedure records and assembled supporting information for health-insurance and public-healthcare claims. This work connected the services recorded by the hospital with the documentation needed for billing, developing his early familiarity with administrative and financial records.

He also maintained medical records and archives, where confidentiality and the ability to retrieve information mattered. Reception, imaging coordination, billing support, and recordkeeping gave him a broad introduction to hospital administration. These were the first foundations of the documentation, communication, and organizational skills he would carry into later roles.