There is one thing that has always intrigued me about the world's great fortunes: why do some of the richest women on the planet almost disappear from the media? Vicky Safra is a perfect example of this.

She is the richest woman in Brazil according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of around US$ 16.6 billion, but if you look for her on social media or at public events, you'll find almost nothing. This is not by chance; it is strategic.

What few know is that Vicky Safra, when she was young, had a very different story from what we imagine for heirs of financial empires. Born in Greece in 1952, she was the daughter of a Jewish family that had migrated to Brazil. She met Joseph Safra here in Brazil, and they married in 1969 — she was only 17 years old when she became part of one of the world's largest financial legacies.

But the Safra fortune story doesn't start with Joseph. The ancestors of the family had been operating in the Middle East since the 19th century, financing trade caravans in the Ottoman Empire. Jacob Safra, Joseph's father, was the one who truly transformed this into an empire when he migrated to Brazil in 1953 and founded Safra Importação e Comércio, later expanding into banking operations.

Joseph built upon this foundation, but it was Vicky who inherited the responsibility of keeping everything running after his death in 2020. She and her four children shared control of an impressive portfolio: Safra Bank in Brazil, J. Safra Sarasin in Switzerland with global private banking operations, assets under management of about US$ 90 billion, as well as iconic properties like The Gherkin in London and estates in New York.

What impresses me most is how the family keeps this structure virtually invisible. Vicky Safra lives in Switzerland, rarely makes public appearances, and most of the influence she exerts is through the Vicky and Joseph Safra Foundation, which funds projects in education, arts, and health.

In a world where billionaires compete for attention on social media, the Safra strategy is completely different: solidity, confidentiality, and focus on the long term. Perhaps that is why they continue to be a global reference in wealth preservation.