Branca Vianna Moreira Salles is a Brazilian podcaster. She is the founder and president of Rádio Novelo, a Brazilian podcast production company. Vianna gained widespread recognition for creating and presenting the true crime podcast Praia dos Ossos (2020), which revisited the murder of socialite Ângela Diniz; it was nominated for the APCA Award in the Best Podcast category.
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Early life and education
Vianna was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She comes from a prominent Brazilian family; she is the great-great-granddaughter of Domingos Custódio Guimarães, the Viscount of Rio Preto. Vianna has publicly addressed her family's historical ties to slavery in her work, specifically in episodes of Rádio Novelo Apresenta, where she investigates the history of her ancestors.
She holds a background in linguistics and worked as a teacher of interpretation at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio).
Before entering the podcasting industry, Vianna worked as a simultaneous interpreter for nearly 30 years. She was a reference in the field, translating for high-profile events and conferences. She has stated that her background in listening and translation influenced her approach to audio narratives.
Career
Vianna began her career in podcasting as the host of Maria Vai com as Outras, a podcast produced by Piauí magazine. The show ran for four seasons and interviewed women from various sectors—from sex workers to congresswomen—analyzing the role of women in the labor market.
In 2019, she co-founded Rádio Novelo, an independent podcast production company, alongside Paula Scarpin and Flora Thomson-DeVeaux. The company quickly became a major player in the Brazilian digital media landscape.
In 2020, Vianna created, wrote, and narrated Praia dos Ossos (Beach of Bones). The eight-part investigative series examined the 1976 murder of Ângela Diniz by her partner Doca Street. The podcast was critically acclaimed for contextualizing the crime within the history of the feminist movement in Brazil and the "legitimate defense of honor" legal argument. It is widely considered a milestone in Brazilian audio journalism.