Roger Magalhães

Brazilian-born. Boston-bred. Florida-based.

Everyone needs a roof over their head.

Roger Magalhães understood that before he understood much else.

When he was six years old, his family lost their home. What followed were years of real hardship — hunger, uncertainty, and the kind of struggle that either breaks you or burns into you as fuel.

For Roger, it became fuel. A relentless drive to never go back. To find solid ground. To build something that couldn’t be taken away. That hunger took him from São Paulo to Boston to Florida — up ladders, through businesses, through hurricanes, and eventually onto the page.

He didn’t arrive with a plan. He arrived with a will.

The Journey

He started where most people don’t — at the bottom, with no contacts, no roadmap, and a language he was still learning. He picked up tools, showed up early, and figured things out the hard way. One client became two. Two became a business. In 2006, Shades In Place was born in Boston — and built its reputation the old fashioned way. One installation at a time. Today it carries over 800 five-star reviews from clients who trusted Roger with their homes.

By 2020, the world had stopped — but home renovations hadn’t. Stuck at home, people started looking around and fixing things up. Window treatments were part of that boom. Dealers were overwhelmed with orders but couldn’t find qualified installers to keep up.

Roger saw the gap and founded Trading Up Consulting — connecting dealers with skilled installers and helping trade professionals meet the demand. What started as a practical solution grew into a full training and consulting practice serving professionals across North America.

Then in 2023 he moved to Florida and did what most people wouldn’t — started over. Again. New city, new market, new relationships. Same standard. Shades In Place Tampa Bay was built the same way the first one was. One client at a time.

Then in 2025, he was invited to become a partner at BlindsOnline.com — an industry staple since 1998. When one of its founders retired, they looked for someone who had spent decades building trust in the trade. They found Roger.

Three businesses. Nearly two decades. One through line — build something real and share what you learn.

The Work

If you want to hear the stories — tune into No Strings Attached, his podcast about business, reinvention, and what the American Dream actually looks like from the inside.

If you want something to read on a quiet morning — Stories in Motion is his monthly newsletter. Real reflections. No fluff.

And if you’re ready to go deeper — Nobody Told Me That, his debut book, arrives September 2026. A collection of hard-won lessons for everyone still searching for their place under the sun. Grab a free sample chapter.

His second book, Courage Attracts Luck, is on the way.

Why I Do This

Nobody handed me a map. I built one as I went — one mistake, one lesson, one story at a time.

I write and speak because I know what it feels like to start behind. To want more than your circumstances seem to allow. To be in a room where everyone else seems to know the rules and you’re still figuring out where to sit.

In 2022 I was honored with the Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award by The Immigrant Learning Center — the only award of its kind in New England. When I accepted it, I said three things:

“Never stop learning. Never give up. If it was easy, anyone would do it.”

If that’s where you are right now — you’re in exactly the right place.