Ricardo Pessanha is a sworn English translator and interpreter registered under nr. 184 with the Board of Trade of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He's accredited with the American and British Consulates in Rio and as a journalist (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro School of Communication - 1982), and is a member of the association of foreign press correspondents in Brazil. He also has a post-graduate degree in marketing (PUC - Catholic University - Rio - 1994). He's been to the United States several times for training courses. The latest was in 2006, at Harvard Business School, where he studied the technique of teaching through case studies. He has certificates of proficiency in English from the University of Cambridge and the University of Michigan and was an English instructor for about 10 years.

Ricardo Pessanha has extensive experience in translating journalistic material, liner notes, lyrics, DVD and film subtitles, press releases, artist profiles, movie scripts, websites, books, manuals, certificates, contracts and documents in general for clients such as Universal Music, EMI, Warner Music, Google, Youtube, Putumayo, Six Degrees, Megatrax, Brazilian labels Trama and Delira, Musicrama, HPI, MZA, and several assorted Brazilian companies: banks, advertising agencies, publishers, industries etc.

With American journalist Chris McGowan, Ricardo Pessanha co-authored The Brazilian Sound (Temple University - third edition - 2008); many critics consider it the best book on Brazilian music ever published in the USA. In 1999, The Brazilian Sound was the best-selling book in the World Beat Music genre category at Amazon.com. The book has also been published in England (1991), Germany (1993), France (2000) and Japan (2003).

With Brazilian writer and translator Carla Cintia Conteiro, he also co-authored a biography of Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso. The book, entitled L'Âme Brésilienne, was released in France in 2008 (Editions Demi-Lune - Paris)

As a journalist he covered music events such as Rock in Rio II, for Billboard, and jazz festivals. He collaborated with Mad magazine (Brazilian edition), The Beat (Los Angeles), and Brazilian newspaper Afroreggae, and was a news writer for Brazilian radio stations Manchete FM and Roquette Pinto.

Ricardo Pessanha is also a photographer and keeps an online exhibit of his work