In early 2011, Erik started developing an unidentified intestinal malfunction, which made bowel movement erratic and the colon become constantly inflamed. Through three years, his condition worsened, and medical diagnoses in Brazil were inconclusive at best, such that, by 2014, when the malfunction had become a mild, acute internal bleeding that acted up around 6-9 times a year, treatment was sought abroad. After some search, Erik found a path towards medical improvement in Massachussetts General Hospital and, in 8 months starting from October 2014, made an exponential recovery that put his life back on track.
      Rapid amelioration brought unto Erik a newfound sense of gratitude towards the artifices that life gave him and the tools he had had to find adequate life-saving treatment. In tandem, he also grew more conscious of the lack of medical opportunity others had in his terribly socially unequal hometown of Rio de Janeiro. With a brooding vigor to assist this target community, he set about drafting a social entrepreneurship plan - this is when the idea for IdeasLux dawned upon him. Originally, the focus of the startup was to assist purely medical NGOs, but he later broadened the company's horizons by opening doors to any type of equity-seeking nonprofit.

      In this sense, the partnership with Operation Smile was sought due not just to its medical focus, but also to hard-earned, untarnished reputation. Erik knew from the start that establishing anything of value as an underage student would be nigh impossible, and he needed to strike a partnership with a global, credible NGO to assert his seriousness. The partnership with Naam Yoga LA came unexpectedly, through a mutual friend, but became, at lightning speeds, a highly fruitious endeavor. Casa Arte Vida is an equity-focused nonprofit, which fits perfectly with IdeasLux's vision, but a concrete project will only start being undertaken, due to timing issues, as of late April.

      Following a similar school of thought as that used before, the decision to make IdeasLux's engagement withOperation Smile be based on food catering came from the notion of both the booming food catering services in Rio, especiallly those in vehicles (bikes/trucks) and the lack of philanthropic options within the vendors, as well as Erik's experience with food catering due to several successful class bake sales he led as then 10th grade class president. At the same time, using pens for the Naam Yoga campaign was done because of the ease with which this item in need could be prouduced in bulk, and to question the perceived expendability of the biro.