When passions and skills meet...
From Vicenza, a small town in the Northeast of Italy to hopping around the world and feeling at home everywhere I go… how did this happen and how is it relevant to my story?
It all started with that feeling of wanting to know more, explore more, and that itchiness to travel the world that has always characterised me since I was a kid. When I was 8 years old, I begged my parents to take me to Egypt. Four years later, I embarked by myself on a 24h bus ride to spend one month in the middle of nowhere in England with a host family (my first cultural shock came in the form of beans and eggs for breakfast, where was my cornetto?).
As the end of high school neared, I remember my teachers asking me “What do you want to become? You have to choose now.” Panic. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, it was very clear to me I didn’t want to be a lawyer or an accountant.
I wanted to travel and make people happy at work. Is that a job?
My international life started to take shape during my Master’s degree in Management of Organizations when I spent 6 months in Brussels studying at the ULB in French. Those 6 months turned into 4 years. Thanks to that very serendipitous experience I discovered the world of coworking and distributed teams.
Communities have always been central in my life and, I have always had the gift of bringing people together and making everyone feel comfortable. Plus, I’m very organized and practical. I never knew that I could combine all of my innate strengths to excel at my dream job. As a community manager at Betacowork Coworking, a vibrant community of 200 entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers in Brussels, I spent 3 years juggling planning events, connecting people, solving admin puzzles and having a lot of fun.
After 4 years in rainy Brussels, that itchiness came back; I wanted to travel the world! I wanted to stay in places longer than a vacation would allow, meet locals, take public transit, work from local cafes, and briefly feel at home in a new place. A gap year backpacker style was not attractive to me, because I am passionate about developing communities and long-term connections. That's when I discovered the magical world of digital nomads and remote working.
In January 2018 I started as a Community & Event Facilitator for Hacker Paradise and the position carried me across 4 continents along with a community of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and remote workers. It was supposed to be just one year; it's now been more than 6. I managed the logistics (including evacuating a group from the revolution in Nicaragua) and fostered relationships among members, problem solved, and created a welcoming community. My role developed as I took lead inbound sales and transitioned into becoming the first COO of the company, where I ensure that all aspects of our trips run smoothly and that community members and internal team members are valuable parts of our organization.
Vibrant communities inspire me to empower those around me through community building. I take my work seriously but I don’t take myself too seriously (ask me about the pandas).
Operations, sales, community...how do these 3 things fit together? Well...startup life! Wearing different hats, and fast paced decision making is the kind of environment where I thrive and that didn’t know existed back when I was in high school.
Managing a remote team is my new challenge and I’m loving it. A team is a community and empowerment and happiness are the core of a strong community.