Gabriella

Introduce yourself within a sentence.
I’m a senior digital copywriter and I work in a communication agency based in the North of Italy. I am a great music lover and I always find a way to express myself with rhythm and sounds.

What is the most challenging part of your life in this time of crisis?
Dealing with all the tasks you have to complete every day, staying focused and creative. It’s not easy to always have a brilliant insight or a game-changing idea, especially in a situation like the one we are now living.
Northern Italy is one of the most covid19-affected areas, so the struggle is real. Every day you read the news and hope that things will get better, but for a long time in the past months, it was not. This crisis is unprecedented and staying 100% productive most of the times is simply not realistic.
In order to do my best, I try to keep my mind clean, be logic and down-to-earth, stay informed in the right way, feed my curiosity and keep a positive attitude as much as I can.
Smart working lets you develop creativity in a comfort zone, but at the same time, you are in your own bubble. One of the biggest challenges is managing the distance with your colleagues in order to maximize the virtual teamwork, that is key for a job like mine.

What is your guiding light every day that makes you smile?
The deep connection between people. A lockdown is a testing ground for the relationships you have built, in and outside your workplace. In this particular moment, most of the people I know have created a unique, different connection with me: each of them has helped setting a network that made me feel safe, understood and free to share my feelings and thoughts. I’ve experienced 60 days alone in my little flat, but I’ve never felt lonely.
Empathy and flexibility are key values to face every new challenge: the concepts of time and space are not the same as before. And also, the ability to stay open and listen to each other.

If you can share a source of hope with someone in need, what would it be?
Times will change. This time, future is worth the wait. I don’t think we’ll find ourselves different – we are what we are, and this won’t change. The perspective (to me) is different: I think we’ll find ourselves. We could finally see each other in a new light and understand how nothing should be taken for granted. Not a job, not a person, not a place to live.
And we could better understand the value of time, the importance of “carpe diem”: an unreached goal, a postponed dream, an unspoken truth or idea really make the difference. We should make it count.