Not only are birthdays an occasion to connect and celebrate with friends and relatives, it's also time to reflect on another trip around the sun and think about our impact. Yesterday, August 27, I added another year to the ring. Thanks for all the birthday love, and here are some thoughts on social impact and an introduction to two new #socialimpact projects for female entrepreneurs and refugees. I am always amazed at the amount of messages I receive on my birthday through va

While March 8th is officially known as International Women’s Day, the whole month of March tends to be dedicated to “honoring” women. So, here is why we should be investing more in female leadership: in companies and organizations as well as women-led startups. I wrote a blog post (in Italian) last week about International Women’s Day for Verona Professional Women Networking and the falsity today that goes into this day. We, both men and women, shower women with compliments o

Might social impact strategies just save the world? It’s hopeful thinking, but the truth is that social impact gives businesses and organizations a business-driven purpose with a lasting impact. Let’s make one thing clear. Social Impact is not the same thing as Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. CSR has become a field itself over the years is focused more on the charitable impacts of a company focusing on ethically-oriented practices. CSR initiatives are usually one time

The field of marketing has been revolutionized, through disruptive technology and social sharing platforms, to become the data-driven science it was always meant to be. We now have to ensure the data we collect is secure. Remember the simpler days of marketing? The days when marketing professionals could simple say “I do marketing”?. Today the field has evolved to include data analysts, automation specialists, content creators and community builders and technology gurus. Mark

The very nature of the workplace is changing. Companies want top talent to guide strategies that create both economic and social value. And most importantly, they want results quickly. A Strategic Marketing Officer (SMO) on demand can help. A recent article in The Economist reported that, on average in 2020, employees worked 455 hours a year more than their contracted requirement. Unfortunately most of this time is spent in video calls or meetings or doing other mundane admin

WomenX Impact Summit comes to Bologna, Italy this September making women protagonists of a discussion around #entrepreneurship, work and innovation. Official press release below (in Italian). The WomenX Impact Summit is set to take place September 30 and October 1 in Bologna, Italy to give women leaders a stage to talk the future of #womenempowerment, innovation and work. There is already an impressive list of confirmed speakers from Google, BBC, Western Union, Financial Time

My book choices are often a reflection of my goals for the year, and this year the idea is to challenge myself to be better, to rise to the next level. In 2020, I got through 19 books (not bad for having two rugrats around) - a mix of current trends, women and gender parity issues and some classic Italian literature. Living in Italy, I try to alternate between English and Italian language books to continuously train the brain. I'm always looking for suggestions for my next go

Why is creating social impact the next step in expanding your digital strategy? #socialimpact If you ask most companies what their marketing strategy is for 2021, most will probably reply emphatically: “#digitalmarketing” or “#datadrivenmarketing”, meaning they are relying on digital tools to convey a message, or sell, to their target market. If you ask these same companies what their customers actually care about, you might get typical responses like price-quality ratio or s

In this post I will keep an ongoing list of the books I read throughout the year with some comments along the way. Happy reading and learning in 2020! 1. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez --- Link 2. Jay-Z Made in America by Michael Eric Dyson --- Link 3. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff --- Link 4. Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Hal