When did you leave Ticino for the first time?
«After high school I moved to Zurich to pursue university studies, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Media & Communication, Management & Economics and Sociology. Here I particularly learned about new hybrid forms of advertising, efficient Crisis & Risk Communication tactics and the best social media strategies to implement successful election campaigns. To combine academic notions with practical experience, I did internships between one semester and another, both in Ticino and in German-speaking Switzerland. I worked for two different newspapers, on radio and television, in a corporate marketing department, at the Locarno Film Festival and finally in a media agency located in Zurich ».
Then you decided to leave ...
«I have always wanted to have an experience abroad, as I am extremely convinced of the added value it gives on a personal, academic and professional level. The University of Amsterdam is recognized as the world's first for communication faculty and offers more than 5 different master's addresses within the department. The Persuasive Communication program focused mainly on Marketing and Health Communication, a field, the latter, almost new to me, but which immediately proved to be very interesting ».
Why did you decide to stay in the Netherlands?
«I am an unstoppable traveler and from Holland I was immediately captured by the simple and spontaneous way of living, I fell in love with Amsterdam for its fairytale landscapes and the strong internationality of a city populated by ambitious young people. In the company I am particularly enthusiastic about the great team spirit, curiosity and dedication of all colleagues and top managers ».
You are not involved in marketing to sell products, but to present solutions to world-class companies to be more sustainable and sensitive to environmental issues. Tell us about your work ...
“I currently work for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an international organization pioneering the practice of sustainability reporting, with headquarters in Amsterdam and branches in America, Asia and Africa. The company's mission is to facilitate decisions that create large-scale social, environmental and economic benefits. This is achieved by helping companies and governments around the world to understand and communicate their impact on important sustainability issues such as climate change, governance and social well-being. GRI develops, updates and translates into multiple languages a set of guidelines (called GRI Standards) that each company, organization or interested body can use to create a sustainability reporting, or an analysis of the performance of its business from the point of view of development sustainable. This activity triggers actions aimed at implementing or perfecting practices that create added value for the company, the environment and society ».
What is your role within the company?
"My role as Conferences & Events Coordinator in the External Affairs team is to coordinate the organization and implementation of conferences, symposia, events, round tables and further public and closed-loop appointments, where the benefits of reporting are illustrated of sustainability and launched new GRI Standards, or hosted interviews with representatives of companies who share their experience with this procedure. During the two years in the company, I supported the planning and implementation of 3 American Summits, the most recent being online, a Summit in the Philippines, the inauguration of the opening of a new office in Singapore and several round tables in Europe. In addition, I was responsible for carrying out the launch event in Milan of the Italian translation of the GRI Standards and for a closed-door meeting in Brussels with about ten government representatives ».
How do companies respond to your proposals?
«The GRI Standards are the first global standards for sustainability reporting and the most widely adopted worldwide. From the beginnings of GRI in 1997 to today, we have transformed this practice from a niche business to a procedure used by a growing majority of companies. In fact, 93% of the 250 largest corporations in the world report their sustainability performance. In almost 25 years of activity, GRI has witnessed an increased interest shown by organizations from all over the world operating in the most disparate industries towards the disclosure of their information on environmental impact, with many companies taking steps to set up real departments internally. dedicated to this issue. In fact, we were pleased to witness a radical change ».
What are the benefits that an organization can derive from this practice?
"The benefits are manifold: acting in the name of transparency leads to inspiring responsibility, supporting other companies, protecting the environment and improving the society in which the same company operates, helps to identify and manage risks, as well as to seize new opportunities, without forget that it triggers an economic boost thanks to the improvement of governance and the strengthening of reputation and key relationships with stakeholders ".
Has anything changed in your life in terms of sustainability?
“Certainly, being in close contact with environmental issues every day, my awareness of the considerable contribution that as an individual I can make to safeguard the environment has been strengthened. In general, in today's society there is an increased sensitivity to the environmental discourse. In this sense, both companies and governments have made enormous strides by implementing measures in favor of a production system that is more considerable than the surrounding reality. I am thinking, for example, of important technological advances that have benefited from the exploration of renewable energy sources. An integral part of responsible behavior towards the conservation of the planet is to identify and make the best use of the potential of the reality in which one lives and operates. If countries like India and China are still confronted with important numbers linked to pollution, Holland is an excellent example of functional use of the territory, where the flat morphology has been leveraged to encourage the use of bicycles. Even in Switzerland, a nation that is particularly attentive and sensitive to sustainable development, much has already been done in this sense ».
Will you ever return to Switzerland?
«Switzerland is always my home, point of departure and point of arrival, it is certainly the final destination. Today's world offers endless possibilities for curious young people like me and an experience abroad allows them to accumulate a great wealth of knowledge, command of foreign languages, increased independence and understanding of different cultures, resilience and much more. This is a strong mix that I hope will allow a return home with a completely new flavor, which, rather than returning to its origins, tastes like a new adventure ».
