Before I will tell you more about our new virtual assistant, I like to first thank everyone who send their applications in. As we grew in 2017 from 50 to 200 children and expanded our development projects, there was no way that I could continue working alone. So I needed to look for a Virtual Assistant to help us out. Initially I felt a bit scared to put up the job post, as I had no clue who was going to apply and giving away tasks to a stranger felt a bit like abandoning my own child. But I got so many nice emails, that this feeling soon disappeared. Thanks again to everyone who applied and send me kind letters, I really felt flattered and knew that I soon would find the perfect match for the 22STARS foundation!
We grew within one year from 50 to 200+ children, and it thus was time to get in some help!
Let me introduce you to our new Virtual Assistant who is going to help me with all sorts of task this year. Meet Francesca Giovannini from Milan, Italy: a world-changer, traveler, yogi and recent digital nomad aka Social Nomad. Like me Francesca left her home country in 2008 to live all over the world. She has traveled quite some bit after her bachelor in History and Literature. During those travels in South East Asia, she saw for the first-time real poverty and people struggling to survive on a daily basis for lack of basic needs. This was the moment that she realized that she needed to make a difference for people living in poverty.
Francesca has a background in International Relations with a focus on child protection and worked in several development countries.
Francesca decided to do a master degree in International Relations in Berlin, where she gained a global perspective on human rights issues, cultural diversity and international development. She started her career in humanitarian aid, with a focus on child protection. She first went volunteering in Colombia, where she was working in a center for drug addicted children and victims of domestic violence, and she also worked for different NGO's in Italy. In 2013 she worked a few months in Tanzania at a day care center, targeting disabled and malnourished children, and afterwards she worked in Kenya with the United Nations for 1.5 years. After a massive earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, she flew to Kathmandu where she was engaged for 2 years in the relief efforts for the reconstruction and in projects related to education and children development.
Last year Francesca started traveling in South America and lost her heart to Peru. She will now start combing her passions for traveling and working remotely on a social cause. Besides doing administration and social media tasks for the Foundation, Francesca will also use her experiences to help us with fundraising campaigns, brainstorming about new ideas and advising us with regards to our projects.
A Virtual Assistant with super powers: Francesca will also advise us on the projects that we do. She is a great example that you can work remote, while making a positive social impact in the world!
When Francesca doesn’t work in some humanitarian project, you can find her backpacking around the world, or in some remote ashram in India or Latin America, where she loves to practice yoga and meditation. Just recently she stumbled up on the Digital Nomad scene and saw through my post that it’s definitely possible to work remote, while continuing making a positive social impact in the world!
I am looking forward a lot to start working with Francesca, who funny enough is born on 11 June ‘85, while I am born 11 July ’85 (Together 22 ;) ). We have never met in real life and not even have a single friend in common, but I am sure that will change in future! So guys, whenever you bump into Francesca somewhere in the world in a co-working cafe or in the streets, say hi to her! :)
-XoXo-
Stella
Pictures by Francesca Giovannini.