Ciao a tutti e Benvenuti!
In today's episode, I share my incredible journey from Italy to the United States and how my entrepreneurial adventure began.
I arrived in the US in 2014, driven by my love for the English language. Despite being a successful CPA in Italy, I felt that working with numbers didn't give me the chance to practice English. So, I made the bold decision to quit my job and planned to stay in the US for just six months. During my time in New York, I landed an internship doing budgets for a nonprofit producing contemporary operas in Brooklyn.
Since I was alone in NYC, I joined a meet-up group called Language Exchange, where I could practice English and help others with Italian. There, I met a remarkable man—though not in the way you might think. He's 70-years-old, a NYU professor, a fellow CPA from Italy, and a polyglot who spoke eight languages. With a larger-than-life personality, he asked me, "What are you doing here, and what would you like to do?" When I mentioned my short-term plans, he encouraged me to share my resume, promising to help me find a job in the US.
Skeptical yet hopeful, I sent him my resume. To my amazement, he arranged an interview for me at the Empire State Building, and I landed the job. That night, overwhelmed with emotion, I called my father, a lifelong entrepreneur, to share the news. His response was both supportive and challenging: "You can take the job, but only on one condition. Being in the US, the biggest market in the world, you can't settle for a regular 9-5 job. You take it, you start it but you need to come up with something else and do it at the same time."
This advice sparked the creation of Healthy Italia. In 2016, Healthy Italia opened its doors, marking the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. The path hasn't been easy, and I'm candid about the lessons I've learned, including the pros and cons of having business partners which lead to me deciding to do this by my self, the challenges of accepting a gift from my father that turned out to be a loan, and the perseverance required to keep going when there is no other option.
Join me as I recount my story, offering valuable insights that is hopefully motivational for aspiring entrepreneurs.
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Hosted by Cristina Bossini
Produced by Cristina Bossini and Christine Borowsky
Edited by Christine Borowsky
Music by Matt Large
12 mins