In Pink We Trust – The stories

Starting from February, we photographed and interviewed a sample of women of different ages and occupations, who talked about themselves.
The goal is to highlight the women we meet everyday, and know their “extraordinarily common” point of view. (you can find all the details about the project here)

The questions we asked them all were: What was a challenge you faced and overcame? How did you find the motivation to go on? Is there a woman in your life that you always rely on, or are you someone’s anchor?

The protagonists talked freely about their experiences. We collected all their testimonies, which we will update every week, and that you can find following our social profiles on Facebook and Instagram, or through the hashtag #inpinkwetrust.

Chiara’s Story

I am a nurse. I graduated in 2019 and by march 2020 I started my job in a big hospital in Milan. I was happy and full of energy, glad to be able to help in this difficult moment. This charge of optimism lasted only a bit, because I was immediately transferred to COVID intensive care unit, a big room with 14 beds,all complete with ventilators and monitors. Everyday, before starting to work, I went trough the “filter-zone”: over my uniform I had to wear the hydrorepellent white suit, the cuff, the FFP2 mask, the surgeon mask, the overboots, the protective glasses and only then I was ready to enter, always hoping that I placed all the protections the right way, and above all to be able to resist the 12 hours shift. I don’t want to complain, I was glad to be there, but confronting firsthand that rough, terrible and merciless reality, forced me to reduce all the matters to the essential, and all the sentimental energies were blown away, to leave room for giant questions, questions with claws, which did not abandon me, which had become faithful companions of my nights and days. There I started to look around me, starting from my closest friends, to realize that we were all in our way heroes, who woke up in the morning with a challenge to overcome, that no one had it easy and no one was left behind. Someone worked in a hospital like me, someone had to give birth during the lockdown, someone tried to teach the Past Simple to middle school kids thorugh a monitor, and everybody carried on their work attending meetings everyday from their homes. I worked in COVID intensive care unit until the end of May, and there are some faces, certain sounds and sense of frighten that I will never forget. But I won’t forget either all the friends that used to write “I’m thinking about you”, and I won’t forget about my roommate, who always kept me company at the end of my shifts, and all my patiends that made it back home, all those little simple veryday miracles.” Chiara – ig: @chiaratazzari

Giovanna’s Story

giovanna In Pink we trust

I have always had a creative streak: as a girl, in the breaks of the study, armed with bases for earrings with clips, glue, tweezers and plastic half balls of many colors, I used to create colorful “boucle d’oreille”. At first it was just for fun, I wore them or gave them to friends, then different perfumeries and shops began to order them in different color combinations. My firts real challenge occurred when I got married and still very young, had my first child. I had to leave my studies, but never loose my ideas and my strong will. The opportunity came when a friend of my husband, returning from Paris, took us a beautiful long cardigan he bought there, proposing that we realized it here to sell it to italian stores. We started to look for small knitwear workshops, selecting various yarns and after several attempts, making a sample, but when it came the time to get serious and look for shops to sell our product, both my husband and friend were already tired to “play”. I was furious, but I decided to go on alone: I went shop to shop with my little baby in the stroll, proposing my product. It wasn’t easy, I got so many “no”, but I never quit. At last, as I least expected, it came the first “yes”: an order of 10 pieces. I was so proud of me, and above all, I was excited to prove that a young mother with her baby in a stroll could do it all. That little victory brought so much more and marked an important chapter of a flourishing family business. During my working years I still had many challenges to face and also many successes but this, even given my young age and inexperience, was what made me realize that if a woman wants to be successful, she has to be confident in her abilities and face without hesitation the opportunities. Now my life has changed a lot, My husband is no longer with me, but I am very lucky to have two wonderful women by my side, on whom I can always count: my two wonderful daughters. Giovanna, ig: @giovannacantitrevisan

Maria and Isabella’s Story

Our friendship was born on a rugby field, playing together in the same club that participates in the Serie A championship, Rugby Monza 1949. In rugby teams, collaboration, support and unity are fundamental values ​​and after sharing the fatigue of training, the tension of the matches and the joy of the third half, it is natural to feel like family. When I decided to leave Monza after 8 seasons for Cus Milano” explains Maria “I was afraid that our replationship could change. It s not common for rugby players to change teams, both for the sense of loyalty and due to the number of clubs, which until a few years ago was more limited. No more training time, no more third half together. It was strange, after all those years, not to share all those hours in the gym and on the field. I will never forget the victory during the final match for the first place of the 2013/2014 championship, I was unfortunately injured and had to leave the game. Right during that match Isabella, who usually play as back row, had to take my place and play as wing (an opposite role) and even scored a try! Our journey took us to be selected for the National team, the greatest honor. We practically lived in symbiosis while we were training for 2017 World Championship. It was really hard, but we qualified, and flew to Ireland to compete with athletes from all over the world Nowadays, even if we’re not in the same club, we remain good friends and teammates for the National team. We’re training for the next challenges to come – the Six Nations Cup and the Next World Cup in New Zealand in 2021.

Maria – 33 cap Italy Team ig:@mariamagatti Isabella – 23 cap Italy Team ig:@isi_locatelli

Michela’s Story

“I studied architecture, but my great passion have always been flowers. I soon managed to turn this passion into profession, starting a business that can’t simply be defined by the tag of “florist”: I deliver colorful bouquets and centerpieces with my red cargo bike, a carbon neutral activity. My mission is to create a social, ambiental and shareable added value with my actions. I like to playfully think about myself as a today revolutionary, choosing to be first a sailing mom and then to start my own business. I love to stand out and think about the environment: for my pieces I use recycled paper, stripes of recovered fabrics, compostable labels, everything in a circular economy view. My philosophy is: if everyone could make a effort, even small, to improve his environment, the world will certainly be better! Berberis vulgaris is a berry of the month of January, in which I was born. “Berberis” also has an exotic, unusual, extravagant connotation that reflects my nature. From the synergy of these words is born my brand “Berberismichi flowers”. We’re three women, myself and my daughters Mirta and Guia, who feel very determined in our goals and passionate about our beliefs. I know I can always count on their help and they can always count on mine: together, we are a force! Every day of my life, being a woman gives me added value, I am grateful to be a passionate mother, fearless sailor, joyful florist, aware of being able to freely express my creativity and personality. ” Michela – ig @berberismichi

Alessandra e Laura’s Story

“We are longtime friends. A little tired of the life we ​​were leading, and at the same time eager to start something new and exciting, we looked at each other and said “Let’s try!” So our adventure started, on a cool afternoon on April 8th two years ago. Full of ideas and dreams, we pondered the name we could give to our small and already beloved company. And here, finally ALELAMI! The combination of our names Laura and Alessandra, and our hometown,  in which we have always lived, Milan. Making clothes with our own hands. This was the first wish. The love and passion for tailoring, the study and research of the beauty of Italian fabrics, has prompted our gaze to focus on what we have the most beautiful in our country. We have made “made in Italy” and tailoring the fulcrum of our brand concept. All this was possible thanks to the integration of our studies, apparently completely different from each other, but which over time have found a meeting point, or even better, a melting point. The search for inspiration drawn from classical studies, the management skills learned from economic studies, the union of the product manager with tailoring and design, allowed us to meet, despite being only two, most of the requests that this “Craft” requires. With a lot of effort and overcoming many difficulties, we rolled up our sleeves and created a site, an initial production of clothes, a photo shoot. So on 8 July 2019 we sold our first dress. An emotion and satisfaction that gave us the energy to embark on this journey. The road is certainly still long, full of unexpected events and unknowns, which also make this wonderful world, which we are happy and proud to call our job, interesting and never predictable.” Alessandra- ig: @alecerlesi Laura – ig: @lauraricci8 Alelàmi: @_alelami_

Fulvia and Elisa’s Story

“After the death of our father we are carrying out an important family project that finds us working together intensely and with a lot of commitment. Rationality and irrationality, order and disorder, encounter and confrontation, decision and indecision. A continuous dialogue to focus on our goal, which is to frame the intellectual and artistic heritage of an important figure in the panorama of design and culture. Our characters are very different, but we exchange our views daily to achieve the best result. Our visions of the world, sometimes so distant, then seem to magically merge into a single perspective. So sharing becomes conviction and we proceed with more determination. We have total trust in each other, and this in difficult moments gives strength and energy. In these hard times that we are experiencing, we believe it is important to give value to small things, small gestures and small actions, without forgetting one’s dreams and passions, but above all to pursue utopias and think about the future with optimism.”

Fulvia and Elisa

La storia di Antonella

“La sfida più grande che ho superato è stata abbandonare un lavoro ben remunerato per avviare un’attività in proprio per vendere un prodotto non richiesto in Italia. Non so se la sfida sia stata superata, lo scoprirò nei prossimi anni.

Posso contare soltanto su me stessa, mi sprono, mi consolo e mi faccio coraggio da sola.

Spero di essere un punto di riferimento per i miei figli anche quando si allontaneranno da me ed entreranno nel periodo dell’adolescenza.”

Antonella – ig: @fridabike

 

 

 

 

La storia di Martina

“Quando mia mamma mi insegnò ad usare la macchina da cucire mi si aprì un nuovo mondo in cui esprimermi, al quale non sono mai più riuscita a chiudere una porta.

Lei mi ha insegnato la bellezza di creare, invece che comprare.
Quando era giovane sognava di aprire un atelier e confezionare abiti su misura come faceva la nonna, ma la vita spesso ti mette di fronte a scelte diverse, e seguire le proprie passioni è un rischio non sicuro. Oggi è qui accanto a me che mi aiuta a rischiare.

Il primo zaino realizzato era in tela cerata impermeabile e lo comprò una ragazza di Londra, che lo trovava perfetto per appenderlo alla sua Brompton e girare per la piovosa città in bicicletta.
Immaginare una mia creazione girare per le strade di un altro paese mi ha riempita di gioia.

Se ripenso a quello zaino oggi che sono reduce da corsi di Bag Design, Modelleria, Pelletteria e Branding mi vergono per l’imperfezione e l’improvvisazione, però sorrido perché conteneva tutta la genuinità e l’essenza della sperimentazione che fino ad oggi non ho perso ma affinato.

La sfida di oggi è quella di continuare a crescere, rimanendo piccoli.
Per esempio contribuendo nelle piccole scelte ad aiutare il pianeta a non riempirsi di scarti. Da qui la scelta di recuperare i tessuti ed i pellami, la scelta di una produzione lenta, fatta a mano, ma con cura. La scelta di raccontare il lavoro che sta dietro un prodotto. La scelta di dare valore ai piccoli gesti.”

Martina – ig @martinammancuso
Agua – @aguabackpacks

La storia di Elisabeth

“Buongiorno a tutte le donne e agli uomini di buona volontà!

In questa giornata dell’8 marzo, sono felice di condividere queste fotografie, fresche di questa mattina!

Ho comprato 10 fiori che pianterò nel mio giardino. 

Queste piante cresceranno e fioriranno per molti anni, come le donne che saranno scelte  per il nostro progetto  Ziio – In Pink We Trust assieme a Young Women Network.
Le Storie di In Pink We trust prendono le loro radici nella realtà e creano delle sinergie positive. Grazie all’espandersi del nostro progetto, 10 giovani donne potranno usufruire di un mentoring dell’associazione Young Women Network, finanziato da Ziio.

Sono consapevole dell’importanza e della necessità di sostenere le giovani 
donne nello studio e nella ricerca della loro autonomia.

Voglio ringraziare tutte per la loro partecipazione, è un inizio, a breve ci saranno altre novità.
Pubblicheremo assieme a Young Women Network le informazioni sul progetto, magari sarete interessate ?

Grazie di cuore!”
Elisabeth – Designer Ziio


Come Elisabeth, siamo felici di unire questo progetto ad un’organizzazione che aiuta la giovani donne a porre le basi per una splendida carriera.
La vendita della collezione In Pink We Trust andrà a finanziare quote associative a Young Women Newtork, per aiutare dieci ragazze a trovare la loro strada. Scopri come qui.