IWA Modena Volunteers

 Sofia is Greek and moved from London to Modena 7 years ago making Italy her new home. She has been working in the international development and charity sector over the last 17 years in numerous countries and fields. She has been an independent consultant for the last year, working with organisations across the globe as well as small grassroots ones here in Modena. Her work is based on empowerment and loves to work with associations who bring social change through innovative solutions. She is passionate about everything around food, travelling, meeting the world, new people, cultures and nature. 

Since moving to Italy from her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) in 2014, Tinamaria has had the pleasure of calling four beautiful Italian cities “home”; Milan, Parma, Ferrara, and her favorite – Modena. With family roots in Abruzzo, a strange love for airplane food, and a passion for travel, Tinamaria is always planning her next trip somewhere and can pack a carry-on bag in less than 10 minutes. When she’s not doing that, you can find her working in her office as a freelance Communications Specialist, carrying out international projects that combine her background and skills in writing, education and business.

Marisa is Italian, but grew up in Switzerland and moved to Italy with her family as a teenager. At University, she studied foreign languages and literature.
She currently works as an Executive Assistant and is a mother of two children. In her free time, she loves to cook, read and work on creating crafts. She is also passionate about taking photographs to capture precious moments otherwise gone.

German by birth, Italian by marriage and International by heart. Isabell has 20+ years of experience in retail and business consultancy, which has taken her around the globe. She loves building relationships and is a networker by heart. Being passionate for connecting and supporting women, Isabell is member of the IWA Modena mentoring group as well as part of the Women 4 Women Campaign team.

Quyen is a Vietnamese Canadian, living in Italy with her family since 2019. Prior to this she lived in Toronto, London, Dublin and Paris where she worked in international PR and Communications for food and drinks brands. This allowed her to bring together her passion for food and drink and work across many languages and cultures. She completed a Business Sustainability Management course at Cambridge University. When she’s not at her desk, you can find her in the kitchen running Living Italianly; a series of sustainable cooking classes born during the pandemic.

Janet describes herself as a citizen of the world. Ever since she was a child, culturally understanding and communicating with others was just a piece of cake.
Brought up in the Middle East and currently residing in her second home in Modena for the last 10+ years. She had the pleasure of working in many sectors after graduating in Architectural Engineering, such as: interior design, interior contracting, branding, franchising and export towards the Middle East (in managerial roles). Besides her main line of work, which is export, Janet is interested in sustainable initiatives and volunteer work for fundraising.

Sofia comes from Modena, Italy. While studying at university, she decided to turn her daddy’s hobby for Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena into a business and started to plan events at the acetaia with her mum. She has always spent time with international people and, maybe, for this reason she has mostly based the work at the acetaia on tourist hospitality.
Sofia founded her own consulting company and now also works as external consultant for companies operating in different sectors. She’s the editorial coordinator of
‘Il Balsamico, the Modena black gold’ and the events and promotion manager at the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena Consortium. Most of all, she’s proud to be an IWAM member which inspires her.

Arpita grew up in Mumbai, India, and moved to the UK as a teenager. She met her Italian husband in Oxford while finishing research for her PhD in Molecular Anthropology. After gaining post-doctoral experience in Helsinki, Finland, she took a leap of faith and relocated to Modena, where she started a new life (“la vita bella!”) and career. Although she feels like a citizen of the world having also lived for short periods in the US and Germany, Arpita really appreciates the great quality of life and close-knit community Modena has to offer, especially from when her daughter was born. She is proud to work at Maserati and be an active member of IWA.

Elisabetta is from Naples, but before University she lived in London and Siena. She went back to Naples to study Computer Engineering, only to take off again with her family, and since then she has lived in Bologna, Sweden and Modena. She loves living in an international environment, to experience different views of the world and different cultures. Right now she’s a stay-at-home mum with many interests including the cinema, reading and cooking.

Silvia is Italian and moved back to Italy, after living for a long time in the US. She studied Political Science in Florence and was very active in the political and social scene of her hometown. With a start-up company, she collaborated with the public administration to create cultural  events and worked at the public library.
After living in Rome, Bologna and the Netherlands, she moved with her family to the US, where her kids still live.
She arrived in Modena during the summer of 2021, and thanks to a friend, joined IWAM and was astonished to find such a group of international and amazing women here.
She loves painting, reading, traveling, practicing yoga and adores cats!!