Lu's idea portfolio
“The child is in me still and sometimes not so still”
-Fred Rogers
My communication lovestory
I have bad memory. Maybe it is not wise for me to admit it to possible recruiters or blast it on social media, but it’s true. Everybody has flaws, and terrible memory, is one of mine. But in life, there are certain experiences or anecdotes that are forever ingrained in the brain. Memories that shape us, represent us and act as soundbites of our lives. For me, it was a silly conversation with my mom on a random Roman night.
When I was younger, I lived in Rome. We had just finished enjoying a delicious Italian dinner and as we were strolling back home, I turned to my mom with bright googly eyes and spurted: “Mom, I think I have a superpower.” You would think my mom would be surprised, or at least intrigued, but with my vivid imagination and love for dramatics, it was still a regular night for her. Of course, she bit into my bait and with her sweet voice she asked “oh really… what is it?”. So again, excited to share my new discovery, I replied: “I think all the time, even if I want to I can’t stop!”
My mom chuckled and brushed it off, but I will never forget how excited I was. I truly believed that I was the only person in the world who had that ability, or as I would call it back then, that superpower. I could even imagine myself getting recruited by a special superhero division, like the Avengers, and go on super cool missions to save the world one thought at a time.
To my dissapointment, I soon realized that I, in fact, wasn’t the only one in the world that thought all the time, nor did I have a superpower. But I will always cherish that memory because it is symbolic of everything I am today: Hopeful, imaginative, searching for the extraordinary and full of ideas. And when I was younger, I was convinced that those ideas had to be heard. ALWAYS. I was, as I still am, very passionate and outspoken; but I felt the need to defend people’s inner voice. If you think about it, I was my own kind of superhero.
Regardless, I never understood why people would keep the jewels of their brains to themselves and not share them with the world. I thought it was the biggest injustice and disservice one could do. Of course, if you are older than 15 years old, you can understand why one shouldn’t share all of their thoughts. You know better than to communicate for the sake of communicating. That not everyone wants to hear what you have to say and that speaking can sometimes come bite you in the a**.
So as time passed, and I too grew older than 15, I discovered why it was important to know when to speak and when to just listen. I learned how to harness the neverending thoughts inside my brain and vivid imagination to question reality and feed my creativity. And most importantly, I fell in love with the concept of communicating with a purpose.
When at 18 I had to make the decision of what to study, I chose a degree in Advertising and Public Relations because it was the perfect marriage of strategy, psychology and communication. Not only did it have a purpose, but it had an effect. It had human nature, human touch, at the center point. It could bridge concepts, people and brands; making the globality of the world feel connected.
I knew it was the right choice because being a creative communicator fascinated me just as much as being a superhero once did that casual, but signfiicant, night in Rome.