16 you're not gonna believe this

today I woke up proud and excited because,

after 8 years of writing,

I have my first ever cover interview with a vogue.

the vogue.

vogue italia.

a cover interview is the main interview of the coverstar, and it is a huge honour to get to do that. I got approached last month for this and said yes immediately, still kind of thinking to myself maybe there are several people interviewing the coverstar, italian supermodel vittoria. maybe it’s a different kind of format and there are several people involved?

but no, it turned out it was truly just me, myself and I.

I am fairly new in this conde nast universe, I have written for vogue germany a few times now, both print and online, and from what I know is that AW approves every contributor for all the issues under her control (not the licensed ones), whether that’s a freelance writer or photographer. so basically, AW loves me, confirmed by me here and here.

I grew up with vogue italia, would take the train to the main station of my city as a teenager and go to the international magazine section in order to buy it every month, it was my religion. I hate this saying “blablabla was not on my bingo card of this year” but fuck it, ever getting to do the cover interview of vogue italia was not on my bingo card. at all. I always am delulu about my future success(es) and what I can achieve but last year I slowly faded out of a safe editor position to be freelance again to which almost everyone close to me told me what tf are you doing? I had no clear plan at all or even real jobs lined up with other publications but i had an itch for a few months and it wouldn't go away. I took that editor role because it was offered to me and I had never pitched a magazine an article idea in my entire career, and I never wanted to learn how to do that either. do you know this meme about “my future does not include a linkedin account”, that speaks to me biblically. I believe that as long as i post my shitpost on any of my social media, some publication will approach me and ask me to write something, without me having to pitch anything. so far, touch wood, that worked out for me. anyways i drifted off here a bit but I thought that when I went freelance, I’m gonna have to start pitching if i still want my thoughts published, which i can’t. I am just a girl!!!!!! instead I focused on my podcast, on product launches, on my own social media, my new substack, did a lot of lecturing and universities and public speaking, and the writing opportunities came on their own. it’s actually one of those valuable lessons I’ve learned from watching videos about manifestations, you believe you already have the thing. the same way you manifest a partner, by becoming the partner that you would want to date. I became more of an interesting voice online for my audience, meaning publications would at some point want to have my voice. I went back to freelance writing believing someone is gonna reach out and pitch to me. and they did.

and if you listen to my podcast I constantly talk about investing your energy and time into things, being interested in others in order to become more interesting. taking chances on things, if you can, financially, even if there is no immediate reward. I did not know anyone at vogue italia to be real with you, but two months ago I said yes to being on a panel of theirs during salone del mobile in milan. there was no budget, I flew myself in (something I’d not do for many things as a spoilt business class content creator) without really even knowing the framework of that paneltalk. my audience swept up the tickets within an hour and the talk itself went great. and I don't think I would’ve gotten this opportunity if I hadn’t delivered that day. And I tell my listeners every episode that I get booked not because of my engagement on social media or my following, I, and many of my colleagues, get booked because someone likes me. it’s about 90% of why I get confirmed for a job. and that is why the networking and socialising never stops, which thankfully is one of my favorite things about my job, I am interested in anyone and talking about anything. Why wouldn’t you want free knowledge from experts in their field by just talking to them? and this networking cycle never stops in the sector that I am in, you will never reach the point of success where all things just come to you. I will forever have to say yes to things and take chances and leave my house, otherwise there are no jobs, especially in this economy.

I knew only a few things about the relatively private vittoria, she followed me on instagram a while ago, i followed back, modern day social media exchanges. she is pretty untouchable reign supreme at this point in the italian model market, chanel beauty, walks every show, new dolce perfume face. and since two years a highly press covered private life. if you’re wondering if we are touching on that in the interview, we don’t. vittoria is used to getting vogue covers by now maybe, but I’m still not going to make this moment of hers about her relationship, as a woman. I think you can get people to read an interview without being cheap. we had to do the whole thing over zoom which was annoying but timing and both our travel schedules would not align. I hate doing zoom interviews because there are very rarely any spontaneous moments, and you don’t really go overtime. I wanted this to be a beach read, very light and fun, like two friends facetiming, catching up while both sitting at an airport gate. let me know if we managed to bring this vibe! we did end up rambling for over an hour and now the interview is live-

here

(it’s in italian, you can just google translate, lets give them some clicks so that i can keep my dream job)

and I am very excited about this and I hope you are excited for me. because I really did not think I was ever going to do a cover interview in vogue italia. actually that means I didn’t dream big enough! the print issue will get to the stands on tuesday (in europe at least) and i really really hope you get yourself one, as a manifestation of focusing on yourself, getting out there, leaving the house, saying yes to the speaking obligation, starting the substack, following back, committing to things even if there is no immediate reward, the opportunities will come :)

like comment share the article with someone, it would mean a lot to me

grazie

<3