Ep. 2 - Valentina Imbeni, Founder and Head of La Scuola

The third episode of "Letters to Italy" by Sara Marinelli features Lucina Di Meco, gender expert and women’s rights advocate. She is the author of #ShePersisted. Women, Politics & Power in the New Media World, and serves as the Senior Director of Girls’ Education & Gender Equality at "Room to Read." She grew up in Liguria, and has lived in the USA since 2007, and in the Bay Area for the last five years.
While in Episode 2, Valentina Imbeni told us about the efforts to keep a local school open during the pandemic, Lucina Di Meco speaks about the challenges of an international nonprofit in pursuing its mission to promote gender equality in the Global South at a time of crisis.

Lucina also ponders her relationship to Italy, her sense of belonging, and how she turned a difficult moment into an opportunity to further alliances in her work as a researcher and advocate for women’s political leadership.

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Episode notes
Producer/Editor: Sara Marinelli
Sound design: Sara Marinelli
Intro and outro music: “Hopeful Motivation” - James Yan
Website for Sara Marinelli: www.saramarinelli.com
Website for Room to Read: www.roomtoread.org
Website for Lucina Di Meco: www.she-persisted.org

This series was made possible thanks to the support of COMITES of San Francisco and the Italian Consulate of San Francisco, with funding from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.