My Delicious Web
Maria Web Designer and more,
tells us about his project.
Welcome to Easy Travel Hosting! Maria, freelance Web Designer, digital consultant, SEO specialist, Woman Techmaker. Tell us about yourself and how you entered this world!
Hello and thanks! In the meantime, nice to meet you: I'm really excited to be part of this big green family! 🙂
To answer your question, I was actually born as a graphic designer: I undertook artistic studies (Art Institute and Academy of Fine Arts) and my secret dream was to become an advertising graphic designer!
However, fate wanted me to follow a different path...
In reality, let's say that it was a dear programmer friend of mine, who later died in a car accident, who introduced me to the world of the web and the potential of the internet, as well as the power of sharing one's ideas and experiences, when we still hung out in MSN chats and social media didn't exist.
I first learned HTML and CSS thanks to an international project by David Shea, "CSS Zen Garden" (which gave birth to the now vintage book "Zen and CSS design", which I still jealously guard in my library!) and it was there that I fell in love with Web Design, in an era where in Italy there were only Webmasters, and all of them were men!
As a self-taught person, I bought all the books in the sector to study as much as possible and, between an HTML and a CSS file, I found my first job as a Web Designer.
I then moved to Milan to attend specialization courses in Web Design, Web Marketing, because in Puglia there were no such courses, and I (as a good perfectionist) wanted to train myself well, because I wanted to open my own Web Agency!
I also got Adobe certification for Flash (!!!), Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Photoshop; for a short period of time I also taught Web Design, and then worked mostly in the depths of some communication agencies, when many still didn't understand what the potential of the web really was.
When I was pregnant, however, things changed: from a fairly sought-after and resourceful figure, I transformed into a reserve always on the bench.
I even reached a point in my life where I was convinced that my career had come to an end.
But in 2017, thanks to a challenge from Google (Google Developer Challenge Scholarship), I had to change my mind! I put my skills to the test because I wanted to re-enter the tech world with my head held high and silence all those little voices in my head that told me to give up, and I won a scholarship in Android programming out of 60 thousand participants across Europe...
From that moment on I decided to bet more on myself and my talents, becoming a relationship. 🙂
Abbiamo visto la tua "Jungle Mail", una newsletter che chiaramente tocca argomenti del mondo tech ma con un approccio molto intimo. Ce ne potresti parlare?
“The Jungle Mail” was born about a year ago. The idea for the name came to me when I combined my greatest passions: plants, the green world and the web, as well as the desire to help as many women as possible emerge with their digital talents.
It is no coincidence that its pay off is "From the deep web, with machete blows”, because my goal is to encourage and help business women to rediscover their female potential online, making their way (with machetes) in the dense jungle of the web… 😉
In my social channels I always try to have a more informative approach and I don't talk much about my private life, simply due to a communication choice.
As for the Newsletter, however, I chose a more intimate approach precisely because I simply didn't want to create the usual "spam email", sensationalistic or full of promotions of my business, but instead I wanted to create a more intimate connection with my readers, to share with them not only my successes, but also my defeats!
In a social world where the main bulwark is perfection, I believe that having one's own space, where one can be more human and therefore fallible, where a sincere dialogue is created, has become essential.
I then wanted to show those who follow me both sides of the same coin, and how important authenticity is in a person, to the detriment of many preconceptions.
So not only will I talk about news from the tech world, but also about those more hidden aspects of the life of a freelancer, which not everyone has the "courage" to share!
Reading you between social media and newsletters, you are mainly addressing a female audience. What relationship do you create with your audience and why this choice of audience?
From my previous answers you may have guessed a little what my ideas are, but mainly the choice of a female target was outlined not only because of my work and life experiences, but also for a simple question of affinity.
I would like to point out that I have made many online contacts also with valid professionals with whom I collaborate and interact, and with whom I have made truly precious professional friendships; but in the past it was not always like this.
I have suffered several sexual discrimination at work: I suffered mobbing, straining, bossing, mansplaining (and so on and so forth, I would say!), in a period of my life in which I wasn't very centered on myself, and I wasn't fully aware of my potential.
I suffered from panic attacks for a long time because of this, and literally had to put my work life on hold because of it.
At that time I had no friends in Milan, and I often felt alone. I just don't want other women to feel alone in the same way, or to feel unable to do certain things, because they have low self-esteem.
There are many women who even now, in the 21st century, think they are not able to start their own online business simply because they have conformed to the common idea of being "the weaker sex", and in my small way I would like to eliminate these gender disparities.
Speaking and raising awareness, with the help of other digital professionals, of the problems of the "Digital Gender Gap" and the "Digital Divider" is one of the objectives that I would like to achieve with my business. 🙂
Did you encounter difficulties or skepticism from those around you when you decided to embark on a career as a freelancer in the world of web design?
To be honest, not many. I have a partner who has always supported my ideas, even the most bizarre ones! And let's just say, even if he hadn't supported me, I would have made it happen anyway!
After such an important journey on myself, it would have been a real shame to waste it by not putting into practice the lessons learned. 🙂
Then obviously on the web you still "meet" many colleagues who think they know more than us women about web design or programming, and therefore sometimes it can happen that you clash with many methuselahs, but fortunately there are also many others who don't think so, with whom you can have equal conversations without suffering unwanted mansplaining.
As you know, Easy Travel Hosting uses renewable and eco-sustainable energy to power its servers. Furthermore, a tree is planted for each new hosting, actively helping reforestation and the absorption of CO2. What do you think of this project and in general, do you think it is important to seek a more sustainable lifestyle?
I think it's really important to seek a more sustainable lifestyle, in fact I think our Earth demands it with a certain urgency!
In the period in which you contacted me I was already implementing strategies to make my work more sustainable and green, and let's face it, it is currently really difficult to start a totally green digital business!
Fortunately, thanks to you, I was able to start my "green transformation", and with me also other clients of mine who share my vision of a greener world.
Getting to know you guys has truly been a godsend and I'm really happy to be working with your hosting!
Transforming my business to 100% green will be a difficult challenge, perhaps quite unlikely for many, but not trying is a defeat from the start, so why not?
You will plant a tree for each new hosting, I will plant one for each of my purchased services... I think it's an excellent start. What do you say? 🙂
Easy Travel Hosting thanks Maria very much for taking part in our interview for the column dedicated to Small Business for Women.
If you want more information, you can follow her on her website by clicking here.
And on social media too!
Easy Travel Hosting it is 100% ecological Hosting.
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