I am from a small town near Bilbao in the Basque Country. At university I won an Erasmus grant to go and study in Italy for a year – it was my first time away from my parents. I moved to Florence completely alone, without knowing any Italian and it changed my life. I didn’t want to waste the year as I’d seen others do, using it as a break from reality to just have fun. My goal was to speak perfect Italian by the end of the year. I think language is so important – it’s easy to make yourself understood, but it takes time to be able to speak it at a level where your real you shows up. I knew my Italian was good enough when I could make jokes and communicate my sense of humour, and that really drove me I look back at that decision and I think it’s definitely the biggest I’ve ever made. I learnt to be away from my family, I learnt to be more independent and it helped me put down roots for my professional life. I then moved back to Italy after university and started working at a telecoms company, and I can trace that journey directly to working at Colt. I met my partner in Italy and we moved to Barcelona together and we’ve been together for almost 10 years now. It feels as if all the decisions I’ve made have brought me to this moment. I truly believe that everything is connected.
Lara Rodriguez | Content Design Lead in Process, Projects and Transformation | Barcelona
