Silvana Maini

Background

About Silvana Maini

I do remember very well the moment I decided to become a chemist. I was at my high school in Rome talking with my friends about our future and the jobs we pictured ourselves doing in a few years time: lawyer, doctor, journalist, musician … Why not a chemist I said? “Come on Silvana! You, a chemist? Are you joking? “Too difficult for you! Well, that’s good for starters! Not having my friends backing me up on my dream job wasn’t what I expected! But that was the challenge, I then got my degree in Chemistry. That was when I packed up my suitcase and caught a train to move to Milan. I had got a job in the R&D department of one of the leading chemical companies worldwide! I had the privilege to work at one of the most innovative development centres for fluorine chemistry. After a few years, I was offered a marketing position in a business developing products for very sophisticated applications. Things and perspectives indeed can change when you look at them from the window of an airplane. I had started a new journey, an inner one, which made me grow professionally and led me where I am now. What made me make that first decision? What drove me to chemistry? In a word, it was curiosity! The curiosity to explore aspects of my field not strictly related to just one environment. Make no mistake! I very much realize that a lab environment can give you a universe of experience! What you have the chance to see through the lens of a microscope is something so great that words are not enough to describe. Yet, my curiosity drove me to other labs, companies, their work. I found joy in talking to wonderful people, sharing their experiences, their dreams. My greatest satisfaction was realizing I could help my colleagues to develop the results of their daily efforts, work that often involved struggling to reach a result. So, when I had the opportunity to work in the press, I finally realized that was the place to be for me, where I wanted to stay. And this is where I am!