A daydream, always thrilling, which envelops and involves both the heart and the imagination of a process of constant experimentation.

I was small but my dreams, contrary to my stature, were already very big.

At the same time I developed a second passion: dance. The determination that has always distinguished me allowed me to reach important levels until I had the opportunity to move to Rome and study in an important school: theNational Academy of Dance. I was15years oldwhenI decided to leave my city, my friends, my loved ones to move alone to the capital.A year later I moved to Dresden. It was once again a tough test of early adulthood as I saw my family only three times a year and was studying as a private student to achieve my third year of high school. My course of study in Germany ended after 3 years with the attainment of a "Bachelor of Art" degree and two work contracts as a ballet dancer, so at the age of 19 I ended up moving to the Czech Republic to begin my career as a semi-solo ballet dancer in theater. Along with the satisfaction of achieving my goals, I began to feel empty socially and culturally; after all, I had dropped out of high school at 17 and had not graduated from high school like my peers, and my constant changes of residence had not allowed me to form solid friendships; I had not experienced a carefree adolescence, rather I had been focused always and solely on achieving that one goal: to become a dancer. Suddenly, however, once I had achieved that goal, it seemed as if I had begun to miss everything that existed outside the theater and the four walls of the ballet studio. Out of the blue, I decided to drop everything and resume my studies, take up experiences that I had not had up to that point, start cultivating social relationships, but most of all resurrect my first passion: fashion.

At theage of19, after a short period in the Czech Republic, I returned home, back to my country, back to my city, back to speaking Italian fluently and back to living with my family. Of course, leaving dance was a long and thought-out decision, but to this day I have never regretted the choice I made. I immediately elaborated that the only thing I would miss coming back to Naples would be my independence, in fact already at the age of 16 I started working parallel to my dance studies as a waitress in a small Italian restaurant on weekends and already there I sensed the satisfaction of being able to feel independent. I immediately began to plan, think and devise something that could make me "free" from what had been the impositions of the ballet world, where several times I had realized that I was a mere executor of a series of steps. Of course I took up again my first passion:lamoda, which in spite of everything I had never abandoned. At the same time I began to fill my social void by hanging out with new people: I noticed that the well-to-do girls I was dating all had extremely expensive designer handbags..."Did those handbags identify a certain social class?"I asked myself."Why should a handbag be able to label a girl or a woman?"Obviously I didn't own one and never would I have ventured to ask my parents for that kind of money just to feel part of a group, all of which led me to think a lot.I wanted to be able to be considered not for the obvious logo on my bag as much as for the fullness of my personality, my experiences, my ideas!I wanted at the same time to prove that I could dress cool but with clothes and accessories within my financial reach. I realized that there were no stores selling a line of trendy handbags and accessories accessible to everyone, and I imagined the dissatisfaction of many girls and women in the same situation as me.

After a short time, a few weeks after my return to Italy,I decided to start Label Rose. Of course, communication budgets were nonexistent, so in the early days I had to do everything on my own: I was a model, stylist, photographer, social media manager, visual merchandiser, stockist, manager... whatever was needed in short. To this day, I can say I am proud of the results I have achieved, proud of having faced many battles alongside my family, proud of having earned first a diploma, then a degree in International Business Management, proud of this brand and the team that over time helped me develop the idea of a young woman. Of course, the path has been, and still is, long and winding, but then again, the hardest challenges are always the most satisfying. This is also meant to be a message of encouragement to all those women who are afraid to change: really listen to yourself, deeply, and voice what you feel and want, even if it is not what the outside world would want from you, even if the path to get it is difficult, because that is how dreams come true. I in the first place was afraid of disappointing so many people by leaving dance because in everyone's imagination I was the "ballerina"; so many times I thought about the endless sacrifices I made on my path and asked myself,"What are you doing throwing everything away? Do you really want to give up your career as a dancer to have an uncertain future? How are you going to go to college if you left school at 16?"and then again"Are you going to be able to run a business? How are you going to study and at the same time carry out your project?".Nomatter how many questions I might have, I have never stopped believing in myself and my abilities, giving little weight to the opinion of others but following my heart and instincts alone.

So believe in yourself, always!

A 19 anni, dopo una breve periodo in Repubblica Ceca, tornai a casa, tornai nella mia nazione, nella mia città, tornai a parlare l'italiano in maniera fluente e tornai a vivere con la mia famiglia. Ovviamente quella di lasciare la danza è stata una decisione lunga e pensata, ma ad oggi non mi sono mai pentita della scelta fatta. Elaborai subito che l'unica cosa che mi sarebbe mancata tornando a Napoli sarebbe stata la mia indipendenza, infatti già a 16 anni iniziai a lavorare parallelamente agli studi di danza come cameriera in un ristorantino italiano nel weekend e già lì percepii la soddisfazione di poter sentirmi autonoma. Iniziai immediatamente a progettare, pensare e ideare qualcosa che potesse rendermi "libera" da quelle che erano stato le imposizioni del mondo della danza classica, dove più volte mi ero resa conto di essere una mera esecutrice di una serie di passi. Ovviamente ripresi in mano la mia prima passione: la moda, che nonostante tutto non avevo mai abbandonato. Allo stesso tempo iniziai a colmare il mio vuoto sociale frequentando gente nuova: mi accorsi che le ragazze benestanti con le quali uscivo avevano tutte borse di designer estremamente costose..."Quelle borse identificavano un determinato ceto sociale? "mi chiesi. "Perché mai una borsa deve poter etichettare una ragazza o una donna? " Ovviamente io non ne possedevo una e mai mi sarei azzardata a chiedere ai miei genitori una simile cifra solo per sentirmi parte integrante di un gruppo, tutto ciò mi portò a riflettere molto. Volevo poter essere considerata non per il logo evidente sulla mia borsa quanto per la pienezza della mia personalità, per le esperienze vissute, per le mie idee! Volevo allo stesso tempo dimostrare di poter vestire in maniera cool ma con capi e accessori alla portata delle mie disponibilità economiche. Mi resi conto che non esistevano negozi che vendessero una linea di borse e accessori di tendenza accessibili a tutti, e mi immaginai l'insoddisfazione di tante ragazze e donne nella mia stessa situazione.

Ovviamente i budget per la comunicazione erano inesistenti, quindi nei primi tempi ho dovuto fare tutto da sola: ero modella, stilista, fotografa, social media manager, visual merchandiser, magazziniera, manager... qualsiasi cosa servisse insomma. Ad oggi posso dirmi fiera dei risultati raggiunti, fiera di aver affrontato numerose battaglie al fianco della mia famiglia, fiera di aver conseguito prima un diploma, poi una laurea in Management delle imprese internazionali, fiera di questo brand e del team che nel corso del tempo mi ha aiutato a sviluppare l'idea di una giovane donna. Ovviamente il percorso è stato, ed è tuttora, lungo e tortuoso, ma d'altronde le sfide più difficili sono sempre quelle più soddisfacenti. Questo vuole essere anche un messaggio di incoraggiamento a tutte quelle donne che hanno paura di cambiare: ascoltatevi davvero, profondamente, e date voce a quello che sentite e volete, anche se non è ciò che il mondo esterno vorrebbe da voi, anche se il percorso per ottenerlo è difficile, perché è così che i sogni si avverano. Io in primis avevo paura di deludere tante persone lasciando la danza perché nell'immaginario di tutti ero la "ballerina"; tante volte ho pensato ai sacrifici infiniti che ho fatto durante il mio percorso e mi sono chiesta:"Che fai butti tutto all'aria? Vuoi veramente lasciare la tua carriera da ballerina per avere un futuro incerto? Come farai ad andare all'università se hai lasciato la scuola a 16 anni?"e poi ancora"Riuscirai a gestire un'azienda? Come farai a studiare e allo stesso tempo portare avanti il tuo progetto?".Per quante domande potessi avere non ho mai smesso di credere in me stessa e nelle mie capacità, dando poco peso al parere altrui ma seguendo solo ed unicamente il mio cuore e il mio istinto.

Quindi credete in voi stesse, sempre!