Luxury Erotica Business vs Full-time Mother
Updated: May 23, 2024
Letizia Giordani is another example of the type of unstoppable, female leadership and entrepreneurship that is finally coming to the forefront in society, although her story begins years ago as a Conference Manager, Communications Manager and Teacher.
This is a woman who had no previous experience running a business, had few resources and had to overcome cultural stigma just to get her project off the ground. She had an idea and slowly and persistently saw it through.
The challenge of building a successful business is usually great enough but Letizia was capable of doing this while caring for a family and having fun at the same time. She shares her secret…
The Business
While living in one of Europe’s fashion capitals in Milan, Italy, it was hard to believe that an elegant, luxury erotica store didn’t already exist, “I couldn’t find what I was looking for in Milan…and after doing research, I only found a similar concept in London”.
That was all she needed to be convinced the idea could work and reached out to a friend to help prepare a water-tight business plan.
1 year later, she was ready.
She had a crystal clear idea and startegy but required financial backing to make ideas reality.
Without knowing who or how, she searched, found and pitched to prospective investors.
This was a woman who knew exactly what she needed and exactly what she wanted.
She secured not one but five investors’ funding.
The project launched and was so progressive for Italy that it captured a lot of media attention, including the press and Vanity Fair who covered their story.
The Dark Side Of Success
The business took flight and so did Letizia’s time. Being a mother is enough of a challenge let alone growing a hot startup (no pun intended) simultaneously. There was no way she would neglect her young son in any way and the same was true of her company.
Often when we excel in one area it is at the expense of another but Letizia was fully conscious of that trap from the beginning, “Your business becomes like your child…[but] I used to have fun….And so [for] my personal life, I needed a lot of planning [and] organisation.”
She had someone come home to help take care of her son with practical chores like cooking and cleaning and she would schedule work-related tasks months in advance in order to coordinate ample time to ski and be with her family.
She shares that the real key to living a happy personal life while growing her business profitably, was integration.
“You need to get the energy from your personal life and to put it in your business….and then you get the energy of the successes of your business, and you put it in your personal life…”
There was no distinction between the two for this amazing woman and that, she claims, was her secret sauce, “I used to think….family before the business [but] there was no need to prioritise…it was equal consideration…”
“You need to get the energy from your personal life and to put it in your business….and then you get the energy of the successes of your business, and you put it in your personal life…”
This is the story of a courageous and intelligent woman who stepped away from a corporate career to not only create a successful business in one of Europe’s most competitive cities but also someone who learned how to leverage that success, in her personal life without sacrificing one for the other.
Integrating dedication to her family, work and own self was her secret to happiness and success in all those areas.
Letizia stepped away from the company in 2012 and has since returned to the world of education and is developing more revolutionary projects to support children’s development and opportunities.
Discover what she’s up to on LinkedIn.
Wishing you the absolute very best,
Stefano