Meet: Anna Giordano
I always tell that the best thing about having this blog for more than 6 years now is the people I meet along the way. To be honest, I owe all my best friends to FriChic. I met them in so many different settings so everyone of them is close to my heart in a very different way and they inspire me to keep going. At the end, these people are ‘my team’ so I’ve decided to start a new series where I will introduce them and share with you both sides of our friendship.
Anna Giordano is my first long-distance love. She is an Italian currently working as a Senior Content Manager in one of the biggest media agencies based in Milan. She is an amazing mix: being the sweetest and kindest person and hard-ass professional and definitely the best party planner I’ve ever met!
HOW WE MET
Ivelina: Almost 5 years ago I was selecting a portfolio of brands to sponsor the blog anniversary and got in touch with a luxury concept store based in Bologna. After a couple of emails back and forth with the PR Manager to settle the details, we suddenly started sharing more personal stuff like our music tastes, love for football, etc.
Anna: I never thought to say this, but sometimes your job takes you to places that you didn’t dare even to hope for! At that time I was working as events and PR managing for an Italian luxury e-commerce and store, and one day, surfing the web looking for new promising bloggers to involve in our activities, I found Ivelina, featured in a very interesting article online on… Vogue! She was just the girl we were looking for, beautiful, talented, the brand-new sensation and full of enthusiasm. When I saw her blog for the first time I was speechless, no one before her had done something like that in Bulgaria! I immediately admired her courage and her determination, I submitted her works to my boss who immediately fell in love with her, so he was more than happy to let me invite her in Bologna, where I met her for the first time for an interview, a visit to the store and to let her pick some clothes from our collections.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Ivelina: Anna was an amazing professional and handled our collaboration to the finest details while she was sincerely nice. Just from her emails, I had the feeling we have so much in common. Few months later we met face-to-face for the first time in Bologna and it felt so natural like we’ve know each other for a long time. She was so passionate, emotional and overwhelmed by her work but still handling it all. She got my admiration immediately!
Anna: I do not have first impressions, to tell the truth, to talk about. When we finally met, after the many e-mails, it seemed like I already knew her. As we have been friends for so long, with the only difference that we had never seen before. I immediately felt “at home” with Ivelina, like she was a sibling of mine. We immediately understood each other, we really clicked, even as we were only pen-pals. It has been something magical, something never happened to me before and wont happen again I guess. I immediately thought we were destined to meet. I found her more beautiful than in pictures, very sweet, and with the most beautiful English accent I’ve ever heard to a foreigner :) That day, way more than a friendship was born: it was born a very strong bond, tight and undestroyable.
SECOND DATE
Ivelina: Hm, I had to check with the blog because since the first date, we have been meeting very often and Skyping like crazy. I think it was early June 2011 for the L’autre Chose event with Chiara and Andy. It has been a crazy back and forth to Bologna, Bulgaria, Milan, New Year celebrations, her family’s home, Summer vocations, fashion weeks. We’ve seen each other for these past years many more times than friends that live in the same town as me :)
Anna: Wow, the second date. I really have to think about it because luckly I saw Ivelina many times, we spent wonderful holiday times together, I met her family, I was at her house and that of her parents, I met the lovely Sara and I have visited so many places with her … I do not remember exactly the “second round”. Perhaps we met in Milan for some Fashion Week? I do not remember, but I’m sure she knows even the exact date :) She is so wonderfully precise and organized (unlike me: P)
CHEMISTRY
Ivelina: It is difficult to explain but she is everything. She is full with that energy that makes you feel good just by knowing that she is your friend. She is compassionate and there is no bad though in her head, although she might seem critical to everything as a typical Italian :P She is as beautiful as unaware about that fact and I am secretly envying her Italian shiny hair and skin tone. We have been sharing so much and been supporting each other. She left everything behind and flew to Bulgaria during the toughest period in my life and no one has ever done this for me!
Anna: As I said, she is much more than a friend. I love how she makes me feel at home, as I could not say anything for days and she would know exactly how I feel anyway. I love her determination, her courage, her strength. Ivelina is so clean, so honest, so sincere… an example for anyone who has a dream. I’ve never met someone who worked so hard to reach for a goal. And she knows how to be here in the distance, it just takes a message from her to make me smile, she is really the person that I feel closer to me despite she’s hundreds and hundreds of kilometers away.
HOW WE KEEP THE SPARK ALIVE
Ivelina: We used to Skype a lot lot lot. Unfortunately, both of us got too consumed by life the past year and haven’t seen each other for a long time. But we are constantly thinking about each other, she is sending me short and sweet voice messages and I’ve been sending hugs and kisses to let her know I am here. I have been very patient as for the past year and a half she has been planning this huge party (aka her wedding, LOL) but afterwards she has no excuse to not get her ass over here. Our Whatsapp conversations are now filled with bridal dresses, flowers, veils on her part and kitchen renovation stuff on my behalf. I cannot wait to see her on her big day! Oh, also I am following her dog on Instagram :)))
Anna: We try to keep each other informed and involved as much as possible via mail or whatsapp, and we try to always to see us as much as possible. Today with my new job, the dog, and a wedding to prepare is more difficult than ever, but I am so happy that Ivelina will be by my side when I’ll say “I Do” this June!
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