Vanessa Trapani is based in Milan where she lives with her husband and two children. She holds a degree in Slavic languages and culture, masters in Human Rights, in European Studies and in International Business and a Phd in Social and Cultural Anthropology. After a few years of work and research abroad, mainly in Russia and Poland, she worked as a human rights expert at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After moving to Milan, from 2008 to 2016 she has worked as a consultant for the international development of SMEs, with a focus on international projects and EU funding. In 2016 she became an independent consultant for the social innovation of SMEs and founded, together with other two women, an NGO called Sloworking (www.sloworking.it). It is committed to spread the "slow culture", mainly in the work field, through work-life balance initiatives, projects supporting local welfare and women and youth professional and economic empowerment. In 2016 Sloworking founded one of the first Italian "welfare coworkings" and it is now considered a best practice in the field of shared working spaces and collaborative communities.