Life is Colorful and Always Changing: Lessons Learned from Italian Woman

After the book 《Jack, just the way you are》 was published, I realized I want to share more on "what makes me tick"...besides cool technology. So I asked my friend and writer, Jing Li to help me put things into perspective. And share a story of about my friend and artist Giorgia.

I was inspired by several watercolor paintings by Giorgia and asked Jing to help me capture the story of a lovely Italian woman with a beautiful and colorful story.

Born in Torino, Italy, Giorgia is just as all the Italians I know, warm-hearted and talkative. She explained, “there are two parts of my life: one is the working part, another is the part of creative. Both parts are equally important to me.”

Giorgia’s life seemed so fun and interesting. She born and schooled in Italy. She started playing volleyball competitively when she was young. From those travels and meeting different girls, she learned what it meant to make friendships early and how these relationships can often last a lifetime.

Moving on from volleyball, Giorgia knew that she enjoyed the more creative arts side of life. She moved on to the theater and started to act in plays. Although she loved this, to release the stress stand against a wall and try to remember the lines before going on stage. She also tried dancing and writing later in order to experience something new.

Like her changing hobbies, Giorgia also traveled a lot. She an opportunity to live abroad, and there was a chance to move to France, then the US and back to Italy. During this time, she maintained a long distance relationship with her boyfriend. Finally, in the same city, they decided to move in together. But this time her boyfriend had a job opportunity in Shanghai, China. You can imagine how this challenged to their relationship but she knew it was right to support his career decision. Apart for another year, she too made a big decision and quit her job in Milan decided to move to Shanghai. 

Moving to Shanghai meant starting from ground zero - creating a network and even starting her own consultancy. But she would finally be in the same city as her boyfriend. Soon after her move to Shanghai, they celebrated 10 years together and finally got married in 2010.

Giorgia shared that she likes change and once things stop changing, life comes to an end. She said, "change brings so much fun and power to life.”

Now in Shanghai, she gets a call from Jack [me], “Ciao Giorgia, I’m in Changsha and need your help. Remembering how helpful Jack was when she started her business in Shanghai, Giorgia knew she couldn't say no when he needed her. So, she packed and flew to Changsha. Even though this meant flying between Shanghai and Changsha to see her husband.

When she first arrived in Changsha, everything was very strange to her and different. She didn't speak the language, was nervous and felt the need to use aggressiveness as her protection – something she had never been before and she did not like to be. Not to mention to espresso for breakfast didn't help!

His advice to help get Giorgia settled the Chinese way. He said. After all, you are here, it is a good opportunity to learn the way that Chinese people work and do business. And she said that that advice has helped through many situations to this day.

Now with GAC-Fiat established, Giorgia focused on other projects and after some years her husband had a chance to move and live in Singapore. Giorgia knew a new chapter of her life was just beginning and with that, she wanted to add a new creative outlet back in...she took up painting.

LIFE IS COLORFUL

Italians have a very special eye for the aesthetics of life and their environment. It also helped that Giorgia came from a family where her father was a painter and her mother painted pottery. Growing up, she was surrounded by art and artists, but never realized she wanted to have it in her too.

Finding an art teacher in Singapore helped. The teacher was initially surprised by her abilities and artistic eye, and sense of her color. Giorgia realized she loved to express herself with the richness of colors and try different mediums and materials. It took a trip to Chennai, India and young women react with joy as they saw Giorgia painting their colorful saris.

Not knowing their language didn’t matter, art is a language without words. In the world of art, people communicate with colors and shapes, and this kind of communication is with no boundaries of culture or races.

The experience in India inspired Giorgia to participate in charity with her art and teach patients art at a local hospital. If she could bring joy to others with her work, then she wanted to share this experience.  

She also started to use art in business and saw how it could help drive a visualize the discussion. Art became the connector of people for me and for Giorgia. 

I am so proud to call Giorgia my friend and pleased to see her continue to create art and joy for others. Yes, life is colorful.  It is a long journey and matters a lot about the way you contribute to it and how you experience it.

From my conversations with I continue to see a world that is very powerful, interesting, enjoyable, and ever-changing.

After all, it is the people and connections with have with them that matter and that is the joyful lifestyle that I want for us all.  ~Jack

P.S. - all the art in this posting is by Giorgia.