Business, guns and roller derby: the women of Moskito Design

Every woman has a story, and the women of Moskito Design have plenty. I sat down to talk with them about women’s work, as we define it today: entrepreneurship, graphic design, social marketing and web development, even though some of these fields are still largely dominated by males. But they also told me stories of other heroic women, role models for them: women who defied the doctors and ignored the priest to prove what they could do. Women who built, and then lost, a business, but always kept on going. Women who served in the military and trained to shoot you dead. Women who run the local government, and those who define and achieve happiness on their own terms.

From Puglia, in the South of Italy, to Varese, in the north, from the country of Peru to the city of Paris, here are 21 of the women at Moskito Design and their stories of work, feminism, role models and whether there’s any meaning to International Women’s Day.

 

THE DESIGNERS I

IRIS (Agency Director)

I wouldn’t call myself a feminist, but I wouldn’t claim that it’s something behind us, ether. In our world of work I don’t want to particularly want to be known as a “woman designer”, but it’s difficult not to be.

My mother had me when she was pretty young. What’s strange is that the older I get, and the more she starts to kind of let go, I feel like I’m taking on the role of the stronger woman in the relationship.

GIULIA (Co-founder & CEO)

I’m surprised we’re still talking feminism at all, in Italy at least. I’ve never felt that being a women entrepreneur was any different from being an entrepreneur of any sort.

My mother is definitely a strong woman in my life. She had polio when she was a kid and she always had problems with her legs. But she always did anything she set her mind to, including studying medicine at university. The priest told her that in her condition she shouldn’t marry, but she did. The doctor told her she couldn’t have kids, and then I was born. They told her not to drive, but she got her license and drove. Everyone told her she couldn’t. But she did.

ALICE (Graphic Designer)

I’m a feminist, but not a separatist, and I don’t like if feminism is pushed to extremes and encourages a sort of ghettoization and violence of its own. I play roller derby and the women on the team are a constant source of inspiration. They’re all strong women. They’ve got their own problems, of course, but they’re always ready to give their best.

AMANDINE (Graphic Designer)

Women’s day? I suppose it’s a chance to be nice to women ― but of course you always should be nice to women!

My mother was a very strong woman because although she was in the army just like my father but she was the one who had to take care of us when he was away. I don’t even know what you’d call her rank in English. It wasn’t a combat position but she could definitely shoot you dead at a distance without any problem!

 

THE PUGLIESI

FRANCESCA (Graphic Designer)

I think the day is should be to remember the position of women in the world and see if we’ve improved. Yes, women are wonderful, and we can celebrate the women in our lives, but we really should be examining whether we’re making progress. Women are better off than 50 years ago, but it’s not like all these differences have been erased.

For me the classic Pugliese woman for me is my grandmother Gilda. She’s a farmer, but she’s got her driving license and now at nearly 90 she still drives everyone around everywhere. She didn’t go to university herself because at that time a woman had to get married, but she sent all of her kids to university. I’d love to be like her at her age. And my mother is the mayor of my town. She’s been mayor for 4 years but even then sometimes people have the impression that her vice-mayor, a man, who makes the decisions. But she’s super strong, a real tank.

JLENIA (Graphic Designer)

What’s the typical woman from Puglia like? If you look at the three of us, we’ve each got different goals and different ideas but there’s still something really strong that ties us together and goes beyond any of the differences in character. We each come from three very different regions of Puglia and and we just barely understand each other when we speak our local dialect, but there’s something stronger. Maybe it’s a sense of practicality and irony in the face of difficulty, no matter how bad it is. I don’t know if people from other regions of Italy have the same bond.

PAOLA (Agency Director)

If I wanted to capture the essence of what Women’s Day has become I’d say it’s the one day the hawkers in Piazza Duomo sell mimosa instead of umbrellas or power banks.

Woman role models in my life? I don’t think there was one who was ever a complete role model, but I’ve learned a lot of different things from the women in my family. My mother’s not so practical and she’s at times a bit sensitive, but she taught me both to listen and to express myself – even too much, some times (the apple didn’t fall from the tree). My oldest sister, on the other hand, is tough. She’s very sure of herself and always gives you the impression of knowing exactly what she’s doing, even if it’s not always the case. And my middle sister taught me how to listen to people whose views are diametrically opposed to mine. I feel like a bit of a parasite, but in the end there are definite benefits to being the last born child!

 

THE LOCALS

GAIA (Copywriter)

Women business owners are obviously not so common so I’m proud to say I work for two. It’s always more difficult for a woman to start out on her own, be successful, be the boss, especially in smaller provincial city like Varese. So working for women is something special, and something I hadn’t had the chance to experience before. It’s important. If I could give advice to my younger self I’d tell myself to be more courageous, to jump in and take risks, even when things are difficult.

CHIARA (Web Developer)

It’s interesting that here at Moskito I’ve had the chance to work with other women developers, because I’d say it’s true that web development at university and work is more of a masculine world. Something I also saw at my previous job. As a woman it can be difficult to make a place for yourself among the men.

But one great example is my colleague Assunta, a web developer. She manages to juggle a career and be a mother and do the things she believes in and make a success of it all.

ALESSANDRA (Marketer)

Being a woman means doing 10,000 things at the same time. I grew up here, but my mother is from Benevento and there the women are more tied to the home. My mother was the only one of her sisters who left home and came to the north, alone, at the age of 27. I can really see the difference between my mother and my aunts. My mother is more open to the world and she’s done a lot, but maybe that’s normal for any women who defines herself as something else than mother and wife. My mother always wanted me to study, and finish school, and if I could give any girl advice I’d say the same: finish school and go out and have as many different experiences as possible.

ROBERTA (Marketer)

I’m doing a master’s now, and all the professors are men, but most of my fellow students are all women. They’re professionals in the field of social media marketing. They seem to be on the rise now, even if they’re not at the highest levels. I hope that soon we’ll see more professors and more business owners as women.

PAMELA (Administrative Manager)

The one thing I learned from my mother is to never give up. She was a housewife, then mother, then she separated from her husband, and then she decided to open her own business making cushions. And this is in the 1970s, when it was pretty unthinkable that a woman could take care of her family and travel around Italy to find clients for her business. But she was successful and it grew and she ended up with around 15 employees. And then she lost it. But I learned that no matter what, you can always get up again, keep your head high, and move on.

 

THE SPANISH SPEAKERS

JEANET (Graphic Designer)

It’s been 2 years since I’ve been back to Peru during this time but then back they didn’t celebrate Women’s Day much. I hope things have changed since then.

I think men and women have different characters, different gifts, and different ways of behaving, and I don’t know if it’s different working for women like we do, but I think it must be different because men and women grow up differently with different expectations. My mother is an important woman in my life, and she taught me lots of things. A lot of things I didn’t understand until I became a mother recently myself!

INMA (Copywriter)

The day’s important to remember the inequality that exists with men ― if there wasn’t this problem, we wouldn’t even need this day. And this year it’s particularly important because there’s a general strike for women to raise awareness about the violence that continues against women.

In Spain there are no particular customs ― we don’t give mimosa flowers like in Italy. But women go out and march and demonstrate to remind the world that there’s still a problem, and the last time I was in Madrid there were lots of women out. Of course, my mother’s an important role model for me but I think all the women around you, the sisters, the friends, they all have something special to offer.

 

THE DESIGNERS II

FRANCESCA (Graphic Designer)

I think one of our strengths Moskito is that there is nothing particularly “female” about Moskito. There are lot of stereotypes about a woman-led agency that may or may not be true, but I don’t seem them here. I don’t think there’s such a difference.

My mother, who’s passed away, was a very strong influence on me. She had to endure a lot, and even when she was ill she managed to work, and to be there for us, and help us, and run the house. She’s was the strongest woman in my life.

CHIARA (Graphic Designer)

I appreciate that there’s a historical aspect to the celebration, but unfortunately it’s just turned into another money-making day. There was one professor I always admired at Politecnico because she struck me as someone who got a lot of satisfaction from her work. She always strove not necessarily for the absolute best, but for what was the best for her. She defined her own success, and she always seemed really happy. Now that I work for women, what’s I realize is different is not so much the work we do, but the attitude our bosses have towards us and how they communicate with us.

GIADA (Graphic Designer)

I had this high school teacher and if anybody brought her mimosas she’d tear them up and stomp on them! She didn’t think we should limit this respect for women to a single day. It should be normal.

What’s different about working for women? It’s just a certain attention to details. I did an internship at another company and when you looked in the bathroom it was pretty clear that there were men running the place. There were things missing in there that they just had no idea about.

FABIOLA (Graphic Designer)

There’s never been a strong woman in my life, someone who’s 100% strong as a woman. I’ve always had male-figures I’ve looked up to in terms of work, and my bosses at my previous job were men. In terms of our work, I suppose working for women means there might be certain elements of taste in common. Men, for example, might prefer shapes that are rigid, while women might prefer circles.

 

THE MOTHERS

SILVIA (Copywriter)

We’re a family of women. There’s me and my sister, but also lots of women in the family. I’m happy with how I was raised and I try to apply what I learned from my parents to my own kids. But I’ve got a boy and a girl, who were very different from the moment of their birth. I know it’s not very original to say so, but I believe we’re hardwired with very different feminine and masculine characteristics that go much deeper than however we’re raised.

Raising boys and girls we’ve got to make sure that they get equal opportunity, but at the same time we shouldn’t make the error of thinking women are somehow naturally at a disadvantage. By thinking men are somehow destined to do greater things we put them at a serious disadvantage. I’m actually more worried about the boys growing up today, because even they seem to have a lot of trouble managing their emotions and accepting reality and other people in a way I don’t see with girls.

ASSUNTA (Web Developer)

I don’t celebrate Women’s Day because I don’t like it. I only went once to a demonstration and I left early ― it made me ashamed to be a woman. There were lots of older women, maybe in their 60s, and it was like they’d just escaped from the looney bin (hanno aperta la gabbia) and they’d never seen a man in their lives. Every time some man would pass they’d all scream and shout come here, come here. It should have been a celebration for women of all ages, but in the end all of us younger ones left. It was awful and I don’t celebrate it. For me, the day against violence against women makes sense. The 8th of March makes no sense.

Becoming a mother has changed everything. Before I was 100% me.Since my son was born, in everything I do I have to think of him first. I wouldn’t say it’s completely effaced my personality, but it does completely change your perspective on yourself as an individual. It’s not the same with my husband. Thankfully, he’s always been there to help out, change the nappies, and spend time as a family at the weekend. But also if it’s a beautiful Sunday and his friends ask if we wants to take a day-long ride on his motorcycle, it’s not like he says no. I don’t have that option. But maybe he’s smarter.

 

THE SISTERS

DIANA (Graphic Designer) & EVELINA (Co-founder & CEO)

On deciding to study graphic design

EVY: Our mother taught me to believe in myself and she gave the chance to do what I wanted to do. When I decided I wanted to study design our parents ― who have their own bakery ― didn’t have any idea what that meant, but they let me do it.

DIANA: My path was a bit easier in the sense that our parents were by then used to the idea of graphic design. But they also had to believe in me, too. It was easier for me, but also more difficult for our parents, because they paid for me to go to a private university, IED.

Working together

DIANA: How is it working for my sister? Fine, as long as we don’t talk!

EVY: We ignore each other ― sometimes we don’t even say hello! To be honest, it’s not easy, because I don’t want her to be perceived as getting any special treatment because she’s my sister. So it works better if we don’t work together on the same team or the same clients. It would be pretty difficult if we had to.

DIANA: It’s no criticism of my sister or Moskito but I could definitely see myself working somewhere else one day ― but not as a business owner like her. It’s just not my character.

EVY: There’s still time!

At Moskito Design we’re writing our own story, made up of all the great people ― women and men ― who work here.