From intern to Team Leader: Francesca’s big Moskito Design adventure
Francesca Lodini started at Moskito fresh from graduating in Communication Design from Milan Politecnico; eight years later she’s been promoted to Team Leader & Agency Director. She sat down to tell us about the road she’s traveled, and what she’s learned.
Kyle: When you first started here, I remember asking you, “Do you like Moskito?” And you said, “Yes, yes, very much! I’d like to work here for a long time!”
Francesca: You really remember that? Mamma mia! Unfortunately, I’ve got a goldfish memory… But yes, I probably did say that, because I still believe it!
K: After almost 8 years, what are your responsibilities now?
F: Mainly the management of the team: assigning work to the members of my team and then following the project through its various steps, helping the team with targeted feedback until the final delivery. And then, as one of Moskito’s seven Agency Directors, I’ve got other responsibilities for creating estimates and client relationships.
K: What’s changed in all this time?
F: People come and go, but the climate in the office is still the same, and that’s the thing that keeps me connected to this agency – the friendships that you create. In fact, I don’t call my colleagues “colleagues” anymore. For me, they’re friends.
K: Who have you learned the most from?
F: From so many people I’ve learned so many different things, starting way back at the beginning with all the little tricks I learned on all the software. I used to do things a certain way, very by-the-book, very academic. But back then we were all squeezed together around the same small tables, and the exchange was immediate, monitor to another.
From then it was from the Team Leaders I had, first Giamma, and then Paola, who really impressed on me how to organize the work. From Alice, on the other hand, I learned a balanced attitude toward work, in the sense of keeping things in perspective. And I learned about caring for the team: always being attentive to the signals they send you and always taking the time to talk when something is wrong.
K: And in terms of creativity, who has inspired you the most?
F: It’s hard to choose! Looking around the office and seeing all the beautiful things done by the others is as good as doing a search on Pinterest! 😉
K: And now that you’re a Team Leader, what’s the most important advice you give to the people on your team?
F: It may sound banal, but it’s to put yourself in the other person’s shoes – especially the client’s. In the beginning, everything that went wrong was an absolute tragedy for me. But then when you start working on more, seeing more, everything takes on a different weight, and it’s clear that it’s a process you can never control 100%.
Learning how to better manage client relationships is the most valuable lesson that Giulia, our CEO, gave me, the thing that made me grow the most. She always says, “I can tell you to be more careful, but it’s not the end of the world. You made a mistake, now bring me the solution to fix it.”
K: Were you surprised by the promotion?
F: I always thought that if I did well every day, and didn’t hurry, the moment for recognition would come. I’d seen it lots before at Moskito. That’s why now I like the idea of helping the people on my team grow, to give them the same opportunity that was given to me. I’d love for them to say in a few years, “After I graduated, I came here and started working with Francesca, and I still have lots of great memories!”
