Elena Marini moved to Rome in 2016 after a decade in California. She has since founded two companies and invested in a dozen more, most of them run by women.
“I think people underestimate how much of a career is simply proximity,” she says. “You meet someone at a dinner, and four years later that conversation is a company.”
We spoke on the terrace of her studio in Monti, on a warm Tuesday in May, about ambition, returning home, and why she believes Rome is entering an unusually interesting decade.
“Rome teaches you patience with institutions and impatience with excuses. Both are useful.”
Her advice to younger alumni arriving in the city is characteristically direct: join something, contribute before you ask, and stay long enough for people to know your name.
