So who is this girl with a South African accent, an Italian name, and who doesn’t seem to stay put in any place for too long ?

Well, I am blessed to have the best influences of two fabulous countries! I have a South African mother and an Italian father. I was born in a suburb of Johannesburg called Brixton… at home. After giving birth to by brother in a hospital, my mother decided that was just far too traumatic for all involved so she gave birth to me (and 2 years later to my sister) at home.

We never moved as a family - I was born in that house and lived there until I decided to move out at age 20 to experience being self-supporting (yes, my parents still live there). So after attending Brixton Primary school, followed by Western High School where I matriculated (same as A-levels) I then signed up at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) for a degree in Maths and Physics.

From a young age I was fascinated with Universe-at-Large and the parts I couldn’t see (quantum physics). When I left school I had this crazy notion of becoming an Astrophysicist, hence the degree choice. It was in my second year when my kind and friendly German Professor, Herr Kohl, had a discussion with me about my career that I saw the light. He pointed out that unless I was the crème-de-la-crème in my field- which I wasn’t - I would most likely end up having a career as a researcher and a day in the life of Emanuela would most likely be… well… quite insular. Aaaargh! I had visions of myself with my hair tied in a bun, spectacles, lab coat, doing weird experiments and working away on my own eating stale lunch sandwiches for supper. NOT FOR ME! We discussed my personality and my interests and agreed that I DEFINITELY should be pursuing a career where there would be a lot more people interaction. So I changed my degree to major in Computer Science and Applied Maths, and since I enjoyed the Applied Maths so much I stayed on another year to complete my Honours Degree in Applied Maths which I managed to pass in the first class and won four awards for original work. Wits asked me to stay on and do a Masters, but I decided it was time to leave the safety of the Uni and find a job in the “real world.”

Actually, I had been waitressing for 4 years to cover my living expenses since leaving the warmth and love of my parents’ home in Brixton. My last waitressing job was at a fabulous Italian restaurant called Gino’s . Why was it my last ? Well, about four weeks after graduating I was working a lunch shift and the management team of Anglo American Corporation Group Audit Services were having lunch at one of my tables. The person who later became my boss quizzed me about what I was up to and interested in, and having passed my first interview whilst waiting on their table I successfully proceeded to rounds two and three of the interviews and hence began my career as an IT Auditor at one of the biggest mining companies in the world!
It was a great job and thanks to excellent coaching and training I managed to proceed up the ladder into the management ranks fairly quickly. Through the various roles there I was exposed to the different mining divisions and all aspects of how a large corporation’s head office functions.

After a 6-year stint at Anglo , I decided to go it on my own at age 28 and work as an independent consultant. By this time I had built up my project management expertise and was particularly good at business process redesign and implementation. From there I was blessed to get work on several small and large consultancy jobs and whilst my learning curve remained nice and steep my experience grew nice and deep (ouch!).

By now - if you have read this far - you may be getting the feeling that I don’t stay in one place too long.. a rolling stone gathers no moss !
Yes, time to move again - just after turning 32 I decided to take on a 6-month project in England… and 9 years later I am still here. I lived for a year in London, 5 years in Brighton, about 8 months in an adorable country-side village called West Chiltington and now live in a lovely seafront apartment in Eastbourne with breathtaking sea views. So whilst I have moved around a lot whilst in England, I have managed to not head off just yet!

At the time of writing this article we are just over a month away from the 2010 World Cup Football to be hosted in South Africa. I don’t really watch that much football except on grand occasions like this. I have three supporters’ shirts hanging in my wardrobe in the following order: South Africa, Italy and England.

What motivates me ? Continuous improvement !

I challenge myself each year to do something that will result in an improvement in mind, body and/or spirit and that’s what gives me a buzz and a sense of peace and satisfaction. I am not interested in further degrees, but I like to do at least one thing each year that gives me a sense of success, achievement and improvement - beyond the successes of my job. Some of the things I do are directly related to being more effective in my job, others not. For example, after obtaining the Prince II Foundation and Practitioner qualifications, the next year I did a sailing course. The year after that I became an NLP Master Practitioner and the year after that I decided to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. It’s not about collecting qualifications and experiences and “bragging” about them in articles like this - it’s about responding to a basic human need to improve in a way that delights the soul but also in a way that is holistically balanced with one’s being.

And the rolling stone ? For now I am staying put in England as Aikaizen continues to grow on its journey of continuous improvement and as we continue to delight our clients.