A Sabbatical Year? Oxygen for the Brain
“At 18, I had no idea what to do with my life and I often wondered how other people did. But this lack of knowledge and direction was the driving force behind my curiosity, which drew me to explore new paths. And it has gotten me where I am today.” Co-founder and CEO of BuzzMyVideos, the technology company that helps companies promote their videos online. Paola Marinone is now a digital entrepreneur, but she never thought she would become one, since after graduating she was interested in the third sector.
The daughter of farmers, or rather rice growers, she grew up in a small village in Northern Italy and went to Milan to study at Bocconi University with the idea of working abroad in the field of sustainability. She graduated and became interested in the non-profit sector. “After some experience in the sector in Milan, I decided to change. I sent two CVs abroad and 30 in Italy, but nobody replied.” In 2006, she heard back from Google and got hired as an account manager in the Dublin office, its first in Europe. “I knew little or nothing about technology at the time, but it was the attitude that counted. There were 300 of us and we were a very diverse group from 25 different countries. I often say it was a paradise for me, a kind of Erasmus [study abroad program] where I also got paid. I worked with very interesting people; everyone had lived in several countries and spoke three or four different languages.”
That experience changed her life. “I had the opportunity to go to Google Brazil because I had done my Erasmus in Lisbon and I spoke Portuguese. When I arrived in São Paulo, I fell in love with the city. The multiculturalism is amazing, it’s a city that’s also Italian and Japanese because of immigration. A brilliant mix,” she adds. Marinone was then at Google Argentina, where she started learning Spanish “so I wouldn’t be the gringa, the European who doesn’t integrate.” When YouTube was acquired by the Mountain View giant, Marinone had a new opportunity as head of the EMEA business development team. It was about building the European team and the partnership program. “The world of content production had change and we were on the cusp of that change,” she adds. This is how she got to know the world of creators, where fame was not the goal; they posted videos on the platform out of pure passion.
“I took a sabbatical in 2011 and it was wonderful, it was oxygen for the brain. I loved what I was doing, but I couldn’t get out of my bubble. So I started doing everything I couldn’t do before because of time constraints. I had friends all over Europe and I visited them. I traveled a lot, I read, I thought. I built a wood-burning oven and started baking, and I even enjoyed the experience of a relaxing cup of coffee in a café in the early afternoon.”
On 11 August 2011, Marinone decided to cut her sabbatical short and launch her own startup in London. BuzzMyVideos, which serves to support the work of content creators, now has ten employees, and a client portfolio that includes AC Milan, Warner Music, and Vevo. Marinone explains: “As a leader, I tried to create a team like Google, diverse and inclusive, choosing people with similar values.” For young women seeking their fortune in tech, her advice is to study hard, write code and join companies that are growing. Golden rule: “Look for companies that offer a lot of freedom.”
