http://www.sunnyskyz.com/happy-videos/1035/No-One-Expected-This-From-A-40-YEAR-OLD-Woman-It-Gave-Me-Chills#rp6lSL1yEPotWA5o.01

To top it off, she’s mom to a young daughter!  Way to go Jo and thanks for inspiring us on our next run.  :)

“I ended up a sommelier by chance actually…My school career was totally different!” Born and raised in Brescia, Simona went to Trieste for university where she earned a degree in International Studies. “After school I actually was working in Environmental and Waste Management industries!” Her boyfriend at the time was studying to be a winemaker and was loving it. “He finished his studies and was offered an interesting job close to Naples. I wasn’t in love with my current job so I decided to go too. However, once I got there I couldn’t find anything I liked or fit my studies. The winery he was working at said ‘why don’t you work here?’ – I didn’t know anything about wine other than that I liked it!”

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We talk a little more about family and children, a big topic in Italy:

The issue of not having children is a sensitive topic for Simona and amongst her friends. “I have some friends around my same age, some a little younger, some older, almost 50 years old. Everyone has a different idea about children. For some, you can’t be a real woman if you don’t have children. Personally, I totally disagree…I’m not saying they are wrong, that’s just my own opinion. No one ever asks a 40 or 50 year old man here why they don’t have children or if they regret it. Why is it so with women? You have intense social pressure if you don’t have a child.” According to Simona, the follow up she gets from people all the time is that she doesn’t have children because her boyfriend doesn’t want any. “You feel like they are saying it was someone else’s choice you have to accept – you can really feel it here.”

Undaunted, Cristina was determined to move on with her new life. “I was on the very first flight into New York from California. It was surreal – I was one of like six people on that flight. Moving to New York in that time period was bizarre. The world was not the same.” One upside she discovered though was that normally the stereotypical New Yorker is not willing to lend a hand; everyone was now all too eager to lend a helping hand. “The very first day of work there was a bomb scare on the subway, we were evacuated and I had to get off far from my scheduled stop. I was lost, confused and some very nice people helped me find where I needed to go!”

For three years Cristina lived in New York, moving on from Saks and joining an individual fashion brand, working in product development and market research. “Honestly those three years were not the easiest, both personally and professionally. The world in general was a bit tough. On a positive side, I also had some amazing experiences and had the chance to meet some of the most interesting people including many famous designers, which was both exciting and inspiring at the same time. Nonetheless, I decided it was time for another change though. I ended up quitting my job, selling everything and buying a one-way ticket to Italy.” She returned to Torino, the city of her birth.

Although she had neither a fixed plan nor place to live, she wasn’t worried. “I love to travel, it’s in my blood, and I figured if I ever wanted to go live in another country with a new language and culture, it was now or never.” After living with an aunt the first month, she located a small loft-style apartment just off a lovely piazza.

“I never really thought thought about what life would be like at 40 when I was younger…when I was 25 I looked ahead and was happy I was starting out in my career – I had just started to really make money and was on my own. It was good, I could travel, explore places and see things,” she says. One of her first assignments as a press agent photographer was to go to China for a piece on one of the country’s wine regions near the Great Wall. “I went for two months – one month to work, one month to travel through southern China on my own…I loved it.”

Over the course of her career, Anabel has worked for three different press agencies. Her longest stint was 10 years with Gamma Press and then working for a different agency specializing in people and politics. She has shot numerous regional events such as the large Festival de Avignon and the Contemporary Art Fair in Paris. “I studied cinema and photography in university and liked it; my first work was with a little club in the university shooting photos for events.” After that I started taking pictures – my first work was with a little club in the school shooting photos, after that I was an assistant on a small town for the Opera – after that I started with the Avignon Festival.” She’s moved on to even larger shoots, including positions as an official photographer on major motion picture shoots and the Cannes Film Festival.

…We go on to learn more, including details on her assignment as a photographer for a private detective trying to uncover some infidelity!