A conversation with Aurora D’Aprile

Films, books, concerts, exhibitions … you name it. She has probably already seen it, read it, done it. Or she has it on her list. Getting to know Ivana Losa of the Fundraising office, a Neapolitan heart that beats in Milan.

What’s your job at the CMCC Foundation?
I have been part of the Fundraising team since 2009. We work to identifying funding opportunities for the CMCC, helping researchers to decrypt calls to participate in and prepare proposals, and supporting them in contract negotiation and project management.

Which road led you to CMCC?
I studied Foreign Languages and Literature at the Federico II University of Naples, then I moved to Milan for a Masters in International Relations at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. Through the tutors of the master, I heard about a job alert at the Fundraising office. That’s how I started collaborating with CMCC and … I’m still here!

Is your current job the one you had dreamed of when you were a child?
My dream project was to open a small library dedicated to children’s literature, and it still is. Never say never: maybe I’ll manage to do it one day!

Could you tell us the best moment in your career life at CMCC?
The first one: they called me back half an hour after the first interview for a new meeting!
 And then when I think about all the proposals we have worked intensively on, and that have become successful projects, it is a great satisfaction.

What’s on your workstation?
Calls for tender, documents, lots of notes and lots of pens (I’m crazy about stationery!)
. There are also some shells, a Peanuts calendar and a picture of Portici, in the province of Naples, where I grew up.

What’s the ritual never missing in your workday?
I always start making the to-do list of the day. And then there is the essential coffee with colleagues by mid-morning.

How do you travel to work?
By subway.

What do you do in your spare time?
For many years now I have been an active volunteer of the Italian Celiac Association. Then I love going to live concerts, in small clubs or big venues, to the cinema and art exhibitions. Milan offers so much, sometimes it is hard to pick!
 Also spending time with friends, for a Sunday lunch, a dinner or an aperitif, is without a doubt a key part of my life.

Cinema or literature: give us a title and explain why you chose it.
Among the films I’ve seen this year, I would choose “Call me with your name” by Luca Guadagnino, based on the novel by André Aciman. I was very impressed by the cinematography, the soundtrack and the simplicity of the story, which is what makes it so intense. My favorite books of the last years – and unbeaten so far – are definitely “My brilliant friend” (L’amica geniale), and the following volumes of the saga by Elena Ferrante. It is a coming-of-age novel set in a Naples that I know only from the stories of my parents and grandparents.