FOCUS & ME
FOCUS & ME Alessandra Gnudi
FOCUS has been a second home to me since the first time I walked in October 2000. A friend had told me that an organisation she was member of was looking for marketing volunteers so I applied and luckily was offered the opportunity. The office was very different back then, the work stations were in the current seminar room and the executive director had her private office in what is today the small meeting room.
I was offered the director of marketing position in May 2001 and became deputy executive director after a few months when my predecessor moved to Geneva. I am still in touch with her and many of the 101 people I worked with. This number does not ac- count for the dozens of volunteers and several ca- reer coaches I have had the pleasure to meet. And I have never kept an accurate count on babies that were born during these years.
When I started, the magazine was a black and white newsletter and I still remember the excitement of going to full colour with the February/March 2005 issue. It was a huge step for us as at that time we had very limited resources and the cost of colour printing was quite high. But the feedback was so positive that we also decided to increase the magazine’s size and its circulation.
In my nearly 19 years with the organisation I was privileged to be involved in FOCUS’ 20th Anniversary at Vinopolis, a wine museum by Southbank that is now unfortunately closed; the 25th Anniversary at the Louise Blouin Foundation in Notting Hill, an amazing venue that, at the time, had a wonderful light installation; and of course the superb 30th anniversary that I organised at Christie’s South Kensington in May 2012. We had so many challenges
organising the event that could have led to a total disaster but magically all went super well and I man- aged to deliver the best speech of my life. Some people today still mention to me how memorable it was. I am not sure why I was so inspired …I just took the advice of former FOCUS executive director Barbara Rees, who looked me in the eyes as I was climbing up the podium and told me “just enjoy it”.
Along with working hard to deliver excellent and personalised services to our members, over the years I also enjoyed lots of parties and activities, or- ganised either by FOCUS or our sponsors or busi- ness contacts: ice skating and belly dancing, table tennis and virtual golf, bowling, cooking classes and cocktail tasting, private view of art fairs and exhibi- tions, backstage tours of theatres and concert halls. The most extraordinary outing with the FOCUS team was at the Secret Cinema, an incredible and unforgettable experience.
Not every moment was fun though, as together with weird and wonderful stories, I also experienced terri- ble events in recent history: the terror attacks in the US and London, Lehman Brothers collapse on September 15th 2008 and many others not to men- tion the very unfortunate Brexit referendum on June 23rd 2016.
Well, I should probably write a book about all that happened during my time at FOCUS, the many peo- ple I have met, the incredible experiences and all that I have learned both personally and professionally. For sure it would make a very entertaining read!
Alsandra
“Wen I startd th magzin wa a back and whie nwslter and I stil remembr th exciement o ging t ful coor wih th Fbruary/Marc 205 isu.”
www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 25
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