Journalist and social entrepreneur, Eleonora Voltolina is convinced that journalism can be used as a lever to address and solve the social problems of our time, providing proper information in order to increase citizens' awareness, coming forward with political and cultural innovation proposals, and also giving voice to segments of society whose stories often remain submerged and unheard.

 

She already addressed the issue of youth employment in Italy through the newsmagazine Repubblicadeglistagisti.it, founded in 2009, through which she still works to improve young people’s access conditions to the labour market.

 

Today she continues with The Why Wait Agenda by addressing – with a broader horizon – another fundamental issue: fertility and parenting. This new editorial-social adventure's aim is to reduce the gap between the desired number and actual number of children women are having, and to create a society in which people do not feel forced to put off the decision of starting a family.

 

Passionate activist, Eleonora Voltolina has fought over the years for the application of the right to abortion in Italy (through law 194/1978), as well as for the financing of paternity leave, and to encourage young people to exercise the right to vote... She contributed to the drafting of laws and policies; as a youth employment expert she has been invited several times to be heard by the Labor Commissions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Italian Republic.

 

Voltolina graduated in Communication Sciences from La Sapienza university in Rome and from the "IFG Carlo de Martino" school of journalism in Milan. As a social entrepreneur, in 2017 she was nominated Ashoka Fellow by Ashoka, one of the most important non-governmental organizations in the world for innovation and impact according to the NGO ranking.

 

Eleonora Voltolina was a member of the executive board of the National Youth Agency from 2014 to 2020; and of the ministerial working group "Youth policies: work and welfare" in 2021. She is a member of the board of directors of the Roberto Franceschi Foundation and co-founder and president of the non-profit association Italents.

 

She wrote “La Repubblica degli Stagisti - Come non farsi sfruttare” (“The Republic of Interns - How not to be exploited”) and “Se potessi avere mille euro al mese - L'Italia sottopagata” (“If only I could earn 1000 euros per month - All about Italy’s too low wages”), two non-fiction books, both published by the Italian publishing house Laterza.

 

Eleonora Voltolina was born in Rome in 1978; after spending many years in Milan she now lives in Switzerland with her husband and their ten-year-old daughter.

 

This is where you can find her:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ele_voltolina

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleonora_voltolina/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/eleonora_voltolina

Facebook: https://it-it.facebook.com/eleonora.voltolina