Eleonora & Sonia - synergic success

Success is not believed to be a thing in certain countries. Luckily there’s women who believe success can be achieved through a synergic process.

Imagine… Italy with its traditional mindset. Zoom in to see a town in the North-West part of the country, now zoom even closer to see an island of toda joia toda beleza amidst limiting mindsets and security-craving people. That is the place I want to tell you about - JOIA - opened by two beautiful young women I am fortunate to know.

TG: What is your relationship with simplicity? What space does it have in your life?

E: I love everything simple but at the same time I need some more complex inputs to feel the adrenaline. So outside of this business I like simplicity in the relationship and family. Whereas clothing wise I adore the opposite of simplicity. I can marry both simplicity and non-simplicity in different life situations.

S: I have always been seen as more sophisticated than I really am, thus I strive to be humble in life. I’m good and very determined to get whatever I want in life. 

How would you describe yourselves in 3 words?

E: Crazy (they both burst into a laugh)... Ok ok, full of life, determined, a little anxious. Well my anxiety is linked to a protective nature of mine towards people and things that I care about. So perhaps more protective than anxious.

S: We have many similar aspects, I see myself in her characteristics, but we’re very different too. I am determined, maternal, humble.

What is this physical space you’ve created? What is Joia?

E: It’s a synergy of things, Joia. First of all it’s a manifestation of the success of our relationship. See it this way, we’ve been friends for 9 years but we have always just met once or twice every year, because we were leading different lives, living in different cities, having different jobs. One day we met, after a full year of barely no contact, and asked each other if we were happy and satisfied with the life we were living. Soon after admitting there were things we definitely would’ve wanted to fix, we began fantasising of a future together… like what could we open?

S: Yes it all started as a game. One thing we have in common is we’re out of our minds. The choice we made was not a logical lucid choice (they laugh).

E: Nope, this fantasy was giving us beautiful and happy vibes so we just went with it. At first we wanted to open an extravagant clothing shop, the kind you find on the beach in Ibiza. Although after two brief calls to the accountants they advised us not to go in that direction, we spoke again and asked each other what we are good at. Both of us have worked in hospitality, so we decided to blend that with our love for the aesthetics and beauty. Joia is all colours, aesthetics of the food and passion. We went for it! And it went better than we had expected.

S: Yes, we were a little afraid to fail, that it would not be accepted. When we opened the poke bowl was not trendy in Italy, there were a few places in Milan. We took a rising wave but it was a jump in the unknown. Also we had no idea how Giaveno would react to this exotic dish. 

E: You know how traditionalist this town is, it’s all about agnolotti and vitello tonnato. Plus, we really didn’t know if we would work together as a team… afterall we did not have all this time together throughout the 9 years. 

S: Well in the beginning we were together 24/7 so that was a forced getting to know each other. 

E: You know, thing is… I had just finished a career path and was craving for something else, something new. I was serene though because I stayed in my territory where I have my parents and my life, whereas she chose to let go of an indefinite work contract - which in Italy is considered gold - and move from her city to come live here. She is courageous! I am not sure I would’ve done it.

This is amazing! I love these stories because you went from playing with your imagination to just seeing yourself doing it. 

E:  In the end I think everyone wants to do what they like because in the end the journey is long when it bores you. We are now in a space of loving going to work, we are serene and we wanted to transmit this to all the young people working with us. 

S: We always kept our values close, even work wise. So we did not get overwhelmed by the business. 

E: It’s wonderful to see the young ones come to work serene, we always stressed the importance of talking out any issue as soon as it comes up. It’s important that nobody gets to the point of becoming anxious at the thought of having to come to work, this we know too well for it happened to us. We strive to keep the environment as Joia-vibes. 

S: Having been employees not long ago we do not want to have our employees go through the same shitty experience we’ve had in the past. In hospitality it is so easy to mistreat people, we believe in respect both ways. 

E: One thing we really appreciate is the returning customers, those who give us compliments because it means we are past being novelty and are somewhat established. Even after a rough start… You know we opened three months before the pandemic and first lockdown. We opened and closed, I guess it couldn’t be worse than that. 

I know you closed BUT you actually reinvented Joia…. You did not really stay at home crying…

E: Well, we were forced to close and we had a really really low moment which lasted one day, when we said “OMG we are in the shit, what do we do? We still have so much to pay back”. 

S: We never took into consideration closing, this never! Not even in the most critical of times. We were too scared to fail, and also quite proud. So we looked at solutions, what could be done at that moment in time.

E: In the beginning we offered 3 different poke bowls as a closed business. And nevertheless those 3 poke bowls, we showed up every day. I have to admit, thank goodness, that I give my best when there is a team so when I was sad, she would pick me up, and when she was sad, those days I would show up and share my energy. What we did then was to spend even more money to create 10 different bowls and test everything, when one worked we would offer it as a special bowl for a special price… we jumped into creating new things, that would also be easy as a take away.
S: Initially we did not think of this business with the take-away option simply because Giaveno doesn’t have the notion of take-away, it is not common like in big cities. Thus, in the beginning we made zero, zero, zero… until one day we grew exponentially and suddenly. 

E: Yes! Some financially amazing days that paid off every frustration we experienced. She was in the kitchen and I was in my car, now you know how Giaveno is made with all its little sub-villages whose streets are barely on the map… Well, I would arrive in the middle of nowhere looking for the house to deliver the food and I’d have no reception and maps-system was lost too (they laugh) so I had to go back to call the people to explain the road. 

S: We are very happy, we also realised that in that moment we have created something that works at 360 degrees. Closed or open we work! 

E: And on a personal level, outside of Joia… when I see something I like I can buy it for myself and know that I deserve it. I have a passion for clothing so the fact that I can buy it and not just glance at the window makes me very proud. Surely with other jobs I worked I could afford it even then but now it’s different, I - we - work for ourselves. We also met years ago while doing some modelling and we observed how there are many roads a woman can take when she is beautiful, and many of these roads are easy…. It makes me proud of myself to know I chose a road that satisfies me in all aspects of my life, even my love life is fulfilled. I don’t need to beg anyone for anything. 

S: Yes, you feel free that you depend on yourself. 

It’s great to feel you don’t have to demonstrate anything. Moreover it always feels rewarding to see your creation come to life and be successful…

E: If someone goes to see our old social media photos, they will see a lot of posing and myself in a swimsuit because I love being photographed… but that doesn’t mean that is all there is about me. I always tell everyone not to judge the book by its cover. It still happens with young boys who feel threatened if working for us or their family talks them out of it because we might pose a threat to his relationship…

This is an interesting topic right there. I too have felt for the longest, especially after having been a model more than half my life, that I need to prove I also have a brain and a mind of my own. However since I live in London it’s an aspect of my perception of myself that I am healing, and I couldn't help but wonder if it is something about Italy being a little behind this notion of women being more than just pretty faces and long legs…. 

E: Italy is a little behind in everything. Women in Italy need to work twice as much to demonstrate just about anything, and I do feel that it still bothers many men to see a woman earning just as much as they do - or more - and seeing her on the same level as them. This is what I observe, perhaps it’s not always a negative aspect for men to have an innate feeling of wanting to protect the woman so they feel safer when the woman needs them. 

S: Basically they need to control. 

E: But not all men. Our partners even work together, as we do. They are fine and supportive of us. 

What is “aesthetics” to you? And what do you need it for?

S: Despite having my values I am also very attached to the aesthetics. I like beauty and beautiful things! I like to feel in order and I enjoy being complimented and appreciated on how I look. However I try not to focus too much on what may be called an objective beauty, I like to look for character traits… those “flaws” that make each person unique. Beauty holds an important space in my life, just like having a personality.

I don’t believe beauty is superficial. I think it’s wrongly perceived and talked about. We got to a point where if someone states to love beauty they are regarded as frivolous, and women are made to feel almost guilty for taking care of their appearance. 

E: I find myself on the same line of thought as Sonia. Beauty is very important to me. I can read people by observing their accessories. For sure then what makes the person is other qualities about them, however I am not someone who would get very close to people who are careless about being dirty or scruffy.
S: Yes, aesthetics denotes a sense of self respect. Plus by observing how one presents themselves you could intuit a possible affinity with them or not. 

I love all this because when I think of Joia I see it as an Island, grounded and floating at the same time in the middle of the town. I feel it’s almost heroic what you bring to a place like Giaveno. The imprint you are leaving on others who either come for a coffee, or a poke bowl or especially the young girls and boys who come work for you… is very powerful. I’ve been meaning to ask, why did you choose to make poke bowls? 

S: We tasted them, liked them and said “let’s try making them”. They weren’t popular, what was popular was sushi. So many All You Can eat places popped up at once, but we thought we’d need a manual skill we definitely lacked. Moreover, since it was popular at the time of our opening we foresaw it would also pass in a few years… We looked at what’s next? Poke bowls were emerging and were aligned with our taste. We love those flavours and also the space to experiment with new recipes. Of course we went crazy to find the starting recipes because 90% of these places are run by Asian people and no one wanted to share anything with us.

E: But we did not give up and after enough pressure we succeeded at getting the recipes and the phone numbers of the retailers. It was quite an adventure to find the retailers of the Asian restaurants.

Ladies, out of the whole conversation one thing that really touched me is when you both said that Joia is a success of your relationship. Can you expand that statement and tell me what is friendship to you?

S: I want to clarify something here and that is we are very good at dividing the relationship between what it needs to be when we are at work and what we are outside of work. We are capable of having a lot of lightness in our friendship and not make it all about work. 

E: People often wonder how we can go out to eat a pizza together after having spent a full day at work together. The thing is we talk of other things entirely. Whereas at work we are necessarily more focused. At work the priority is Joia.

S: To me friendship is important, for this reason I am very selective of who enters my circle. But once you’re in you’re my sister, I really really care about you. Eleonora is family to me, not just a friend. 

E: What I find in real friendship is advice but no judgment. I can openly tell my point of view without judging her final decision. I know I can call her and she’ll be there for me, even to replace me at work when a last minute emergency arises.

S: Of course! Well, she is someone I trust blindly. I know she will never betray me in life like in work.

E: It’s enough to look at the money, since they are many times a reason for quarrel. When she does the closing she touches also my money because our profit is evenly divided, I go home serene. I know I don’t have to double check anything, unlike the bills of the accountant and others (they laugh). 

S: Neither of us has the need to control the other. We come clean to our relationship.

Where do you feel the synergy of your success lies?

S: We often discuss this between us because in the beginning we immediately saw the strong points and the weak points of each other. So we agreed we’d both start by doing what we are already good at. She was better in the kitchen whilst I was a little more anxious but better at the front desk welcoming customers and making coffees. After that we decided we’d transmit to each other the strong points we had so as to make us complete on our own. 

E: In the beginning it wasn’t so fantastic, we had our “f*** you” moments. But we were learning to work together, even through those hormonally sync periods.

S: Now, I know very well what fires her up so if I did want to pick a fight I could. But most times it’s not worth it. However one thing we differ on is this, when I have an issue I close down and don’t communicate. Whereas she needs to talk it out immediately.

E: Yes, I feel so bad when it is not resolved. I push to talk it through and resolve within 5 minutes. It’s unthinkable that I would go home with a problem! But to answer your question, I tend to be more outgoing and talkative when there’s lots of people while she stays more focused on delivering impeccable service. I might get a little carried away talking.

S: It is true she is more outgoing, it is a beautiful quality of hers. 

E: This is how we compensate. These qualities are not unique to one another but it’s a natural way to work when there’s a bit more pressure.