“There Is a Need to Educate Young People”
Q: Tell us a few things about your country, and also your life's story!
A: I live in Italy, in Campania region. I was born and I live near to Naples, the city in which I study. My country is beautiful, with a great landscape diversity and full of art and culture. Of course, I do not need to underline the amazing Italian food, more famous than the Coliseum.
Maria Pia Napoletano
Italy
Maria Pia Napoletano is 19 years old and was born in Naples. She is an Economics and Business Administration student at the University of Naples Federico II.
Passionate about art and youth work, in 2016 she created the project “AversArte”, to raise awareness about cultural heritage and art pieces in her town. In 2017 she was an organizer of “TEDxNapoli”, an inspirational conference, whose aim is to give voice to “Ideas worth spreading”.
She is member of different NGOs and collaborates with any other one working in the field of youth work and active participation.
She took part in different Erasmus+ Projects and events organized by the Council of Europe and The National Youth Agency. In September and October 2017 she worked in a University in Jaipur, India, to raise awareness about SDGs and give young people a broader cultural perspective of the world.
In the future, she aims to become an art manager and event organizer and create a network of people from all around the world, working together and sharing practices to strengthen youth activism and help social change.
The story of my life is a simple story of a person that casually encountered travel.
Since I was a kid, I loved to read books and stories, and when I was 14 I had my first opportunity to live abroad for some weeks. In the same year, I joined a no-profit organization. These two things changed my life. I became passionate about helping, and wanting to make an impact and change the world, I became more and more curious and willing to learn. I started uncountable projects and realized a lot of desires and ideas in the last two years, my first two of the university. I study economics and business administration, and I want to become an art manager, to connect the need of art to have a good management and the need of management to be more artistic and art-inspired.
But the best is yet to come.
Q: What is your view of the world as it is today? And how do you define the concept of a better world?
A: The world is a beautiful place in its complexity and conflicts. The world of today, nevertheless, is full of economics conflict, that become violence and war, and political complexity. This does not help sustainable development, and the use of good practices for emerging countries to develop in a good way.
A better world would be, for me, a world with no conflicts, with real freedom of expression everywhere, with interconnections between countries and different states that are able to collaborate in order to achieve economical and political objective in a sustainable way.
Q: What are some of the key challenges in your society?
A: The achievement of gender equality and sustainable development. Both are mostly theoretical. The southern part of Italy is often culturally underdeveloped, so there is a need to educate young people to sustain SDG and gender equality, being ambassadors of it every day, acting in a correct way and being an active part of the community.
Q: As a young individual what are a few of the hurdles that you had to overcome up until today?
A: I often feel like institutions do not encourage young people to participate, to express their opinion. And, when they do, they often not really listen to what young people have to say.
It is not easy to involve more people to be proactive, too. The emerging attitude is to accept everything that happens as natural.
Q: Why is the role of a mentor important for you?
A: A person with more experience is fundamental to decide for a direction in our lives. It was the first time for me to have a mentor, and I did not imagine it could be so helpful. Every time I want to do something or start something, my mentor helps me to focus and learn. It is like the role of a parent but in a more objective and structured way. Right now, I would say it is fundamental for a young person that wants to develop a great potential.
Q: Do you have a lesson that life has taught you and you would like to share?
A: Never do things you are not comfortable with. Even if you feel forced, or you think it is "helpful", or every other reason. Always follow your passion, what you truly want to do in life. And if you do not know what it is, go searching for it. And, after that, start a life-long learning.
Q: Name a project, a foundation or a person in your country that you think is doing great work in helping improve other people's lives!
A: Stelle in Strada. It is a project in Naples of Lions International Association. I take part in it to distribute food to homeless people, and I see that, for real, it is helping people every week. Not only because they eat, but even from a social and inclusive point of you.
Q: What are some of the challenges that women in your country face and what efforts are made towards gender equality?
A: Women are considered as the ones who have to stay at home and take care of the children. In Italy, especially in the south, they are considered as not-productive as men and not able to have work relationships as them. There are some funds given, but mostly for violence against women, not for gender equality.
Q: Athena40 is the first ever global selection of the top 40 women forward thinkers, commentators, activists, authors, academics, entrepreneurs, executives, innovators. Can you think of a truly innovative and forward-thinking woman from your country that you wish to nominate for the Athena40 global list?
A: Emma Bonino.
Q: Share with us a phrase, a poem or a story that you love or you find interesting!
A: "Audentes Fortuna Iuvat".
It is from an incomplete work of Virgilio, a Latin poet. The meaning is "Fortune helps the audacious".
I find it to be a great source of inspiration because it is true, good things come to the ones that try always more and always better, that are audacious and, I would add, tenacious.
Q: Tell us one thing that you have learned from your mentor.
A: That I am capable of doing everything, but I have to take my time and not being in a rush.
