A successful marketing professional in Milan, Italy, has described how she fled Boston two decades ago and has yet to look back.
Leslie Strazzullo, 55, moved from a suburb of Beantown in 2004 and has since made a name for herself in the fashion capital of the world as a marketing manager.
Her family roots are in Italy and she took advantage of the opportunity to do an exchange program with Bocconi University’s business school while earning her MBA.
She also interned at Italian tire and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Pirelli, and when she graduated, the company offered her a full-time position in charge of marketing and communications for its telecommunications business.
In a piece written for CNBC Make It’s financial advice columnHe described how he has been in Milan since then.
Leslie Strazzullo, 55, moved from a suburb of Beantown in 2004 and has since made a name for herself in the fashion capital of the world as a marketing manager.
A successful marketing professional, she moved to Milan in 2024 and hasn’t looked back yet.
“Twenty years ago, when I was 35, I left my life in the Boston metropolitan area to pursue a career opportunity in glamorous Milan,” Strazzullo wrote in the op-ed published Sunday.
‘Before moving here, I had earned my MBA at the University of South Carolina. During my studies, I completed an exchange program with Bocconi University’s business school and an internship at Pirelli.
“I loved it,” he said.
He went on to recall that he was offered the position of marketing communications manager at PGT Photonics SPA, which at the time was part of the Pirelli company.
Although he knew only “a few people” from his time as an intern, Strazzullo seized the opportunity, he writes, with the streets of Milan fresh in his mind.
“I wasn’t nervous, just excited about this new opportunity,” recalled the current head of marketing communications at Abb, a major Swiss supplier of robotics and machine automation.
“I’ve been in Milan ever since.”
Strazzullo has held various positions during that period, at three different companies, not including Pirelli.
One of them was ventilator manufacturer Honeywell, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, more than 4,500 miles away.
His family has roots in Italy and he did not hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity to do an exchange program with the Bocconi University business school while pursuing his MBA. Aerial view of Milan’s Piazza del Duomo at sunset
He worked there for over 12 years, sometimes from home and sometimes in the company office in Via Alessandro Volta.
After gaining experience as a marketing communications manager and customer marketing manager, she eventually took an 11-month break following the death of her life partner in 2023, before taking up her current role at Abb, where she has been since March.
Over the past 20 years, he said, he had to deal with universal stresses like layoffs, buying a house and surviving corporate life.
He then shared some expert advice.
The first thing, he said, was to “let yourself go.”
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to make and reschedule appointments at City Hall offices to get a tax identification number, for example, or an ID card to apply for a work permit,” she said.
‘Waiting times are long, government employees are sometimes grumpy, and the system can be frustrating and complex on a good day, even when a company sponsors you, as I did.’
She said there is no need to worry about “small things” like traffic and being late during rush hour.
She also interned at Italian tyre and telecoms equipment manufacturer Pirelli, and when she graduated the company offered her a full-time position as head of marketing and communications for its telecoms business.
“My best advice, if you’re trying to make a living here, is to just go with the flow and accept these administrative and bureaucratic quirks in stride. That’s just the way it is.”
His second piece of advice was simple: “be decisive.”
To convey the concept, he described what he called “a setback,” one that occurred five years after his tour of Italy.
Pirrelli had sold its telecommunications division and Strazzullo was among several others to be made redundant.
“I had a residence permit that allowed me to look for another job for a year,” he recalls.
‘I was in a hurry to find something new, but I wasn’t discouraged.
“Finding a job as a foreigner was a matter of strategic networking and, at times, determination,” she continued writing.
He found that, as in the United States, “the labor market is very much a ‘who you know’ thing.”
“I reached out to former colleagues, headhunters and other business school alumni,” he said.
Here you can see the Boston skyline. Strazzullo lived in a suburb outside the city before moving.
‘A few months before my permit ended, I received an offer to work for an American multinational with offices in Italy.
“I was very happy to have persevered and bet on myself and my life in Italy.”
The third piece of advice Strazzullo imparted was to learn to “work differently,” adapting to the environment around you rather than remaining stubbornly stuck in your old ways.
“One of the best things I ever did was to abandon the expression, ‘This is how we do things,'” he wrote at one point in his article.
‘I had to embrace change to thrive in Italy, whether it was the discomfort I felt using a new language… or navigating corporate life.
“It took me about two years to feel really comfortable with Italian,” she admitted.
‘In the end, I learned valuable things about my colleagues and the business while enjoying a relaxing meal or coffee.
‘I absorbed much more than I would have been able to with my head down at my desk.’
Her fourth and final piece of advice was to learn how to budget for the life you want, as she admitted, “While I am in a solid position now, I had to make some adjustments when it came to my finances.
In the article written for CNBC’s Make It financial advice column, he described how he has been in Milan ever since and offered some seasoned advice.
“Some expenses definitely surprised me early on, beyond the typical rent and utilities,” she recalled.
For example, when I arrived here I didn’t have a car. I remember that getting my driving license cost me about 700 euros.
“Americans pay taxes based on citizenship, not residency, so Americans abroad must file their taxes,” he continued.
‘I now make sure to use an accountant to help me manage my taxes.
“Thanks to the agreements between the US and Italy, I am not taxed twice,” he said.
‘I pay more taxes on my income in Italy (43 percent versus 37 percent) than I would in the United States, so I usually get a tax credit.’
One final “advantage” he said he has seen since moving to Italy is its “public healthcare system,” which he has had access to, as well as “complementary private health insurance” from some of his previous employers.
“The money I would otherwise spend on health care I can use for other needs and leisure activities,” he explains.
“In the end, I’m very glad I left my comfort zone 20 years ago,” he concluded.
‘Since then I have had the opportunity to travel a lot and meet many wonderful people.
“Today I feel fulfilled by the life and career I have built here.”