Hi, I’m happy that you want to learn more about us!
My name is Elisa Bertoldi, I am a freelancer and have been working in the world of the Web and Graphics for many years.
The most important watchword in my life is precisely “freedom”, and I have chosen to work as a freelancer precisely because it allows me (within certain limits) to manage my life as I want.
There is so much to do and discover in this life!
A LITTLE ABOUT MY STORY
I have always had a passion for art and creativity, I attended the artistic high school and immediately after the Palladio Design Institute in Verona, a three-year graphics school.
At that time, graphic design was still done entirely by hand, drawing the lettering with RapidoGraph, layout with screens and tracing sheets, the use of the computer was just entering this world.
However, at the Palladio Institute in Verona we had beautiful computer rooms equipped with very modern Macs (for the time) and I learned to use Photoshop and Illustrator.
The push towards technology was felt, and at that age I took the most modern path: digital.
THE WEB
I got myself a Mac (or rather my family got it for me) and started doing graphics from home, including some first commissioned jobs.
I also became passionate about the first HTML codes I saw, trying to write some web pages.
It seemed incredible to me that web pages with graphics and images could come to life from codes written with a keyboard, a mystery that I wanted to explore further by studying on my own.
At the end of school, in the 2000s, I immediately found a job in a graphic design studio where we worked on websites: they were the first sites that companies began to build, sensing the importance that this new world was beginning to have.
I built Flash, animated sites, remember those famous “skip intro” buttons and the sites that all had annoying background music? Here you are.
Then Google came along and SEO was born, and Flash died.
I studied for this revolution.
In the meantime, I joined the company where I worked, staying for 7 years, then joining a company that dealt with web advertising, where I discovered the use of banners and the world of web marketing.
BECOME A FREELANCE
Working at set times and submitting to other people’s directives was too much for me, and so around the age of 30, I decided to work as a freelancer.
I opened the VAT number and worked in collaboration with other companies or directly for my clients to create websites.
At a certain point I asked myself: if I could create excellent websites for clients, which generated profit, why not do it for myself too?
I created my site that talks entirely about cats, MicioGatto.it, around which I created a vast community of enthusiasts.
With it I entered the world of social media, on YouTube and started making videos and podcasts.
In the meantime I have helped other professionals like me to develop their business on the web, through their website, the blog, teaching writing for the web and SEO optimization.
I held courses in various companies on everything related to the working world that I knew: web marketing, e-mail marketing, website construction, SEO, advertising on Google and social media.
CREATIVITY
While I was developing my career in the “virtual” world of the Internet, I still cultivated a passion for traditional art, painting and creativity.
As a counterbalance to my PC work, I always need to “get my hands dirty” using colors and brushes on paper.
Artisanal work, made of colored hands and the search for suitable tools, is a necessity for me and fascinates me greatly.
This is why I have always painted, taken drawing and illustration courses and I like to vent my creativity both on paper and digitally.
I like to combine the two things when I make a website: illustration and creativity and technology.
I also like the feeling of joy when someone who commissions me to do an illustration or creative work sees the result and is happy with it.
THE RESTORATION
In 2020, almost by chance, I started a three-year course to become a Restoration Technician, the figure who supports the restorer in working on works of art from all eras, from paintings to stone artefacts.
In the three years of school I fully vented my need to work with “matter”, to feel my hands dirty with mortar, to pick up a chisel or a scalpel.
The wonder of touching authentic works of art and contributing to prolonging their existence (never say “restore to their former splendor”, because it is impossible and not even ethical), is priceless.
The adventures that I experience and have experienced thanks to the Restoration amaze me every time.
MY VALUES
I was born a free spirit, a non-conformist, I chose a job that I can do anywhere, I always study and research to broaden my vision and my stimuli, I experience work as a personal growth.
There are many paths that I have undertaken in life to “map” this world in my own way, from Yoga, to Buddhism, to contact with nature, walking in the mountains, and I can say that I am always searching.
In my cultural background, feminism also has a lot of space, of which I feel I am fully part and for which I have undertaken various activities to carry forward the fight for effective equality between genders, but also for overcoming the gender binary.
As you may have noticed in my texts I use inclusive language, because everyone has an equal right to be quoted and represented.
If you find inconsistencies or something bothers you about my site, let me know, I’m still full of cognitive biases and prejudices that I don’t see yet, but with everyone’s collaboration we can make great steps towards full respect for people.
Can I say I know myself? A little yes, but I never finished discovering.
I started a newsletter on Substack where I talk about all these topics that are close to my heart.
WHAT I WISH FOR IN MY WORK
I like to help other people realize themselves through their own business, to go beyond their mental limits, which is why if you want to create a web project, manage a community, know all the ins and outs of a web business, I can help you with consultancy or targeted activities.
I like to collaborate with web agencies or other professionals, in a calm and mutually supportive atmosphere.
I have always been considered punctual and reliable, I like collaborations where there is mutual trust.
I’m not afraid to walk away from a job or a client if something doesn’t add up to me: money isn’t the priority for me, my serenity is.
If you need help for your clients with paper or web graphics, contact me.
If you are looking for someone who can develop your graphic image, through logos, illustrated works, colors and shapes created specifically for you, contact me.
If you are a professional or an aspiring professional, you know perfectly well the difficulties of a woman in the world of work and you want to rely on another woman to carry out your activities, contact me.