Her Story
About Valentina
I graduated from law school in Italy in 2020, right in the middle of COVID, and started working immediately in Milan as a corporate lawyer. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to build my career abroad and do something different than what exists in my country, so working in Milan was always meant to be temporary. I needed to complete the required months of trainership to be eligible for the Italian bar, which I passed in 2023. As soon as I became a licensed lawyer in Italy, I decided to leave and started applying for master's programs in 2024. Columbia was my first choice because of their focus on energy transition and sustainable investment, which is where I'm pivoting my career. I was lucky enough to get in and even more fortunate to secure an internship with the Columbia Center of Sustainable Investment, which gave me my first real experience in this field and proved to me that I'm going in the right direction. My curriculum is focused on energy transition work, including the classes I'm taking and all my extracurricular activities. I keep myself super busy, taking a lot of classes while volunteering for three different legal associations where I organize events, working for a legal journal, and contributing to a student-led climate venture capital fund focused on climate tech. Last week, I landed my dream job at a law firm in New York starting in September 2026 after I graduate. Getting my foot through the door in the New York legal market is everything to me because I know I will do amazing things down the road. I have big ideas that I hope will become reality one day, and New York is the right place to achieve those goals. Times are hard when it comes to sustainability, especially in this country, but that's what makes it challenging and exciting for me because it's ground zero. This is the second-largest country for emissions, so working here on energy transition feels meaningful. This has been the most amazing year of my life for many reasons, and I would say it's going to be the most defining year of my career. I'm here on my own dime, so everything I'm accomplishing feels really mine.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Valentina
01What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I really value loyalty. I would say that's probably one of the most important things to me, both personally and professionally speaking. I think the best you can do for a person is make them feel like you can rely on them. Professionally, that goes a long way because trust is what everything is about with a client, especially in my job. I'm really all about respect for everything that we'll just run around. This is really important and it's also why I really want to get in my field of expertise, why I care about it so much. I think when you get to work at certain levels, you really need to be considerate of many things. You cannot just focus on yourself or profit. It needs to be about something else. Those are the things that drive me the most.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · New York
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.