Meet the Team

Team Members

	Marco Moraglia (Nairobi - Kenya, Sanremo - Italy) Born and raised by Italian parents in Nairobi he has always lived in a multicultural environment. After having returned to Italy to complete his education, he decided to enroll in Venezia’s famous Ca’ Foscari University to study Japanese Language with a major in Japanese history. His native languages are Italian and English and he is also literate in Japanese. He has a deep passion for technology but at the same time cherishes the simple and natural aspects of life that are part of his African heritage.
	Cinzia Guerriero (Milano, Italy) Cinzia Guerriero was born and raised in Sessa Aurunca, a very small town close to Naples. She graduated from Orientale University of Naples where she studied Political Sciences and International Relations. Her childhood dream was to travel around the world, learn foreign languages, deal with new and different cultures and try to spread around the world her typically Italian touch. After spending 4 years in Naples for her studies she moved to Milan where she lived for two years. Her love for foreign languages pushed her abroad (Spain, England and Japan) to work and study. She is the peppy female voice of italianpod101.com.
	Consuelo Innocenti (Florence, Italy) Consuelo Innocenti was born in Florence. This charming city hosts thousands of tourists every year and it’s famous for its art and history of the Renaissance period. Due to her interest in the arts, she intended to work as a tour guide. For all these reasons, she attended a high school specialized in tourism. These first years of studying gave her the opportunity to travel all around Europe (and Canada) and learn three languages. The impact with other cultures immediately fascinated her. Her passion for foreign languages and cultures brought her to the University of Florence where she graduated with a degree in Intercultural Studies, her majors were Japanese and English language and culture; her favorite subject was comparative literature.
	Maria Cristina Sordilli Maria Cristina was born in an area rich in medieval ruins called Ciociaria. While appreciating the rich culture of her birthplace, she also developed an interest in Asia, such that after graduation, she studied Oriental Languages and Culture (with a major in Japanese) at the Sapienza University of Rome. This allowed her to understand, appreciate and respect the diversity of people and their culture. She has always believed in the importance of language learning, from ancient local dialects to English, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese. After graduating, she moved to Naples where she studied International Relationship-Political Sciences at the Naples Eastern University “L’Orientale.” Maria Cristina now hopes that she will be able to continue learning and more importantly, practicing these languages, while moving through the many different cultures the world offers.
	Jason Ross Vancouver born and raised, Jason graduated from the British Columbia Institute of Technology as an automotive specialist then seized an opportunity to live in the French Alps. He lived there for 8 years, learning French while working long hours and enjoying snow sports in his free time. The area he lived in in France was close to the Italian border and formerly a part of Italy, which meant that there were plenty of opportunities for Jason to learn about Italian culture and history, language, food, and wine. After spending time in France, he moved to Japan, where he is now studying Japanese with the goal of passing Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Learning about new languages and cultures is an ongoing passion of Jason’s, and he enjoys helping others do the same.
	Chiara Catanuto Chiara was born in Catania, a sunny city in Sicily, but moved to Milan to study foreign languages at Milan University, pursuing a major in Japanese language and culture. Because of her love for Japan, she moved to Tokyo after graduation, and there she improved her Japanese-language skills. While in Japan she discovered a passion for teaching, which she finds a really rewarding and interesting job. Her goal is to help students learn Italian while they have fun.
	Ofelia Dioguardi Ofelia was raised in Modena, in the north of Italy, and has a Master of Arts in the History of Japanese Art from the University of Bologna. She speaks Italian natively, and Japanese and English fluently. After graduation she returned to Japan, where she had already been twice in her early 20s, and started working as an Italian teacher. She is currently working as a Product Manager at Innovative Language Learning and developing content for ItalianPod101.com and other language learning sites.
	Ilaria Melvi Ilaria was born in Napoli, Italy. Her first passion was drawing. Then, at the age of 7, she decided she wanted to study piano, which she did until the age of 24. She also loved to learn foreign languages, and her favorite subject in school was English. Around the age of 16, she promised herself she would learn the Japanese language and go to Japan, where she currently lives. She has a university degree in Eastern Asian Culture and Languages and another in Literary Translation from Japanese. She’s happy to be working with the ItalianPod101.com team and meet listeners who want to learn Italian.
	Desirèe Benini Desirèe was born in Turin, Italy. She studied English, German and French at high school, and is currently enrolled at Turin’s University of Foreign Languages, where she is specializing in Japanese and German. She has traveled a lot around Europe, spent several months in Austria, and lived for a year in Japan. She has taught English to children both in Italy and abroad, and worked at an airport and as an event hostess. Her hobby is cosplaying, which has given her some modelling experience as well. She enjoys reading novels as well as trying food from all over the world.
	Ilaria Castelli Ilaria was born in Bergamo, near Milan. She has lived in London since 2006 and she travels between her beloved Italy and the United Kingdom. She graduated with a degree in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, University of London. Passionate about travel and writing, she is currently working as a web content writer, interpreter, translator and consultant./td>
	Gianluca Caputo (Verona – Italy) Gianluca Caputo was born in Verona, the Shakespeare’s “fair” Verona. He grew up in Verona’s downtown, spending his free time between creative writing and visits to fascinating Italian cities, mainly in northern Italy. He graduated in Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Verona in 2004. After just three months after his graduation, the well-established fondness for the unknown led to him to move to London, where he taught Italian in various private schools. He eventually decided to get his Master of Art in Italian Literature in the United States, where he lived for a period of two years. After his graduation at the University of Connecticut, he moved back to Italy where he is living at the moment. He is planning to move to Australia, just to make sure he doesn’t miss the opportunity to live in such a beautiful country.
	Angela Miccoli (Viterbo – Italy) Angela Miccoli was born in Viterbo, a nice town near Rome. She grew up in the countryside, in a small village called Tre Croci, where she developed a deep love for nature and popular traditions. She lived 5 years in Rome to study Japanese literature and foreign languages at “La Sapienza University”. While living in Rome she could enjoy the wonderful monuments of the city becoming more and more involved with art and archeology. Thanks to this passion and in order to show tourists the culture, the history and the costumes of Viterbo’s area she obtained a license as tour leader and tour guide.
	Ursula Moro (Venezia – Italy) Born and raised just a bridge away from the enchanting island of Venezia, she started traveling Europe at a very early age, first with her parents and then eventually alone. Strongly attracted by foreign cultures and languages, she decided to take part to an exchange-study program which, during her high-school years, brought her to spend over 14 months in the U.S.A: a country she fell in love with and has largely and repeatedly explored. Once back in Venezia, through the magic of literature and cinema, she grew a new fascination for Asian countries that leaded her to the path of graduation from Ca’ Foscari University, with a major on Japanese language and literature.
	Daniele Lauro Daniele was born in Naples, Italy, and in addition to Italian, he speaks English, Japanese, and some French. After completing a master of arts in Asian studies at the University of Rome, he relocated to the United States. He briefly worked in Washington, D.C., and subsequently started a Ph.D. program in history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is currently living in Tokyo where he is conducting research for his dissertation in early modern Japanese history at Waseda University. Apart from research, Daniele enjoys reading fiction, visiting museums, cooking, eating, and getting lost in Tokyo’s streets at night.
	Valentina Sala Valentina Sala was born and raised in Modena, a city in the north of Italy. Italian is her mother tongue, and she is also fluent in English. She studied English, French, and Japanese at Bologna’s University of Foreign Languages and Literature. She enjoys tutoring English to Italian students and shares her love for the language. She has lots of interests and is excited for the opportunity to combine two of her passions—reading and translating—working as a literary translator.
	Giulia Varalta Giulia was born and raised in Villafranca di Verona, a suburb city of Verona in North Italy, that is surrounded by hills, river, lakes, and mountains. Growing up, she developed an interest for new cultures and languages, and she enrolled in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the University of Verona. There, she specialized in English and German. During her studies, she lived in Bulgaria and Germany. These experiences made her willing to explore more about the world. Currently, she lives in Tokyo, where she is discovering an entirely new and interesting culture. She does her best to help Japanese people learn Italian in a fun and interesting way.
	Jessica Barbagallo Raised in Palermo, Sicily, in the south of Italy, Jessica has lived in many different cities in Italy and around the world, including Florence, Milan, New York, Vancouver, Rio de Janeiro, and Sâo Paulo. She has a Master in Languages and Literature from the University of Palermo and a Master in Communication from Cornell University. Her professional career has always been divided between teaching languages (English and Italian) and digital marketing. She lives now near Geneva with her family. She speaks five languages fluently and is currently studying German and Arabic. She likes writing, cooking, gardening, and biking. In fact, she crosses the border between France and Switzerland every day on her bike.
	Felice Angelini Born in Bari (South Italy) and raised in Voghera (North Italy), Felice has, since childhood, been just like his name implies: a cheerful, positive person who always loves being around others. Growing up, he was so taken with Japanese language and culture that he enrolled in the prestigious ‘’La Sapienza'’ University of Rome to study everything he could about Japan and Asia through majoring in Archaeology and History of Japanese Arts. After graduation, he completed specialized training for teaching Italian as a second language at the “Dilit International House” in Rome. His wonderful experience there led him to continue on this path to becoming an Italian teacher. He first worked in Milan at the “LinguaDue'’ School, followed by the “Leonardo da Vinci” School, before finally moving to Japan to continue teaching Italian in his favorite country. Felice’s goal is to help his students achieve their dreams through his Italian teaching.