After an initial exposure to politics, Paola Diana built up a global recruitment firm having struggled to find suitable childcare for her young children. But her real passion lies in championing the cause of women's rights, and she's even got one eye on a move into UK politics. Nick Martindale finds out more

Paolo Diana is not an easy lady to put labels on. She is at the same time owner of a global recruitment firm, a successful author and podcaster, and a passionate women's and children's rights advocate. She is an Italian who has spent the last two decades loving the London life, and has a former life as a political campaigner working for the former president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi to boot.

"I started my journey in Italy," she recalls. "I studied political science and then got my master's degree in international relations. I was almost forced into continuing to study because I was a young mother of two children and no one would even call me for an interview when I sent them my CV. But it was a great plan."

One of her professors noticed her passion for politics and brought her into the election campaign he was working on with Prodi for the 2006 election. "At the time, he was running for a left and centre coalition against Silvio Berlusconi," she recalls. "This coalition didn't have much money to spend but I learned a lot. I think I was paid by learning because I was working with incredible intellectuals, professors and entrepreneurs. I also learned about myself and my skills and that I was a very good organiser."

The campaign was successful, and Diana was then asked to set up a university on behalf of the Democratic Party, which was at that time just starting out in Italy, before later working as public and international relations manager for her former business school.

In 2007, though, she hit on the concept for a business, and set up Nanny & Butler - now Artemide Recruitment - initially to help wealthy Italian families find British domestic staff. "It started from my own needs as a mother," she recalls. "To work outside the house, I needed someone to take care of my children while they were at home, and I wanted to raise them as bilingual. I was looking for a very well educated and qualified British nanny, and it was impossible to find one. In London, of course, there were lots of services like this. So I literally took the business idea from the British model and converted it to Italy."

Many clients were businesspeople, she adds, and soon began asking for personal assistants and, more recently, even middle-management positions as well as domestic support. "We were very niche in the sense that we covered the private sector, mainly for high net-worth individuals, families and billionaire celebrities; and the corporate sector, helping them with family offices and their companies," she explains.

In the early days, Diana built up the business in the evenings while her children slept, but it soon became a full-time focus and she ended up taking on a friend to help her, and then an assistant and consultant. "I had to find intelligent, trustworthy people to work for me but I had to train them completely," she says. "It was a good idea because I have many senior-level consultants who started at the beginning and they're still working for my company today."

A decade ago, Diana and her young family headed over to London, where they remain to this day. "I moved here because I understood that in order to become global, we had to be present in London," she says. "It was impossible for me to just keep travelling as I did at the beginning. It was exhausting. But I am very happy I made that decision because I love London, not only from a business point of view but also personally."

Empowering women

Today, the business is an international agency specialising in recruiting for middle-management and office support roles, based in Mayfair. Diana remains involved, but increasingly devotes her time to other causes, in particular her passion for women's rights. "It gives me a purpose to live and give back, because as a woman and a businesswoman, particularly coming from a very patriarchal family, I understand that while I was successful, I was also lucky," she says.

"Many women can't do what I did for many reasons, particularly the lack of childcare and opportunities. It's very important for me to try to empower women, help them go through difficulties in life and in work, and try to do my best to give them a role model." She's a big advocate of equal opportunities and equal rights; terms she prefers to ‘equality'. "We're not equal and we are not the same so I don't really like to talk about equality," she says.

Her book Saving the World. Women: The Twenty-First Century's Factor for Change, which analyses the treatment of women throughout history and outlines a manifesto for change, is a central part of this. She's also a successful podcast host, hosting Unleashed: The Game Changers podcast on YouTube, as well as in Spotify and Apple podcasts, which regularly attract more than 10,000 listeners.

"I noticed the majority of the podcast hosts were male, and they were inviting a majority of male guests," she says. "I don't know if it was deliberate or not but I thought, why can't I do the opposite? Why can't I be a woman host with my feminist perspective, that I share with my guests, and why don't I invite incredible women who are maybe less visible because we know that visibility is connected with power?"

She's also a regular public speaker on the topic of women's rights, and often finds herself being asked to host events or moderate panels. "This year, I'm also the women's rights advisor of one of the sheriffs of the City of London, because they asked me if I could organise a special panel and dedicated events for the judges at the criminal court," she says. "I organise events related to domestic abuse and female genital mutilation, which is a horrible form of mutilation for women." She's sits on the advisory board of the Global Thinkers Forum, and is an ambassador for Educate Not Mutilate, a charity that aims to stop female genital mutilation.

Currently, she's also involved with women's groups advocating around the gender critical movement. "It's basically being a woman who is interested in defending women's and children's rights, and pointing out that the request of some trans activists in relation to changes in the laws about gender are clashing with the laws that protect the rights based on biological sex," she explains.

"I believe that women's rights have to be protected, and that they have to be protected based on biological sex, because this is what defines a woman. It's important that we know what a woman is and that we are not silenced by bullies. I believe in free speech, and it's important that we keep sticking up for ourselves because if we don't women's rights can go backwards."

Diana, who cites the author JK Rowling as one of her heroes, also believes there's plenty businesses can do to help. "First of all, they should always try to recruit the same amount of women as men and give opportunities to women," she says. "The second point is giving flexibility to women who are in the process of having children, or who have had children in their early life, because we all know that during that particular time a woman needs more flexibility.

"It doesn't mean that she works less; it just means that she has to juggle many other things," she adds. "That means a hybrid type of work, and letting people decide when to go to the office or work from home. I always remind everyone that children grow up so women have a lot of time in their lives to go back and have a full-time role and increase their commitment." She'd also like to see more government support in this area, providing tax breaks for working mothers to help ensure they can remain on the career ladder, and believes larger businesses should financially support organisations that promote women's rights. 

Business resilience

Having successfully juggled her own commitments with building up a global enterprise, Diana is well placed to offer advice to others thinking of starting up. "It's important to know who you are, and what are your skills and strengths are, and where you're lacking," she says. "Being an entrepreneur is not easy. I know it's very fashionable now and I would encourage anyone to become their own boss. But it's a hard life that can be quite lonely if you're the sole founder, so you need to know if you have the character to do that. Not everyone has, and it can destroy your life if you don't.

"But if you think that you're the right person for that role, just go for it," she urges. "And believe in yourself, particularly at the beginning when it's harder and when people try to take advantage of you. We all know that when people think that you are weak and when you are small they try to take advantage of you. Business is like a jungle; you have to be prepared to fight. So believe in yourself and work hard because success doesn't happen overnight. It's is the result of hard work and a strong resilience."

Diana, who is also a governor at Downe House School in Berkshire, is a big advocate of self-care. "I need my time," she says. "I like to spend time with my dog and with my friends, and I travel as much as I can. I'm quite good at balancing work and life, and I strongly suggest to everyone to do this because if not you can ruin your health."

Her plans for the next few years are more of the same. "I'm always searching for new ways to make my company bigger and stronger," she states. "I'm writing my second book at the moment so I'm quite busy with research and writing, and then I would like to do more for women's rights. And then, eventually, one day, I'd like to get involved in politics in this country. And, of course, to keep interviewing incredible game-changers for my podcast. That gives me a lot of joy and also makes me learn a lot. Every time I interview someone I learn from them and I feel inspired by them."

She's rightly proud of everything she's accomplished, and most of all bringing up her two now-adult children. "I remember one day I stopped and thought ‘OK, I actually did quite a lot'. It wasn't easy. But while I was doing all of it, I wasn't really thinking about that, I was just getting on with the job. But educating my children is my biggest accomplishment. We have a great relationship, and we communicate a lot. I find a lot of solace and happiness in being a mother. It's the greatest gift."

Timeline

 How Paol Diana's career has combined politics and recruitment

2004-5: Completed a master's degree at Bologna Business School

2005-6: Became director of operations of GovernarePer, a think-tank that was created in support of former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi's successful political campaign for the 2006 election campaign, in which he defeated Silvio Berlusconi to lead a centre-left coalition

2006: Headed up UliBo, a private university for the Democratic Party

2007: Worked for Bologna Business School as a public relations communications manager

Set up Nanny & Butler in Italy, after struggling to find an English-speaking nanny to look after her young children

2018: Her book Saving the World. Women: The Twenty-First Century's Factor for Change was published by Quartet Books

2019: Set up Artemide Recruitment to broaden the reach of her existing business

2022: Appointed to the council of the 2022/23 Sheriff of The City of London, as the advisor for women's rights

Becomes advisory board member at the Global Thinkers Forum