Simonetta Piergentili

What unique skills and/or talents do you bring to your job?
I embrace change because it opens the way to new opportunities and brings new energy to the table I enjoy wearing multiple hats to accomplish the task at hand. The hats can vary from operations to event planning to administration.

Are there activities outside of your job at Harvard that you feel enrich or inform who you are as an individual at Harvard?
I teach English for Speakers of Other Languages at the East Harborside Community School in East Boston. I immigrated to this country as a child and my family and I learned English through a similar program. I want to give back by helping those who are new to this country and struggling to communicate and understand the cultural differences. Teaching ESOL has made me very sensitive to the importance of being able to clearly express one's needs and thoughts and of making an effort to understand someone's roots in order to eliminate misunderstandings and drawing wrong conclusions.

What is the significance of the object you brought with you to the photo shoot?
These are the running shoes I wore at my first marathon (Boston Marathon) a year after graduate school. Since I thought only those genetically engineered in a certain way could run 26.2 miles, finishing the marathon taught me a very important lesson: there is no challenge that is too big for me to tackle, as long as I truly want the challenge, I make a commitment to the challenge, and I focus.
We create our own obstacles and we make our own choices. I have applied these principles to my personal as well as professional life ever since.