#WeLeadComms: Roberta Rapagnani

Today, the #WeLeadComms spotlight shines on Brussels-based communication leader Roberta Rapagnani.

She shares her story:

“I have always been curious about how things work behind the scenes, especially in politics and policy. That curiosity took me from an MA in international relations into a career I did not fully plan, but that made sense step by step.

“My interest in communication started near the end of that master, when I joined a few other students to create a political blog. Somewhere in that process I realised the passion for writing I had since I was a child was something I wanted to build a career around. So after graduating, I took two courses in digital communication and media relations, to back that up with real skills.

“It still took three years to actually kick start my communication career. My first step was the Blue Book traineeship at the European Commission. That opportunity also brought me to Brussels, a city full of energy around communication, public affairs and policy work, and I have built my career here since.

“I started out managing social media for an EU education programme, learning to write for people who had never heard of EU jargon. From there I moved back to the Commission, handling public enquiries, media monitoring and large-scale events. This experience taught me how communication supports decisions long before anyone sees the final message. Since then, I have kept working across EU funded projects, now in transport and mobility, leading communication for several Horizon Europe projects at once.

“What ties all of this together is an interest in energy and sustainability, something that started in my studies and that I have kept building on since. I see communication as the part that decides whether good work actually reaches anyone, and I want to spend my career close to where decisions get made. In the end, I want my communication to be sustainable too, built on ideas and messages that hold up over time, not ones that fade the moment a campaign ends.”

+++