BELONG To People

A reliable friend

• GROWTH
• CONNECTIONS

Discovery is not always the same feeling. There are breakthroughs when a new world is suddenly discovered, but also softer ones that are a kind of step-by-step unveiling of a matter you think you already knew but which eventually has always new aspects to show. For Adriana Mascella discovering Teddy was a step-by-step journey, an acquaintance that from congeniality became friendship and in time has become increasingly closer. Like it or not, the “blocks”, the buildings of the Gros Centre, the wholesale hub in Rimini, are to her the present as well as the sweet background of her childhood and adolescence. “When I was 9, I used to come with my mom, Anna Maria Gommiero, to Block 97 to do my homework. She was one of the pillars of the Logistics department and I was attracted by that world, it was fun and quite normal to me to stay there among the parcels, the dresses, the pallets and the forklifts. Then when I was in upper secondary school I made “an advancement” as I started to work in the warehouse during summer”, remembers Adriana.

In some ways her fate was sealed. After graduating at the Language School and dropping the idea of going to university, Adriana was employed at Teddy. Compared to many other newly hired, she certainly has a better idea of the place she was stepping into, but truth is she did not know anything yet. Everything had still to happen. “The starting point was the Development Department, where I worked as a secretary. I contacted prospective franchisees who were willing to open a store. I answered to mails and phone calls from foreign and Italian clients. I filtered them. I felt the responsibility of being the voice and pen of the Company. When a contact turned into a deal it was very rewarding”. After a couple of months the unthinkable happened, probably also due to an original look and a particular taste for clothing. “Out of the blue, Endrio Marcelloni, who is the current Sales Head Manager, offered me to work as a researcher, what we today call cool hunter’ and I thought to live a dream. I was 20, I was the youngest and I immediately became the chosen mascot of the department, everybody pampered and cared for me. Professionally speaking, it was an important step for me, because  it allowed me to travel, learn many things and gain the self-confidence I thought I had not”. Between one business trip and another, Adriana met her future husband, so she asked to stop travelling and stay at Teddy Development Department for a less nomad career, which could be compatible with her new life project. 

“Teddy for me still is like a very dear friend I can rely on, a kind of father, strict but also ready to help you when you need”, underlines Adriana. What I liked most is the fact that over the years the Company never stayed the same but always challenged itself. In my opinion, it is on the right track to last 500 years”. Then, as by an ironic fluke, in 2022 Adriana moved department and started working in the Supply Chain department, walking in the footsteps of her mother. “It was a project for which they were hiring internally. I did not think to live up to the task, there are figures, statistics, it was not what I was used to. However, even here I was welcomed in a fantastic way once again”.