I had never met Giulia Gambardella, the CDA candidate for Blab Bocconi, before this Monday. I had the pleasure of participating in the live interview by Radio Bocconi, where both candidates competing in the upcoming students’ elections presented themselves, in front of anyone who was interested in listening. Here is what I learnt about her in this experience, so that we can all be on the same page for the Election Day, on April 14th-15th.
Giulia was born in Salerno, in 2003. She studied in her hometown up until 2021, when she enrolled in Bocconi University to study law, in the CLMG course. She chose to study up here in the city of Milano because, according to her, Bocconi is the best university to study law in Italy. I have no proof of that, but I like how that sounds. Moreover, Giulia’s sister was already studying here, so she knew that “it was my place.” She smiles across the glass that separates the recording area from the rest of the room, where we are sitting.
Giulia’s career as a student representative started in her second year, when she became class representative and joined Blab, the list for which she is currently running. “Blab always stands on the side of the students,” that’s why she joined them. According to Giulia, their core mission is representation, which means to bring the voice of the student community to the institution we live in. Embodying these ideals, Giulia felt honoured and anxious when her name was considered to be on the ticket and didn’t realised it was really happening up until the first poster and the first pens were distributed around.
The interview continues smoothly, as she waves her hands around, explaining what she stands for. Her eyes move fast, from the camera to the microphone, that she sometimes touches to check if it’s still there. We ask her what are 3 words to describe herself: determined, empathetic and sociable. After this comes a brief moment of pause, as the studio fills with Tienaté, by Nu Genea, the song that Giulia chose to describe her campaign.
When we are back live, the tough question arrives: what happened inside Blab in the last 2 years, after the birth of Astra and the defeat in the last elections? Giulia understands this is one of the most decisive moments of the interview, if not of the entire campaign, and she starts delivering. Blab, as the oldest representation association in Bocconi, persevered, with resilience and adaptability. They changed their motto to “Believe, achieve and succeed,” starting from scratch with a new team and new ideas. Giulia doesn’t know why they lost the last election, but she knows that from the day after, they have learnt from their defeat, rebuilding Blab in a story of introspection and renewal, with a bit of hope. But Giulia is not only hopeful; she is confident and convinced that Blab can win, thanks to a team of special people that understands and cares about the role they are running for. In the end, representation is their core activity.
Giulia also has nice words for her opponent, waiting in the other room to be interviewed as well. They met in their first year at Bocconi, as they both were in the same residence. “Camilla always smiles and has a great sense of irony.” This long-term respect for her direct competitor doesn’t stop Giulia from getting into the only moment of criticism of the entire interview. When asked about what she would like the student community to remember of her candidacy, she replied on the offensive. Regardless of the outcome of the election, she hopes that students will get a better representation in the Bocconi Institution than they had in the last two years: “My role is not to be sociable with the administration.”
The final question of the interview arrives. Where is Bocconi going, and how can Giulia be part of this change? The focus of the candidate’s answer is on the process of internationalisation that the university is going through. She believes that embracing the international side of Bocconi is the best road ahead, while she understands the potential fears that might arise from this path. Giulia reveals that speaking in English has always been challenging for her and that she has fought against this limit in order to overcome it. Overall, she thinks that the international community must be integrated more into university life and that she can be helpful in this sense, as she understands perfectly both sides of the discussion.
The conversion ends like this, with smiles and handshakes. As Giulia walks out of the room, Camilla enters. The two candidates share a moment of tranquility in the whole campaign chaos, exchanging a few words between each other. They will meet again on April 10th , when the official debate between the two will take place. You can be sure that Tra i Leoni will be there to cover the story, as always.
