Rossina Gitto is the Founder of The Humans of HR, a women-led Digital HR & Business Magazine. In our interview with her, she speaks about Digital Entrepreneurship, why it’s important for women in times of Covid-19 and some words of advice to women considering that path:
Tell us about yourself…
My name is Rossina Gitto. I am a Psychologist, an International HR Professional and a Digital Entrepreneur. I am the Founder of The Humans of HR, a Digital Social Enterprise that is on a mission to make the world of work more human.
Can you tell us what it means to be a digital entrepreneur?
A digital entrepreneur is an entrepreneur that runs a business that was built using digital technology and that functions in the digital world.To be a digital entrepreneur, you need to be motivated to run a business almost fully online. People that get into digital entrepreneurship like myself are usually interested in working internationally, because these kinds of businesses are run in a global market, instead of a local one.
The concept of Digital Entrepreneurship has been around for a while, but with Millennials and Gen Z entering the world of work in the past couple of years, it has increased in popularity. These are the generations that have been learning digital skills since they were born and are achieving high levels of success at creating and managing online businesses. I have read hundreds of stories lately of young people that have started online projects as hobbies and without knowing what they were getting themselves into, ended up becoming entrepreneurs. All these young people conquering the digital world are super inspiring to me – they are amazingly creative and talented.
You say that your company is a Digital Social Enterprise, what do you mean by social?
It means that The Humans of HR has a social objective to it, which is the reason for the company’s existence in the first place. When I started The Humans of HR, I wanted it to generate both social and economic value. The ultimate goal is to have a positive impact on people’s work lives and help solve different kinds of issues that concern human beings in the world of work.
Is The Humans of HR your first business?
It’s the second business I have built. Photography has always been my hobby and a couple of years ago, I started a photography business while I was in my second year of University. I ended up shutting it down because I eventually realized that I didn’t enjoy it as much when I was doing it for the money. I now use my photography skills to contribute content to different platforms, to participate in contests and for branding purposes at The Humans of HR – it’s a very useful skill for entrepreneurship.
Can you tell us more about The Humans of HR’s specializations?
The Humans of HR has three areas of work: an International HR & Business Online Magazine (which covers human centric topics), mentoring & coaching programs for career development and lastly, people-centric Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns.
Regarding our programs, one of them is gender-focused and helps women build their own jobs through digital entrepreneurship; the other one helps job seekers become experts at networking & showcasing their skills through the creation of a professional online portfolio. Both are intended to increase participants’ digital literacy.
What is the ambition of The Humans of HR?
-To inspire others to humanize the world of work.
-To help talented people of diverse backgrounds take full control of their careers.
-To become the most recognized female-led International HR & Business Online Magazine.
Why did you decide to create and launch this magazine?
That has a lot to do with why I started The Humans of HR in the first place. For a long time, I had wanted to start writing about Human Resources Management. I felt like it wasn’t easy to find HR content that was inclusive, and it wasn’t easy to find professional articles unless you had access to a scientific database. In addition, I wanted to put HR thought leaders that shared the same human-centric vision as myself in the spotlight.
My initial business idea for The Humans of HR had been to monetize a blog, so I started studying what other people that had been successful at building blogs had done. I eventually ended up looking into how digital publications were run. After a lot of research on what was already available, who was doing it and how they were doing it, I realized that there could be a real opportunity to create something different. Generally speaking, that’s why I decided to launch an International HR & Business Online Magazine, why I emphasize that it is female-led, and why the theme is human centric. Not too long after starting to publish content, people started stopping by to read from all over the world – now we’re getting close to having readers in 80 countries.
Since making this idea come to life, I have been building the magazine’s network of guest contributors. Most people that have reached out are women, which is normal as HR is a female-dominated field. I really love that I get to be the person that helps other like-minded professionals stand out as thought leaders in front of an international audience.
Going back to the topic of entrepreneurship, can you tell us more about how someone can become a digital entrepreneur?
The formula is much more simple than people believe. You need three things to get started: one business idea, one laptop, and one Wi-Fi connection.
If you feel like you need one, it’s a good idea to get a mentor that has already been through it all to guide you and support you through the building phase – this is what I help my clients with at The Empowering Women Program for Digital Entrepreneurs. I teach them everything I have learned about “building your own job”, which includes developing all kinds of digital skills, creating a personal brand online, and creating websites, amongst other things.
Once you are ready to monetize, you will obviously need to get some legal guidance too.
Why did you decide to focus this program on women?
It’s gender focused because I think that women are not encouraged enough to create their own businesses. I wanted to support women that are thinking of going down the same path as myself.
Some people believe that business is a “masculine” thing to get into. I think it’s critical to emphasize that business is for everyone. After all, it’s a form of employment.
What are the positive aspects of running your own digital business?
I love that I can run it from anywhere and easily work with people from all over the world. Running a digital business has also helped me network and connect with more people than I could have ever imagined. Every day I receive a new message from a random stranger telling me they feel inspired by what I’m doing, an invitation to be interviewed about my business, to participate in podcasts, or to participate in digital events. It’s wonderful to see how people are reacting to The Humans of HR. Building something that people feel inspired by is opening up a lot of doors, and the digital world has made it all easier for me.
What would you say are the negative aspects of running your own digital business?
I would say that the main negative aspect of running your own digital business is that it is really hard to disconnect from work. I have gotten better at setting boundaries, but I still need to constantly remind myself to take real breaks on the weekends and not check the notifications from social media & emails on my phone all the time.
Also, I have developed a lot of respect for entrepreneurs after seeing all the hard work it takes, after dealing with so many small-minded people that don’t support entrepreneurship, and after facing many setbacks. If you want to keep going, you can’t let anyone’s negativity get to you. I see entrepreneurship in a whole new light after going through this journey.
Regardless of these negative aspects, I will never tell anyone that it’s not worth trying it out. It’s empowering to build your own business, and as I said, I receive random messages from people all over the world telling me they are inspired by what I’m doing – I feel like it’s a sign that I’m doing something right in the middle of all this COVID chaos.
Why is digital entrepreneurship important, especially for women in Covid times?
It’s important because women really need to learn how to take control of their professional lives and their finances, especially at times like these.
We are already at such a huge disadvantage when we work for others – either because people have flawed negative beliefs about our capabilities, because we often times get underpaid for our work, or because we are more likely to get offered jobs we’re overqualified for and end up wasting our talent. One of the negative effects of Covid is that it’s making all of that much worse than before.
I believe a solution to that is having more female founders and female-led businesses, whether they are side or full-time businesses. I’m not saying everyone should just go and quit their jobs – I’m saying that entrepreneurship should definitely be considered as an additional option, either to feel more fulfilled in your work life, to work towards higher levels of financial freedom, or both. The fact that it can be done with just a laptop and a Wi-Fi connection makes everything easier.
What is your advice for women that would consider becoming digital entrepreneurs?
I would tell women considering digital entrepreneurship three things:
1) It’s important to work on your self-confidence and to not care about what other people think. To get to where you want to be you’re going to have to start networking, telling your story, and showing up as the person you really are – all of that requires self-confidence.
2) You need to truly believe in yourself, in your vision and in your business idea.
3) Lastly, if it’s been on your mind and you think you have what it takes to go out there and do it, just go for it. You’ll never know what you can achieve if you don’t try it out. If you end up failing, at lease you’ll have a great story to tell others later on.