An interview with Valeria Chiara Puppo and Irene Bernardini, for International Women’s Day and beyond.
There’s a way to celebrate women that we like more than any other: listening to them. We met Valeria and Irene, two professionals who support many women in their journeys, and we let them speak.
Valeria Chiara Puppo holds a degree in Pedagogical and Educational Sciences. She is a choreographer, dancer, and a pioneer of Embodiment in Italy. Through movement, neuroscience, and body awareness, she teaches people to reconnect with their bodies as their primary tool for personal and professional growth.
Irene Bernardini is a clinical psychologist, systemic-relational psychotherapist, and a Compassion Focused Therapy and EMDR therapist. She brings psychology into the workplace to help professionals manage anxiety, self-criticism, and guilt, cultivating self-compassion as a daily practice.
We met them as part of L’ora che cura, “The Hour That Heals,” our corporate well-being program that will accompany us throughout 2026. It is a safe space, within working hours, to pause and return to oneself. With them, we talked about women, work, exhausted bodies, and new generations who may slowly be changing the rules of the game.
“Female multitasking is a myth. And it has cost us dearly.”
Aglatech14: You meet many women every day, in somatic work, therapy, and growth programs. What do you still see them trapped in?
Valeria: The first thing I’m working on a lot, starting with myself, is the issue of multitasking. The idea that women have been “given” this superpower: you can do everything and many things at once, so you do it. Working with the body has taught me that when you are doing one thing well, you can only do one thing. The body teaches you focus. And yet women have been handed this narrative, convenient for many, that portrays them as capable of everything, all the time. The result is that many women never manage to say no. But you can. I would say you must.
Irene: Multitasking doesn’t even exist scientifically. There’s no evidence supporting this ability in any nervous system, male or female. What does exist is task switching, the constant jumping from one task to another. That jumping carries a very high cognitive cost, the same for everyone. The difference is that for women it has become a compulsory response to a social and cultural demand. This connects directly to the invisible mental load, the open tabs in the mind that never fully close. Not just things to do, but things to think about, anticipate, remember, and organize for oneself, for children, for a partner, for one’s family of origin. The woman as the 24/7 project manager of the family system.
Aglatech14: And then there’s guilt.
Irene: Always. Guilt seems almost included in the package. What I’ve observed is that it’s not guilt linked to real mistakes. It’s an emotion that arises from the impossibility of meeting unrealistic expectations. If you have ten fronts open and nurture one, you inevitably take something away from the others. That’s when the mechanism kicks in: I’m not enough. I’m not Superwoman. It’s a subtle but incredibly powerful trap.
“The exhausted body doesn’t lie. And the disconnected mind doesn’t rest.”
Aglatech14: What specific challenges do working women face, especially those who care for someone, whether children, parents, or family members?
Irene: The first is physical and emotional exhaustion. It’s not just about doing two jobs. It’s about having to be present, physically and emotionally, on fronts that never switch off. There’s a constant blending of roles, and this leads to a gradual disconnection from one’s own needs. Not trivial needs. I mean the ability to recognize that you are entitled to space for yourself, space that is neither caring for others nor professional performance. Then there is something quieter but very powerful: a sense of loneliness. Many women don’t feel truly understood in the complexity of what they’re experiencing, even if they are surrounded by people. That loneliness, silent as it is, is heavy.
Valeria: I would add a tension I see very often. On one side, women are engaged in constant caregiving, children, parents, work, that leaves no room. On the other, social media sends back images of female freedom, of “go get the life you want.” This contrast creates a very strong inner conflict. Desire and reality colliding. What I try to teach is how to find space within what is there, not fight against it. Like a flower growing through asphalt. The limits are real, but within that crack you can still expand. For me, the answer to loneliness is creating real communities, where we speak the same language, the language of the body, and where we feel part of something.
“Self-compassion and body awareness: the resources you didn’t know you had.”
Aglatech14: What do you concretely put into practice to help women step out of these dynamics?
Irene: I work on self-criticism, that internal, judgmental dialogue that runs constantly in the background. We’re so used to speaking harshly to ourselves that we barely notice it anymore. My work is to help people cultivate a different attitude toward themselves, based on self-compassion. Not self-pity, not resignation, but a genuine sensitivity to one’s own struggles, combined with the desire to relieve that suffering through kindness and care. The image I often use is this: can I accompany myself as I would my dearest friend, instead of treating myself like my worst enemy? That truly makes a difference. We don’t become our own allies once and for all. Judgment will always return, but we can choose our direction.
Valeria: From my perspective, the perspective of the body, I teach people to stay with what is there. Physical pleasure, for example. How many women allow themselves something that feels good without guilt? Very few, especially in older generations. Transforming pleasure from a rare event into a daily one is a revolution.
“Sisterhood, not competition. A new way of being at work.”
Aglatech14: Is there something you’d like to leave with those who are reading, a thought on how the way we experience work could change?
Valeria: There’s a theme I often reflect on. Women often think that to succeed at work they must embody a “masculine” energy, ambition, competition, performance. I wonder what would happen if we brought our feminine sensitivity into work, the sensitivity of care, mutual support, and alliance. Not grabbing things, but letting them happen. Not fighting, but having each other’s backs. I see that something is already changing, even among the women I work with. Much more sisterhood. Much less “I’ll do it so I win.” My invitation is to ask ourselves: are we still embodying that energy of ambition, of conquering a chair by force? Or are we working as people who take care of the work and of one another? If in twenty years I could see that something has truly changed, I would be happy to have contributed to teaching that we can work with a feminine energy, one of care and mutual support.
Irene: My hope is that this way of inhabiting work, with this different energy, may resonate with others as well, including those who don’t identify as women but feel moved by this kind of motivation. Maybe we can shift the balance a little and create a way of being at work that is less polarized and more human. For everyone.
Four themes, one single conversation. Multitasking, which doesn’t exist but that we keep carrying on our shoulders. The body and mind that burn out when they don’t find space for themselves. The silent self-criticism that wears us down, and self-compassion as a concrete antidote. And finally, work. Bringing our sensitivity, care and mutual support, into it is not weakness. It’s a choice. And it can become a strength.
Happy International Women’s Day, to all women and to everyone willing to listen.
Aglatech14 Team with Valeria Chiara Puppo and Irene Bernardini
