Io Sono, Cresco e Brillo
The women's empowerment program for companies.
Method, not motivation.
The female talent in your company gets in. Then it does not move up.
In Italy only 27.9% of managerial positions are held by women, against a European average of 35.2% (source: Eurostat, 2024). The problem is not how many women enter a company: it is how many move up. Talent gets lost in unaccompanied role transitions, and motivational training does not retain it.
IO SONO, CRESCO E BRILLO (Italian for "I am, I grow, I shine") is the program I built in 25 years of training and business, for those who lead people, HR and management, and for women who already lead: entrepreneurs, executives, first-time managers. It does not work on feeling ready. It works on doing, with measurable outputs.
The three stages of the program.
IO SONO
Identity and awareness
Self-narrative as professional capital: rediscovering the story, values and cognitive structures that filter how you see yourself in your role.
CRESCO
Transformation and authority
Assertive communication, emotional regulation, managing impostor syndrome and self-sabotage.
BRILLO
Action plan and network
A 90-day action plan with measurable goals, daily positioning micro-actions, strategic alliances and mentoring.
How it enters your company.
A two-hour roadshow
The entry point: two hours on site, on real cases. Participants leave with a concrete action plan and the company sees the method at work before investing in a full program.
An eight-hour classroom day
Mindset, self-esteem and practical tools to emerge with authenticity: neuroscience, positive psychology and real business cases, 9 to 6.
The full program
The three stages developed over time, tailored to the company's female pipeline, with measurable outputs: from week-one decisions to the 90-day plan.
You do not lead a company's people, you lead your own? For entrepreneurs and executives there are the individual programs and the IO SONO community, with live events in the coming months.
Live: Mario Negri, CX Now, Milano Digital Week, ELLE Active!, Happily. PWN Milan board member.
Live.
The method does not live in slides. These are the rooms it has just been in.
Rome, November 2025
Corporate welfare event by Happily Società Benefit
A mixed audience of companies and professionals. Women's leadership brought to the people who set HR policy, not only to those on the receiving end.
Milan, July 2026
Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS
Two hours with the institute's researchers, on cases they brought themselves. You leave with an action plan, not a handout.
Milan, May 2026
HR working day, CX Now
Brought in as facilitator. The job is not to speak from a stage, it is to get the group to its own decisions in the time it has.
Milan, 2025
Speed date with women entrepreneurs, Milano Digital Week
With Dr Martinengo, founder and president of DKTS, for the women's entrepreneurship committee of the Chamber of Commerce.
Milan, 2025
ELLE Active!
ELLE's festival on work and professional growth for women, at its tenth edition. With the board of PWN Milan, which I sit on.
Where to find the program.
Besides working with me directly, IO SONO, CRESCO E BRILLO reaches companies through the few organisations I have chosen to work with.
Fortimed Italia, Benefit Corporation
Azzano San Paolo, Bergamo
A specialist medical centre and occupational health provider. The first partner I have chosen to work with: the program reaches the companies that rely on them for the health and welfare of their people.
See the page on fortimeditalia.it
Who leads it.
I am Paola Palmesano, an entrepreneur: in 25 years working on people's growth I founded and lead three companies. Ubloom, a benefit corporation for training and organisational development; Effetto Formazione, an accredited training agency; HERvolution, a women's empowerment platform for companies.
I work on women's leadership with an approach born in business, not in coaching: balance sheets, hiring, uncomfortable decisions. That is the difference I bring to the classroom. I sit on the PWN Milan board, on the executive board of Mosaikon, on the Artemide Observatory of Unipegaso, and I mentor for SheTech, Young Women Network and AIDP.
Frequently asked questions.
What is the two-hour roadshow?+
It is how the program enters your company: two hours on site, in person, built on real cases. Participants work on concrete situations and leave with an action plan, not a certificate of attendance. For the company, it is the way to see the method at work before investing in a full program.
Is it motivational training?+
No, and that is the whole point of the method: a motivational day leaves energy for a week, then nothing remains. Here we start from decisions, not emotions, and every stage produces a verifiable output that HR can measure. Feeling follows doing, not the other way around.
How is this different from coaching?+
In the role of the person who walks into your company. A coach is a self-employed professional who accompanies people and who, by the definition of the profession, does not decide for the client. I walk in as an entrepreneur: I run three companies, so I hire, I promote, I say no and I sign the accounts, and I sit on both sides of the table, the side of the woman asking to grow and the side of the person who decides who grows. What changes for you is the result: not private sessions between one person and a professional, but classroom work that leaves decisions taken, a 30 and 90-day plan and outputs HR and management can read. It is not a judgement on coaching: it is a different job.
Who is it for, inside a company?+
Women at the career transitions where the female pipeline actually breaks: the step from colleague to manager, the first 90 days in a new role, the growth towards executive positions. It is activated by HR, people management and general management.
How many people is it designed for?+
Group size is defined together, based on goals and spaces: it is classroom work and it works when direct exchange is possible for everyone. In the initial call we define number, format and calendar.
What happens after the roadshow?+
The company can continue with the eight-hour classroom day or with the full three-stage program, built to measure. For individual professionals, entrepreneurs and executives, the natural continuation is the IO SONO community, with individual programs and, in the coming months, live events.
How much does it cost?+
It depends on format and number of participants. The first step is a free 30-minute call: we identify where your female pipeline gets lost and which format makes sense, then you receive a proposal with clear outputs and costs.
