About me.
I joined SALTO Systems recently and the Brick team at Salto KS wrote this lovely welcome post about…. well, yours truly!
It’s actually quite fun…
Introducing Caterina Maiolini, Community and Partnership Manager at SALTO Systems
Last month, the SALTO global network gained a brand new perspective on the meaning of community. The catalyst is one of the newest additions to the team, Community and Partnership Manager for Shared Living and Work Spaces, Caterina Maiolini.
For those familiar with coliving or coworking, this name might ring a bell, as Caterina (also known as Cate) is a pivotal force in both. Her speciality is none other than bringing people together, and she has showcased her talents in fostering communities on several occasions throughout her career. We couldn’t be happier that this path has led her to join the SALTO Systems team, where we are positive her voice and talents will make an impact.
In this blog post, we catch up with Caterina a month into her new role, to find out her expertise, new role, and plans for the upcoming future. With her personality, we’re certain it will be nothing short of bright.
Read below to hear from Caterina herself!
Can you tell us more about yourself and and when did you start at SALTO?
I’m Cate! I am UK based, currently just outside of London, but of Italian origins. I am extremely chatty, very social, super curious and I constantly seek to learn more and to improve. I have been involved in many different industries and sectors and I am a strong believer that cross-pollination is the key to innovation.
I am one of the new Bricks on the Block…I started on the 1st of March and I am truly looking forward to this journey!
What is your role at SALTO Systems? Can you describe how you got acquainted with the company?
I am the Community and Partnership Manager for Shared Living and Work Spaces. With a focus on these two verticals that I am extremely passionate about, my aim is to foster relationships with our new and existing partners. These efforts are to create a strong community to add more value to all we do in our magical tech (and non-tech) world!
I got to know of SALTO when I attended the Coliving and Coworking Conference in Belgrade in 2019. Christian Schmitz (now Global Shared Living and Work Space Lead) was part of a panel and I believe SALTO was also one of the partners of the event.
You are a household name in the Coliving world. How did you come across the industry and what in particular attracted you?
Haha, a household. Well, thanks! Until a few years ago I was set in my career in the fashion industry and my colleagues and I travelled a lot, often for weeks. I quickly noticed how empowering it was, to live together and how good it was for my mental well-being too. I started to look into this and combined with my willingness to raise housing standards and general resident’s well-being, I discovered that coliving, truly, was the answer to all my questions. And I can tell you that it really is that magical!
You will be working alongside Christian Schmitz, Global Lead for Shared Living and Work Spaces at SALTO Systems. Have you and Christian collaborated in the past on coliving projects? Do you think this will be a benefit in your future endeavours together?
Yes, Christian and I collaborated previously as we are both involved with Co-Liv: the global non-profit organisation where I lead the ambassador program and Christian is Head of Tech. Knowing in advance how the person you will work with operates and strategizes will add a great benefit to what Christian and I have planned for the Shared Living and Work Places verticals.
I believe we both respect each other’s abilities and combining them together will result in greater achievements. (No pressure here, Christian!)
What according to you, makes SALTO Systems stand out as a company?
We are solutions-driven with a customer-first approach. I can see this every day at SALTO Systems. We don’t focus on the problems but instead on the solutions and we are extremely open to collaborations. One of my life’s mottos is: “together is better” and I believe it may be SALTO’s too. I think it is a match made in heaven…or I should say in the cloud 😉
What is one characteristic that you believe is essential when it comes to forging and maintaining partnerships?
Listening and empowering. Both often too underrated, in any kind of partnerships (not just work ones). If you take your time to listen, it will be very easy to empower each other. This is one of the many things I am looking forward to the most: to listen and to be able to empower!
“If you take your time to listen, it will be very easy to empower each other.” — Caterina Maiolini, Community and Partnership Manager at SALTO Systems
How do you think social media channels can strengthen the coliving community, especially in this era of limited travel and which channels you see making a big take off this year and why?
Oooh choices choices! I love them all! I am aware that there may be a “darker” side to social media but I wish they were around when I first left Italy to move to the UK in 2002. I would have loved to research about the operators I would shortlist, to follow them on platforms, to read interviews of current residents, to read reviews and feedback, to understand who the brand is and more. This is why I strongly believe in the power of social media for the coliving community and in general to be honest. It is like a preview, a sneak peek. You already feel a connection (or not, in some cases) and therefore it makes it all more real and perhaps to a certain extent, more human!
I believe that coliving as a movement but also a choice of living will propel further with the next generation of “young professionals” who are all spending hours creating content and watching content on Tiktok. I feel that we will see more of the coliving ecosystem using this platform (which, by the way, is often underrated but has some pretty awesome and professional content!)
You are also notably Head of Ambassadors at Co-Liv. What can you tell us about the Technology partnership between SALTO Systems and Co-Liv and how do you think this union benefits the wider community?
Where is Christian when you need him?? He would have the perfect reply to this, but I’ll try to keep up! SALTO Systems has supported Co-Liv in many more ways than being “just a tech partner”. Not only by organising events, supporting them and co-creating them, but a few of our SALTO team members from countries around the world are also actively part of the ambassador programme and help much further. Italy, Mexico and Singapore to name a few, but I am sure the collaboration and co-creation will only get stronger.
Having Christian as Head of Tech with his great knowledge and expertise ensures that the wider community and Co-Liv members are always kept up to date with all the latest news and have the possibility to network with each other, connect and create beautiful collaborations. Co-Liv, just as Salto, has a global reach.
“It is beautiful to witness the exchange of knowledge from all around the world and to discover how similar our problems are and therefore the solution we create must be.” — Caterina Maiolini, Community and Partnership Manager at SALTO Systems
What are the common misconceptions when it comes to Coliving which you’d like to debunk?
Oh, there are so many of them, I am not sure where to start. For example, the misconception that any shared living of some sort is in fact coliving. I have written a piece with Matthew Lesniak from Conscious Coliving as we forged the term Faux-living referring to a form of residential living that is branded and marketed using the term coliving but lacks important aspects of the coliving offer.
Another of my pet peeves is the hyphen in the word coliving. In the words of Gui Perdrix, Co-Liv Director, new “co” words end up being adopted as legitimate terms without the hyphen and I believe that coliving is “old enough” and “strong” enough to be recognised and considered one word without needing the hyphen, so ‘Coliving’ it is!
What are you looking forward to working on in the upcoming future?
To be part of this (tech) revolution that is centred on customers and experience whilst forging beautiful and long-lasting relationships with partners, clients, and the whole ecosystem around us.
Oh, and there is something else… but you’ll have to wait a little more for that.
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