'HER STORY' with Laura Ancillotti

Introducing "Her Story": A Career Growth Interview Series by ShowHeroes Group Women’s Network

ShowHeroes Career Growth - HER STORY with Laura Ancillotti

Welcome to Her Story, a new interview series by the ShowHeroes Group Women’s Network, dedicated to exploring the unique and inspiring career journeys of women in our industry. Through candid conversations with professionals from diverse backgrounds, this series aims to provide valuable insights, career advice, and personal stories that empower and guide women in their professional growth.

 

In this first edition, we sit down with Laura Ancillotti, Global Head of Product Management – Supply, to hear about her unconventional career path. From early dreams of becoming an architect to navigating fields as varied as scientific research, web design, and UX, Laura’s journey is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and the power of following one’s instincts. She shares how bold career moves, embracing uncertainty, and listening to both reason and intuition have shaped her success.

 

Read on to discover Laura’s key takeaways on career growth, making courageous decisions, and carving out a fulfilling professional path.

 

please introduce yourself. What’s your name, your profession and why are you excited about this topic and the interview?

My name is Laura Ancillotti, and I’m proud to call Florence, Italy, my hometown—though its beauty has been deeply reshaped by the challenges of overtourism, leading me to embrace the quieter charm of its surrounding countryside. Currently, I work as a product manager, but my career has been anything but linear. It’s been a journey of continuous transformation, refinement, and self-discovery—a path that has taught me so much about growth, resilience, and carving out one’s space in the professional world. That’s why I’m thrilled to dive into this topic today and share insights from my personal and professional evolution!

 

What, when, and who was most impactful or inspiring for you to grow your career? (That sort of aha moment.)

There wasn’t exactly a single “aha moment” in my professional journey, rather, it’s been a series of anarchic, unconventional, and courageous decisions. At every turn, I listened not only to reason but also to my heart, constantly redefining my path.

To set the scene: the economic and social conditions of my family couldn’t support—and were often outright opposed to—my aspirations. When I was 10 years old, my favorite pastime was sketching houses in a big notebook, complete with floor plans. And yes, someone did ask me back then, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Without hesitation, I’d reply, “An architect.” And I’m still passionate about it—so much so that in 2020, I completed a university master’s program and became an Interior Designer.

 

But my first job was far from architecture. I worked as a physical-chemical researcher at LENS, the European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy. My focus was laser technologies, and I contributed to the ExoMars mission led by ESA and to the development of a groundbreaking spectrometer for non-invasive blood glucose measurement spearheaded by Menarini. After a year and a half, though, I had an ethical reckoning: I realized that the way things were done didn’t align with my values.

 

I resigned and started anew as a web designer. Back in 2005, web designers did everything—from graphics to client communication to coding. One day, my boss asked me again, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I realized that my favorite part of the job was designing and improving usability. Once again, I found myself sketching—not houses this time, but interfaces. I specialized in UX design.

 

Eventually, another boss told me, “Now that you’re all grown up, change your LinkedIn title to Product Manager—you’ve been doing it for a while already.” And so, I did, officially stepping into the role I had organically grown into.

 

One last anecdote: after two years as an expat (in Milan and Amsterdam) and three as a commuter, I needed to rebalance my life. I asked my then-boyfriend, a talented artist and illustrator, to create a set of cards for me. Each card represented something I liked or didn’t like. I used them to evaluate my career options, rearranging the cards to see how I could maximize the positives.

 

Looking back at those cards 12 years later, I realize that, even though I never became a pianist or an architect, I’ve achieved almost everything else. In my current job, I engage with diverse cultures and languages, spend plenty of time close to nature—thanks to remote work, I can live in the countryside, where stepping outside means being in the woods—and get to invent creative solutions to a variety of problems. Even when I don’t have the right tools, I take it as an opportunity to play: much like those cards, I see challenges as a chance to invent new games and find unexpected solutions!

 

What can women do to advance in their careers faster and push for career growth? Why does it matter?

Based on my personal experience, my advice goes beyond the obvious “be curious, demonstrate your value, and don’t let setbacks discourage you.” Here’s something practical: change jobs more frequently, especially early in your career. In Italy, it’s notoriously difficult to get promoted within the same company. The only way I advanced in both role and salary was by continuously seeking new opportunities and interviewing elsewhere.

 

On the international stage, I noticed a striking difference—career growth can be much faster. In just a few years abroad, I progressed exponentially compared to what I achieved in the past. This approach matters because it gives women the leverage and confidence to take charge of their professional journey.

 


Which field or area was most impactful for you to advance in your career? Is there one or more?

I believe the most pivotal moment in my career was winning the innovation grant from Working Capital in 2011. At the time, I had just resigned from a permanent job—“Are you crazy?” everyone kept telling me—but again it was an environment that didn’t align with my values.

 

I’ve always been curious about social issues, often observing what’s happening around me and letting my mind wander. Back then, I had a “second job” in a strategy games shop, constantly surrounded by kids aged 6 to 13. Talking with them, I was shocked to learn how many spent hours online alone.

 

When I came across the Working Capital grant, I applied without much hope, pitching an idea for a browser plugin that displayed traffic light colors based on ratings provided by a community of users. The ratings reflected how suitable a webpage was for children of specific age groups, with a specific motivation, helping parents and guardians assess content from a child-friendly perspective. It wasn’t a parental control system; I called it a “parental advisor.” The goal was to provide data that could be integrated into parental controls or operating systems to create better user experiences for families.

 

Winning that grant in a dramatic one-on-one showdown on a freezing stage in Turin was a game-changer. My career shifted from me chasing opportunities to opportunities chasing me. Shortly after, I was contacted by YOOX, one of the leading fashion e-retailers in Bologna, and by IED to teach in their courses.

 


How did you figure out your strengths? And how do you keep developing them further?

Honestly? I’ve never fully figured out what my strengths are. Only recently have I started to get a glimpse, with a little help from personality tests, astrology, and Celtic philosophy. One colleague once asked, “Laura, you’re a scientist—how can you believe in this stuff?” He still works with me, by the way.

 

Jokes aside, it seems I have strong creativity, non-linear thinking, and high resilience, alongside leadership qualities that aren’t about traditional authority. Instead, people tend to see me as a reliable point of reference, someone they can turn to for information—even in areas outside my direct responsibilities. They know that I’ll connect the dots, resolve issues, and facilitate conversations to find solutions.

 

I plan to keep nurturing these strengths just as they’ve grown naturally, while always aligning them with my long-term vision—taking life one step at a time, yet always prepared with plans A, B, and C in case things take an unexpected turn.

 

I also keep feeding other passions that broaden my horizons: interior design, music, sociology—and teaching my archery students to trust their instincts instead of relying on complicated aiming rules or overthinking. I always tell them, “It is yours to choose: to be a Padawan and trust in the Force, or to find comfort in the cold certainty of numbers.”