Anna Valentinova Aleksandrova was born without her left forearm. Thanks to her determination, she has learnt to do everything independently and has also made a name for herself in the workplace: as a cleaner at a private clinic, Anna is highly regarded by both the client and the ISS team.
“What really makes the difference isn’t being accepted by others, but accepting yourself,” says Anna Valentinova Aleksandrova. Despite her young age, her outlook on life is mature and positive. In 1999, Anna was born into a working-class family in a small village in Bulgaria. What made her stand out? Black hair, lively eyes... and a left arm that ended just below the elbow.
Her parents’ reaction - especially her mother’s - laid the foundation for Anna’s determined character: “I owe everything to my mother, because she never lost heart and never made me feel different. Together, we always looked for ways to accomplish every task - from tying my shoes to cooking - even without a forearm or hand.” Today, the 25-year-old leads an independent life with her boyfriend and works at ISS as a cleaning staff member.
However, the path that led Anna to Ticino was not always easy. When she was twelve years old, her family moved to Italy, near Rome: “It was a really difficult time for me, partly because my native language uses the Cyrillic alphabet and the spelling is therefore different from Italian.” Anna graduated from a school for cosmetologists and began her professional career first at a beauty salon, then at a nursing home. Eventually, she moved to northern Italy with the goal of working and living in Ticino. About two years ago, Anna first came into contact with ISS through a temporary staffing agency; she has been an official member of the team as a cleaning staff member since April.
“In the working world, I’ve often encountered people who doubted my abilities, and I certainly had to work harder than others to prove myself. At ISS, it was different: My supervisor, in particular, believed in me right away and wanted me on the team,” Anna explains. Together with ten other colleagues, she is now primarily responsible for an assignment at a private clinic in the Lugano area, cleaning both guest rooms (including making beds) and sensitive areas such as the specialists’ offices and the laboratory where medications are produced: Hygiene standards are particularly important here, and a special uniform is worn from head to toe.
There’s no shortage of positive feedback from the client regarding Anna’s work. Her conscientiousness and the quality with which she performs her duties are respected and admired. Anna is modest but also naturally ambitious, and so she makes no secret of the fact that she hopes to pursue training in the future that will open up new horizons for her in the working world. Nevertheless, she also enjoys the here and now and says, “We laugh a lot in our team, get along very well, and have a relationship that goes beyond work. That means a lot to me!”