PwC Life and Career – Valerio De Maria

Busy bee Valerio De Maria talks about his role at PwC and – you guessed it – beekeeping.

1. Your profession: Tell us what you do – for PwC and regarding your very own career.

It all started in Milan in 2017 when I began working as a Salesforce Developer. I’ve been living in Switzerland for three years now and working as a Salesforce Senior Consultant in Advisory Financial Services in Zurich where I’m also part of the leadership group for the Salesforce training. On top of all of that, I’m a bee lover and beekeeper!

2. Your path: What made you pursue this journey, and at what point was it clear to you that beekeeping was more than a hobby?

Since I was a child, I’ve loved animals and being in nature. In 2018, my best friend Guglielmo and I decided to study bees and beekeeping. We took a one-year training during weekends at the Beekeeping Association in Milan. After receiving the certification, we bought two bee families from a beekeeper friend and started our adventure.

In our five-year ‘career’ as beekeepers, we’ve accumulated 20 bee families which produced 300 kilogrammes of honey only last year. Our goal is to be as resourceful as possible which includes reducing waste while producing honey and avoiding plastic whenever possible. In addition, we deeply care about raising awareness about bees’ importance for our ecosystem as well as sharing practical knowledge on how everyone, even kids and young adults, can contribute to help the bees (check our beekeepers association AVIC).

How it started: Valerio and his best friend Guglielmo on the bee yard

"In our five year ‘career’ as beekeepers, we’ve accumulated 20 bee families producing 300kg of honey only last year. Our goal is to be as resourceful as possible, meaning reducing waste while producing honey or avoiding plastic whenever possible."

3. Your balance: How did PwC support you on this journey, and how do you manage both streams of your career?

Thanks to the hybrid flexible model I can freely schedule my office days and the days I work remote. This is especially helpful in the high season of beekeeping during spring and summer.

What’s amazing is that not only my parents and my best friend Guglielmo support me in my passion, but also my work colleagues strongly care about my engagement outside of PwC. For example, on the last Future day at PwC in the Zurich office, they fully supported me in organising a beekeeping workshop for their kids. I explained basics about beekeeping and introduced fun activities and games to get their attention and build their learning interest in bees.

All in all, I’m super happy I’m able to grow professionally at PwC as well as in my hobby in beekeeping at the same time.