Marianna Masullo is founder of Il Lavoro Che Cura, a virtual executive assistant and business management consultancy supporting international entrepreneurs and leadership teams.
Q: Tell us about your career path. What brought you to this role?
A: I’ve been in the administrative and executive support world for over 20 years. I started out with a strong linguistic background – fluent in English and French, with good Spanish and some German – which naturally led me into international sales support and back-office management for major corporate clients, including brands like Maserati.
Over time, my inclination for organisation, strategic reporting and managing moving parts drew me into direct C-suite support. I spent years working closely with CEOs and sales managers in structured, fast-paced Italian companies.
Then, in 2018, I took a leap and transitioned into becoming a freelance virtual executive assistant and business manager. It allowed me to bring high-level corporate EA support directly to a wider range of entrepreneurs and international leaders.
Q: What does a typical week look like for you right now?
A: Because I work independently, my weeks are a dynamic mix of traditional EA duties and agile project management. On any given day, I am managing complex, shifting calendars across multiple time zones, organising international business travel and drafting executive communications.
But a huge chunk of my week is also dedicated to data and project coordination – preparing analytical reports, updating dashboards, tracking KPIs and ensuring that the strategic priorities of the leaders I support stay perfectly on schedule.
Q: What do your executives lean on you for most?
A: Total reliability, discretion and data-driven support. Because I have a heavy background in sales administration and reporting, the executives I work with don’t just lean on me for scheduling, I help them make decisions. They trust me to turn raw information into clean business presentations and reports.
They also deeply value my ability to act as a liaison between internal teams, external stakeholders and international clients, keeping communication fluid without them needing to micro-manage.
Q: How has AI changed how you work and what do you still insist on doing yourself?
A: AI and digital collaboration tools have changed the game for speed, especially when it comes to structuring project lifecycles, setting up automated reminders or analysing large sets of data quickly.
But I absolutely insist on doing stakeholder communication and relationship management myself. You can’t automate empathy, emotional intelligence or the nuance required to handle a sensitive client complaint or a delicate internal bottleneck. The human touch and true discretion belong strictly to the EA.
Q: What’s the hardest part of the role that rarely gets talked about?
A: The cognitive load of context-switching, especially in a virtual or freelance capacity. You have to pivot instantly from a granular administrative task, like fixing a travel itinerary error, to a high-level strategic task, like reviewing a business plan or project risk assessment.
Keeping your focus sharp and maintaining absolute accuracy while constantly switching gears is incredibly demanding, yet to the outside world, you have to make it look effortless.
Q: Have you ever had to push back on your executive? How did you handle it?
A: Yes, absolutely. When you work with visionary entrepreneurs or high-energy sales leaders, they often want everything done yesterday, which can lead to project bottlenecking.
I remember a time when an executive wanted to initiate a new project phase while the current KPIs were slipping. I pushed back not by saying no, but by presenting a data-backed dashboard showing the current risks and capacities. I proposed an alternative timeline that protected our current deliverables while still accommodating the new goal. Handling it with data and a constructive alternative turns a pushback into a strategic partnership.
Q: What’s changed most about the role since you started out?
A: The shift from being purely reactive to highly proactive and tech-driven. When I started over two decades ago, the role was heavily focused on traditional secretarial duties – correspondence, archiving and gatekeeping.
Today, a senior EA is practically a business partner. We operate heavily in digital spaces, use CRM systems like Salesforce, manage entire project lifecycles and must be completely agile. The modern EA doesn’t just manage the executive’s day. We help protect and drive their strategic vision.
Q: What do you know now that you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
A: That setting boundaries and asking for clarity is a sign of strength, not incompetence. Early in my career, I thought a great assistant just said yes to everything and figured it out in isolation. Now I know that clarifying expectations upfront, flagging unrealistic deadlines early and being transparent saves time, builds immense trust and commands respect.
Q: What are you working on or thinking about professionally right now?
A: Right now, I’m focusing deeply on the intersection of project management methodologies and executive support. I’ve been heavily involved in end-to-end online project planning, risk assessment and tracking KPIs for leadership. I’m constantly thinking about how EAs can upskill in project coordination to bridge the gap between an executive’s big-picture ideas and the team’s operational execution.
Q: What’s your advice to an EA reader who wants to operate at a more senior level?
A: Learn the business, not just the diary. If you want to support a senior leader effectively, you need to understand what keeps them up at night. Learn how to read your company’s reports, understand their sales pipeline, get familiar with their KPIs and learn the industry jargon. When you understand the commercial and strategic goals of the business, you stop just booking meetings and start actively clearing the path for their success.