Claudia Cevenini and Sue Wildish

Claudia Cevenini and Sue Wildish both arrived in London when they were in their mid 20s. Two single girls chasing a shared dream: they loved music and wanted to work in the business. One hailed from Milan, the other from Johannesburg. They met at the bottom of the corporate ladder and forged a friendship based on mutual poverty and crazy adventures.

A decade later promotion called and their paths diverged: Claudia moved first to Milan and then settled in Los Angeles. Sue left London for New York, eventually relocating back to South Africa. Though they both loved the industry, they loved the stress of executive jobs in multi-nationals less – and were determined to have real lives

Sue now lives and works in Cape Town, running a Non-Profit Organisation that works to remove the stigma attached to HIV. Claudia still resides in Los Angeles where she has become an Executive Pastry Chef and, until recently, was the Director of Operations for a Food company.

Their friendship stayed strong through all the moves. In fact, our blog, Campari and Sofa, was born on a shared vacation in South Africa – where much time was spent book-ending a sofa: discussing how they never expected to get this old. But it took a stint in the Roman heat, Camparis in hand: to decide what to do about it. This is the result.