Nina Lange is a senior at JCU majoring in Communications and minoring in Entrepreneurship. She is the co-owner of Natura e Amore, a flower shop in Rome, as well as part of the Women Leadership's Initiative and Art and Design Clubs. Through JCU, she completed a fellowship with the Fairfax City Economic Development program.
Tell us a bit about your background. I’m from Marietta, Georgia, near Atlanta. I’d never lived anywhere else and never really traveled. My literature professor in high school was the one who told me about John Cabot University. I ended up applying for early action. It was the only university I applied to!
How did you end up studying Communications at JCU? I was considering the English Literature and the Communications majors, and I realized the aspects of English Literature that I liked were part of the theory of Communications. I liked the idea of communicating concepts through different media. With the Communications major I could take classes like Video Production and Writing for the Media, while also studying literature.
Tell us about your involvement in the Women’s Leadership Initiative and the Art and Design clubs. What do you have in store for the future? I joined both clubs this semester. I had worked with WLI before for their Women’s Day event in Spring 2025. It never clicked for me that I could join the club. After my internship ended and I had more free time, I saw that both WIL and the Art and Design club had open board positions. I applied to both, thinking that there was a higher chance that I’d get one, and then they both accepted me.
It's been a lot of fun, and luckily, both clubs have also taken an interest in my shop. Earlier this semester, I was able to do a flower arrangement workshop with the Art and Design Club in collaboration with Grassroots. We’re planning on doing another one in February for a Galentine’s event. The Art and Design Club has also started a new, weekly event called Fiorentini Fridays. You can go to the Fiorentini Studio Art Facilities and there’s music, cookies, and tea for you to enjoy while you paint or draw or do whatever you want. Lastly, WLI will be holding a fundraiser on November 25 for the International Women’s House in Rome. People can donate either money or items to the organization and they’ll get a bouquet.
I like JCU’s clubs because you’re able to explore interests in addition to or outside of your studies. I wish I’d joined sooner, actually!
Nina Lange and Catherine Read, Mayor of Fairfax City
You obtained the Fairfax City Economic Development (FCED) fellowship and internship. Tell us about this experience. How does it fit into your interests and future goals? FCED’s goal is to get companies to invest in Fairfax City in Virginia. Part of it is international, like foreign direct investment, which is what I focused on. They also work locally with businesses within Fairfax to boost the economy. It’s a new program; we were the first cohort to do it, which was so cool.
The goal of my internship was to get Italian companies, businesses, and startups to come to Fairfax City and establish something there, or at least put the city on their radar. We met with SweetScience, a marketing agency, and created a brochure that was specifically for Italian companies we met in the U.S. Then we attended the SelectUSA conference in Maryland and basically just networked and pitched Fairfax City to all the Italian companies that were there.
The experience was so amazing that it felt unreal. It was crazy to be doing this through JCU and get flown out to meet all the people that you’ve only had online meetings with. We had a lot of guidance, feedback, and meetings throughout the program. It made me think about how the flower shop could have potential in a different international market.
You are the co-owner of Natura e Amore, a flower shop in Rome. How did you decide you wanted to open a flower shop? Is that something you’ve always wanted to do? How does it fit with your education at JCU? I was here in Rome when I met my boyfriend at the flower shop where he worked near my apartment. I had always wanted to work in a flower shop, even when I was little. Getting our own shop together started as a joke between us. And one day I just said, “Let’s get our own shop.” I didn’t think he was going to say yes, but he did. A few months passed and I was looking at property listings when I found a shop.
We opened on September 2, 2024, because that was the anniversary of the day we first met, so it felt like good luck. When we opened the shop, I realized I needed to start taking more business classes. So I switched my minor to entrepreneurship. At first what I was learning in my classes seemed different from what I was doing, but then I realized that the same concepts can easily be applied to the work I do in the shop. It helped me think of new ideas, new ways to market, new products, and more. And it’s still helping me, especially with the business classes that I’m taking.
Is there a class or professor that has had an impact on you and why? Professor Silvia Pulino and executive entrepreneur in residence Jonathan Aberman were so helpful during the FCED fellowship. It’s basically thanks to them that the whole experience was possible.
What are your plans for the future? Right now, all my plans are focused on the shop. It’s getting increasingly more difficult to balance school and my business. Right now, the flower shop is in the Prenestino neighborhood, but we’ve been looking at opening another location closer to the city center, especially because we have a lot of clients there. For example, I collaborate with JCU's club leaders for events, and I also do a special delivery service for JCU students with free delivery, like surprise bouquets, plants, arrangements, and more; it's called "A Taste of Home." I am excited to graduate and see what new opportunities open up!
