The Person Behind the Scenes
I’m Valentina.
Over more than two decades I've lived and worked across Italy, Canada, Sweden, and the UK — moving between creative industries, global organisations, contemplative spaces, and holistic communities. Each move taught me something about how people carry themselves through change, and what gets lost when the systems around them stop making room for what actually matters.
As a woman building a path across technology, games, and leadership spaces long before inclusion became a widespread conversation, I learned to navigate complexity, challenge convention, and find a way to create meaning inside structures that rarely asked for it.
Professionally, my path spans some of the largest creative organisations in the world — across titles such as Tom Clancy’s The Division and the Hungry Shark franchise, early sustainability initiatives including Playing for the Planet, and strategic and leadership work across branding, partnerships, and culture.
Alongside this, and never separately from it, I have maintained a long practice in mindfulness, Buddhist philosophy, yoga, embodiment, and energy work — including time spent at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Tuscany, and in hospital and community settings.
What once appeared to be separate paths gradually revealed themselves as part of the same inquiry.
How do we create more meaningful lives, healthier systems, and more human ways of working — without losing ourselves in the process?
That question continues to shape everything I offer through Astera.
And if you're curious about my more personal and poetic world — the practices, the energy work, the quieter offerings — you'll find me under my second name: Stella Cover.
About Astera
ASTERA sits at the intersection of meaning, strategy, and wellbeing — supporting people and organisations when the old ways no longer fit and a more truthful direction wants to emerge.
Over time, we’ve seen how clarity is often reduced to a branding or productivity exercise, while deeper questions — meaning, identity, values, sustainability, and timing — are left aside.
ASTERA exists to bridge that gap.
The approach is wayfinding: reflective, structured support that helps people and organisations listen deeply, navigate complexity, and move with greater coherence and intention. Slow enough to be honest. Grounded enough to lead to action.
A space to slow down, listen deeply, make sense of complexity, and move forward with greater clarity, coherence, and intention.
What Shapes The Work
ASTERA is informed by systems thinking, contemplative practice, sustainability, and creative leadership.
The work draws from mindfulness, Buddhist philosophy, ecology, embodiment practices, energy work, and human-centered approaches to leadership and collaboration — alongside years of experience across technology, branding, games, and cultural initiatives.
Living and working across different countries, industries, and communities shaped a deeper sensitivity to how people relate to identity, belonging, pressure, transition, and change — both individually and collectively.
The influences are contemplative and strategic in equal measure: thinkers and traditions exploring interdependence, regeneration, creativity, and more sustainable ways of living and working in the world.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the support and guidance I received . Astera created a space where I felt safe to explore both professional questions and deeply personal topics without judgment. Their perspective, empathy, and intuition helped me move forward with much more clarity and trust in myself.”
What People Say
Contact us
Each collaboration is shaped with care and intention.
All work begins with a conversation.
If you’re curious about working together, you’re welcome to get in touch.