Founder and Ambassadors
The Expats in Ticino group was founded by Thayana Kirchhoff in June 2021.
Thayana Kirchhoff
Brazilian businesswoman and nutritionist. CEO of the Clube da Nutricionista franchise, master's student in management at USI. She loves singing Karaoke and organizes the gastronomic dinners.
Linda Lazzaroni
An Irish woman who grew up in London. She loves optimism, biking, hiking, Irish music, comedy and a morning espresso! Linda qualified as a Relationship Coach at the University of Cambridge and currently runs her own company, Human Kind.
Alessandro Dallafina
Italian Canadian web designer. He organizes the best hikes in Ticino.
Silvia Coco
Silvia is a Milan-born citizen of the world. She lived in northern Italy, southern France, NYC and has been in Lugano for over five years.
Her fields are art & design with a bridge towards marketing and project management. She also loves traveling and cooking and learning languages.​
Diego Rosa
Computer engineer from Brazil, in Lugano for a PhD internship. A lover of hiking, outdoor activities, and Swiss chocolate.
Carolina Stragliotto
Italian-Brazilian. She loves traveling, eating, cooking, practicing yoga, animals, and positive people.
In her professional life, she worked already at banking, auditing and consulting sectors. When moved to Lugano, she started a new phase in her career in Corporate Sustainability.
Eva Terzic
Hungarian with a great passion for forests and walks in the midst of nature. She speaks multiple languages ​and loves to lead woman to discover the forest-energy that is found in contact with nature so as to discharge in to the earth the too much technological energy of the modern life.
Flavia Vieira
BS in Finance and International Business in the United States, Masters in Business from USI. Work experience in the financial sector both in Switzerland and in America. In recent years, she has undertaken an independent financial education and mentoring activity that caters mostly to women and young adults, giving life to FFMoneyTalks. She also collaborates with Caritas Ticino as a financial tutor in the fight against excessive debt. Flavia’s passion for the arts started very early.
Tony Ellis
Tony has been coming to Locarno with his wife Lorraine since 2007 when they fell in love with region and bought a house!! Now looking to permanently emigrate from the UK, currently spending the winter and summer in Switzerland.
Retired and therefore very active most days, either rowing, cycling, running or just walking the dog Raleigh.