The foundation she set up defends women’s rights and promotes access to quality education as a guiding light, empowering women to reach their full potential in an inclusive society.
At the age of 31, Romina Mirela Gingasu can boast professional achievements that few women can list on their résumés. After the tragic loss of her father, the family’s difficult financial situation led the young woman from Mănăstirea, Călărași county, to choose military studies. She graduated from the Military Technical Academy of Bucharest, as the only girl in her class, with a degree in aeronautical engineering. At the same time, she worked for Evo Jet Services, an American company in charge of flight logistics for the U.S. army cargo, and for four years she worked as a Handling Supervisor for aircrafts (and their crews) landing on the Romanian territory.
She had to step down from her dream job one year before her final exams and she start to ‘designed an aircraft engine in Matlab, a mathematical programming language used in scientific computing, and in Catia, the most famous engineering software for three-dimensional design’ as Ms. Gingasu revealed. Then, using her Evo Jet Services letter of recommendation, she applied via LinkedIn for various positions in the aviation industry, with the intention of moving into private aviation, and she successfully passed all the interview steps for New Jet International, the representative of Bombardier Business Aircrafts: “Then I only had two weeks to move to Monte Carlo, where the office was”, she says.
After just one year in private aviation sales, she gained experience beyond her expectations, and now, eight years later, she is still feeling part of the Bombardier family, although life has booked her a ticket to Maranello: ‘In 2016, I attempt to sell a Global 6000 to Piero Ferrari, but fate brought us together. I decided to start a life together with Piero Ferrari, even during that period I had received an important job opportunity into military aircraft sales. Faced with making the most important decision of my life, I went to interview anyway, aiming to demonstrate to myself that I was capable of succeeding. At the end of the interview, when I was told I had been accepted and that I would have to move to Paris, I turned down the offer and made a heartfelt decision to build ‘a home’ with an extraordinary man. I was 24 years old. It was a decision I will never regret…’ Her new status hasn’t changed a thing for the young woman determined to move mountains. Together with a team of amazing women, she founded the Red Women Foundation. Red… the color of Ferrari cars, but also the color of the passion and enthusiasm with which this young Romanian woman is fighting for women’s rights through her foundation: ‘After attending the World Economic Forum in Davos at the beginning of 2023, I met incredibly successful women, and formed close friendships with some of them. I am proud to say that I now have some great friends with whom I can share my thoughts and learn from their experiences. Dorrit Mussaieff, former First Lady of Iceland, an extremely strong woman, is among them, together with some others.
‘Their confidence in my abilities and in my vision for the Red Women Foundation is for me a form of women’s empowerment, which I, in turn, want to pass on to girls and women in Romania’, says Mrs. Gingasu, adding that she founded the Red Women Foundation with ‘the main objective of promoting quality education and women’s empowerment’. ‘From these two key aspects other initiatives can rise, such as fighting against domestic violence, supporting girls and women in education and providing an open platform for various projects’, added the founder.
During a discussion with UN-Women and another one with Gender Equality Lounge, Romina Gingasu took a close look at their projects and initiatives and realized that ‘in Romania they are not applied with the same impact’. She continued her cooperation with UN-Women in order to study the goals and to exchange essential information in context, which has made the Red Women Foundation known at the international level.
The Red Women Foundation believes that the potential of women – especially in Romania – is a strong argument for achieving the foundation’s goals: ‘In some countries, women’s professional training level is below the potential and determination of Romanian women. That is why I strongly believe that if we brake the barriers and provide them with the necessary tools, such as education, professional training and motivation, Romanian women will be able to bring an important change in society’.
As Romina Gingasu mentioned ‘a visible problem at the national level is domestic violence. But together with Code for Romania, an NGO specializing in social issues worldwide, Red Women has decided to join forces and become a strategic partner for other specialized organizations supporting women in vulnerable situations, by providing them a case management system that will allow not only to help the women in question, but also to refer cases for better assistance to the victims. We are going to be the second country in Europe to have such an initiative; after Italy.’
Red Women supports women not only from development areas and the foundation approach is different than other organizations involved: ‘Rural environments, in essence, are communities. I have always believed that in a community people must help each other. In every community there is at least one police officer, one priest and ten teachers. They should collaborate and assist women who are facing various traumas and needs. Getting involved doesn’t incur any costs, and if there is a genuine need, foundations like Red Women are there to help’ declared Romina.
As we all know, addressing women’s rights in the Romanian society today is not easy, but Romina Gingasu does not let that stop her: ‘Looking back in history, we can identify remarkable women who became leaders: from Regina Maria, Queen of Romania to Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the first female soldier in the history of Romania, we have many examples of strong women. Also Doina Cornea, a strong voice for human rights in 1989, who held conferences both at home and abroad. Actually, Romanian women have excelled in fields such as medicine, sports and others. Their achievements have contributed significantly to the positive representation of Romania.’ Romina Gingasu will certainly be one of them, and not because we say so.
And there are other remarkable ladies who also work behind the scenes with Romina Gingasu’s foundation, driven by a desire to help other women rather than draw attention to themselves:
‘Red Women has established the Red Secret group, enabling us to stay connected with remarkable women holding positions in both the public and private sectors who prefer to keep their dedication private.’
In fact, discretion is one of the pillars of the foundation, which, according to its founder, ‘will never engage in public fundraising. Red Women will carefully select a few partners who understand that these collaborations will never be made public. However, the amount of work and effort invested in supporting our initiatives will be significant. I see this approach as a sign of honor and respect for both: the special cases in need and the people involved.’