Rosanna Tarsiero (Ro) was born in La Spezia, Italy and lived 15 years in the coastal town of Lerici, on the "poet's gulf." She endured a number of hardships that have been both a challenge while at the same time strengthened her. From this she learned to use adversity as a resource.
Poor health as a child restricted her physical activities. This pushed her more and more toward a life of books. But her extreme liveliness (hyperactivity) prevented her from settling into inactivity and she developed an eclectic set of interests. She concurrently attended three high schools studying music, theatre, and biomedical science. Her eclectic interests are still strong today.
After high school she studied medicine at the University of Pisa . Her studies were halted several times by bipolar and some anxiety disorders, panic above all, which drained her self-esteem away. The importance of mental illness in her life, for which she was treated only from 1999 on, led her to join an online group.
After a while, she started moderating and gaining experience in dealing with mentally ill volunteers. She applied volunteer management concepts to the management of mentally ill persons, but after three years this ultimately resulted in her exclusion from the site for which she volunteered. Firmly believing that quality wasn't out of reach for mentally ill volunteers, she founded Bipolar Dream ( www.bipolardream.com) in Spring 2003.
Her current interests are aimed at realizing the goals of creating a support system and sharing her conviction that people with bipolar disorder can be vital resources for many organizations.
