Aiace Barberis

Why this persona fits the audience

He teaches English and Italian to adult learners in Milan and often records his own lesson explanations, corrections, and client feedback after sessions. He keeps a simple spreadsheet for students, invoices, and recurring mistakes, and writes most lesson notes by hand before typing them up later. He has never paid for a dedicated lecture-note app.

• Age: 41
• Location: Milan, Italy
• Occupation: Independent language tutor
• Income: €32k freelance income
• Education: Master's degree in languages
• Company size: solo freelancer
• Years in role: 12

“If I’ve said something once, I should only have to say it once—but somehow, my students still need that false friend list a third time.”

Aiace Barberis earned his Master’s at Sapienza University in Rome, specializing in contrastive linguistics between Italian and English. He moved to Milan in 2012, initially working for a language academy before striking out solo in 2014. His teaching style is deliberate: he believes fluency emerges from mastering exceptions, not just following rules. His current student roster includes a rotating mix of expats, business professionals, and aspiring translators, with a core group of 12 regulars. His workflow is a patchwork of analog and digital—he’s kept the same handwritten note-taking system since grad school, though his students’ complaints about its incompatibility with their apps are mounting. Recent frustrations include losing an hour of notes when his notebook fell into espresso, prompting him to briefly consider Evernote. But he remains skeptical of tools that promise 'effortless' everything. His income is stable but fluctuates seasonally (summer is slow), so he’s careful about expenses. He’d love to spend more time curating lesson materials but gets bogged down in admin. His current obsession is finding an efficient way to organize student errors by theme—something his spreadsheet isn’t built for. Despite his digital skepticism, he’ll try anything free and open-source. Lately, he’s been debating whether to finally upgrade from his 2015 MacBook Air, though he’s held onto it as a personal challenge in frugality. His ex-wife calls it 'professional stubbornness'; he insists it’s 'workplace minimalism.'

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Aiace starts his day at 6:30am with a 5-minute handwritten journal (always pen in a lined Moleskine). By 8:30am, he’s at a café near corso Buenos Aires, marking up a student’s essay with red ink—cross-referencing with his growing spreadsheet of commonly mispronounced words. His first lesson (a lawyer prepping for a New York contract negotiation) is at 9:30, where he records the session while jotting urgent corrections in shorthand. After lunch (always a panino da Pasta Fresca), he transcribes 30 minutes of the recording into his spreadsheet, then spends an hour writing a follow-up email with feedback. Post-work, he walks to a tiny enoteca, where he debates with the sommelier about the best Italian dialects for wine descriptions. He often falls asleep listening to The Guardian’s 'The Global Education Podcast.'

Lifestyle

Aiace lives in a minimalist two-bedroom flat near Porta Garibaldi, where he teaches some clients and has a dedicated workspace with a standing desk. He wakes at 6:30am to brew his first pour-over coffee, then walks to a café for a second (he hates drinking the same beans at home). Weekends involve long walks through Parco Sempione, listening to audiobooks in both English and Italian. His health is good but he’s working on reducing shoulder tension from long hours of note-taking. Financially stable but frugal—he’d rather invest in a good burr grinder than a new laptop. Socially, he keeps a tight circle of language-obsessed acquaintances from his Master’s program, though he’s more likely to deep-dive into etymological debates than small talk.

Work life

Aiace’s typical workday starts with reviewing student notes (still mostly handwritten) while drinking a cappuccino. He sees 3-4 clients daily, often in hybrid formats: in-person at his flat or online via Zoom (which he records while taking terse handwritten notes). After sessions, he transcribes highlights manually into a Google Sheets tracker—tracking student progress, recurring mistakes, and billing. He’s frustrated by how disconnected his analog and digital workflows feel but resists switching. Recent decisions include cancelling a language meetup group (too time-consuming) and finally buying AirPods to reduce Zoom audio headaches. His biggest pressure: balancing teaching quality with the administrative chaos of freelancing.

Relationships

Aiace’s family lives in Lecce—they talk weekly, and he sends his niece Italian-English bilingual books as gifts. His closest friends are fellow language tutors from a now-defunct study group, though they mostly meet at a Pavese café to argue about translations. His ex-wife (divorced amicably 5 years ago) still nags him about 'upgrading his tech stack.' His biggest influence is a retired university professor who taught him to value linguistic precision over speed.

How they decide

Cautious but open to small, practical tweaks. Researches thoroughly but defaults to 'if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.' More likely to try a free tool than pay for software, but values longevity over novelty.

How they sound

Speaks in measured, rhythmic phrases (a habit from teaching pronunciation). Avoids slang or filler words—even in casual conversation, he self-corrects. Prefers