About us - Extra Arms

Giulia Baldisserri Benko started working as a babysitter when she was 14 years old. She is now thirty-seven, has twelve years’ experience under her belt working as a professional Nanny across Italy, Spain, London and Berlin, during which she had the pleasure of caring for a total of thirteen children and their families. She founded Extra Arms in 2015 and thoroughly enjoys her new role as a carer not only of children and families, but also of Nannies. She hopes Extra Arms will grow to become a community individuals that support each other, share knowledge, resources and the fight for quality of care and fair working conditions.

Valeria Benko is co-founder and indispensable complex-problem solver for Extra Arms. Her keen eye for detail, research abilities and knowledge of German, English, Spanish, Italian and French mean that she is able to step in and help the team tackle all new challenges in informed, efficient ways. From GDPR compliance, through finding and implementing software solutions for our everyday needs, to ensuring we are up to date with regulations during a pandemic, she’s the one who makes it possible for us to keep this show on the road.

Sergio Oddo is a data analyst. He joined the team in June 2020 and has been keeping our books, designing advertising campaigns, ensuring our systems are organized efficiently and reviewing data gathered in the past six years to help us better understand Extra Arms and improve our services and processes. We need his superpowers and hope he will never leave us.

Hanna Owens is a career nanny. At age 10, she was rocking her baby cousins to sleep. Now she has over 18 years of professional experience in childcare and teaching having worked with families and children across Germany, France, Senegal and the United States including Chicago, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, New York City, Charlotte and Baltimore. For the past 10 years Hanna has specialized in newborn and infant care, and has now cared for five sets of twins from as early as five days old. She has been a member of the Extra Arms Team since April 2021 and is currently our Family Consultant and Matchmaking Specialist. She is also available for consulting: all-around newborn and infant care, post-partum support, twin care and sleep support.

Extra, Extra Arms. Spring 2021: as Giulia approaches her due date, four Nannies who have been a very active, precious and cherished part of the Extra Arms community for a number of years have come to her rescue in a show of solidarity she is truly amazed by. Cristina, Isabella and Marta and are specialized child carers who have taken it upon themselves to step in and help keep the agency going strong during Giulia’s break, but more importantly, beyond it. We have plans, we are strong, and now, we are many!