Editor’s note: NOIAW is pleased to publish this guest post from our Platinum 35th Anniversary Luncheon Sponsor, NIAF. This post was written by Danielle DeSimone, Social Media Manager and Assistant Editor at NIAF’s Ambassador Magazine.

In the Italian American community, we follow in the steps of our sisters, our mothers, our grandmothers. Their recipes are passed down (to be guarded at all costs) just as often as their wisdom, and by learning from them, we continue the traditions of our heritage.

In the same way, we learn from the Italian American leaders that have come before us. The legacy of female leadership at both the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW) is intricately linked and quite noteworthy. NIAF Board Member and longtime NOIAW member, Linda Carlozzi, explained that as a first-generation Italian American and the daughter of a seamstress and a factory worker, she was raised by her mother’s mantra: “First of all, you never take no for an answer; second of all, you can do whatever you want to do.”

Seeing women such as Geraldine Ferraro – a U.S. Representative, the first female Vice Presidential candidate, former member of NIAF’s Board of Directors, and a co-founder of NOIAW – take charge was the first time Carlozzi saw her mother’s mantra personified. It was the leading ladies of both NIAF and NOIAW that inspired her to attend college.

“The impact of seeing these intelligent, independent, powerful, strong women on me — As a first generation Italian American woman…you can’t quantify that,” said Carlozzi. “For me, it embodied what you can become once you set your mind to it. I was influenced by them in my choices to pursue careers in law, government, and even in my service to organizations such as the Italian Welfare League.”

It was Dr. Aileen Riotto Sirey, in 1980, who gathered around her incredible women such as Geraldine Ferraro, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Donna de Matteo, Constance Mandina and Roseanne Coletti to found NOIAW. As a college student, Linda Carlozzi recalls participating in one of NOIAW’s first-ever mentorship classes, and being in awe of what she refers to as “the iron triangle;” that is, Aileen Riotto Sirey, Matilda Cuomo, and Geraldine Ferraro (pictured below at the Rainbow Room for NOIAW’s 25th Anniversary).

“I was in college when Geraldine Ferraro was running for Vice President and I saw the immense impact that having Italian Americans – and especially a woman – in politics had on young people such as myself. Seeing those women on the NIAF board and then on the television screen had such a tremendous effect on me as a kid. They had vowels on the ends of their names!” Carlozzi explained.

It was these women – powerful, intelligent, and independent – who paved the way for other Italian American leaders. In particular, female leaders. Today, trailblazers such as Maria Bartiromo, Anita McBride, and Pat Harrison follow in their footsteps – “With more to follow,” Carlozzi assures.

Regardless of their field of work, these Italian American women lead by honoring the traditions of the past. Carlozzi points out that women working in law, politics, media, and business are extremely noteworthy. However, leaders such as Lidia Bastianich, who created an empire from her passion of Italian cooking, the late Baroness Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimὸ, former NIAF Board Member and educator and founder of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimὸ of New York University, and Matilda Cuomo, philanthropist, co-founder of NOIAW, and founder of Mentoring USA, demonstrate how our Italian heritage can be both a passion and a career. Cooking, educating our youth on Italian culture, and service to our community embody everything truly good about being Italian American.

The young Italian American women of the future have incredible role models to emulate, both from the National Italian American Foundation and the National Organization of Italian American Women. The leaders of these two organizations, often overlapping in their duties, have set a high standard not just for women, not just for Italian Americans, but for the whole of the United States as well. Their work has made this country and this world a much better, and a much more diverse, place (the more vowels at the end of our leaders’ last names, the better!).

We are taught from a young age to follow in the steps of the women that came before us – and the women of NIAF and NOIAW are incredible examples to our younger generations of passion, leadership, and Italian American values. “I’m so excited,” Linda Carlozzi said, “to see what comes next.”