New Member Monday: November 2015 Edition
Italian Heritage Month brought us a wonderful group of new members! Get to know them a bit better as we welcome them to NOIAW.
Nina Bueti was born in Scilla (Calabria), Italy and moved to Sydney, Australia when she was one year old. She grew up in Sydney and moved to Westchester County, New York with her family when she was 12 years old. Nina has worked in the music business for 25 years, successfully launching numerous multi-platinum acts such as the Backstreet Boys and selling over 40 million records in her career to date.
Fifteen years ago, she launched Magic Beam Entertainment, a full-service artist management and entertainment company based in NY and works with international superstars such as PBS favorite Australian-Italian tenor ALFIO. Nina is an active member of NIAF and her Italian heritage remains close to her heart through her family and the work she does in entertainment. Connect with Nina on Facebook or her website.
Michela Casasola is a lawyer and legal intermediary in Civil and Commercial Matters. Originally from Italy, she worked both as an advocate in court and as a consultant there. In addition to that, she is professionally qualified to resolve disputes before or as an alternative to a court trial.
She has also worked with the mentally disabled as a lawyer, tutor, and teacher. As a personal hobby and second activity, she used to do show cooking and cooking lessons for private events. Connect with Michela on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Native New Yorker, and Queens born and bred, Maria Lisella is the sixth winner in the competition for Queens Poet Laureate 2015-2018 and the first Italian American. She is the author of the collection Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books), and two chapbooks: Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press) and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada). Her work has appeared in The New York Quarterly, The Paterson Literary Review, Feile Festa, Voices in Italian Americana, online in First Literary Review-East and New Verse News and will appear in the forthcoming anthology, The Traveler’s Vade Mecum, published by Red Hen Press. A charter member of brevitas, an online poetry circle that stages the Festival of the Short Poem annually at the Bowery Poetry Club and publishes a selection.
She is on the Board of the Italian American Writers Association and co-curates its readings, the longest running literary series in Greenwich Village. Additionally she is vice president of the educational organization, the Vito Marcantonio Forum. As an award-winning travel writer and editor, she has visited 60 countries and is currently a New York Expert for USA TODAY. Connect with Maria on LinkedIn and and Twitter.
Eugenia Paulicelli is Professor of Italian, Comparative Literature and Women’s Studies at Queens College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the founder and director of Fashion Studies (Track in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and PhD Concentration) at The Graduate Center, CUNY. She has been designing and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses focused on fashion, theory, culture and film since 1998. She also originated and coordinates two digital projects on “Made in Italy” and on “Archiving Fashion, Objects, Textiles:History, Memory, Story-telling.” She has been teaching Fashion & Film since 2006 and organized international seminars on Fashion & Film inviting scholars, costume designers and journalists.
Melissa Nocco is a recent graduate of St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, NY. She is searching for a full-time career in the criminal justice field. Also, she is currently taking classes in both the Italian language and American Sign Language to increase proficiency. Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn.
Carolann Trotta is a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson with Bold New York. An alumna of the University of Scranton, she was President of the University’s Italian Society and majored in International Business and Italian Studies. She participated in a study abroad program at the Lorenzo de’Medici school in Florence, and is proficient in Italian.
Carolann’s philanthropic efforts include a steady dedication to numerous charities and community affairs. She is on the board of the Young Professionals’ Committee for Bideawee, an animal welfare charity based out of Manhattan, and has worked with March of Dimes.
Nicole Volpe is an undergraduate student studying education. Her great-grandparents came from Naples, Italy, and worked hard all of their lives.
Nicole writes, “It is important for me to preserve my Italian heritage through my education and becoming a teacher. I am honored to be part of such a great team who works closely with Italian American women, and wants us to succeed. Ever since I was young I always had an interest in Italian art. All of the history behind the buildings and even the land itself I find fascinating. It’s just so beautiful. I also love the tradition of family being close. My family has held onto the tradition of Sunday dinners and always telling each other everything. All for one and one for all. The Italian culture is truly beautiful and I want to do all I can to be a bigger part of the Italian American community.”
Welcome!