July 15, 2020 – The 40th Anniversary of the First NOIAW Meeting

While many of you have been members for 5 or 10 years, maybe 20 years, there are fewer who have been general members or members of our Board for 30 or 40 years and are still working with us today, such as Donna de Matteo (40 years), Matilda Raffa Cuomo (40 years), Hon. Justice Angela Mazzarelli (38 years), and Diana Femia (38 years).  I respectfully recount some personal interests and motivation, and some of our early history and experiences.

 –Aileen Riotto Sirey Ph.D., Founder and Chair Emerita of NOIAW

 

As a psychotherapist, my curiosity about the effects of ethnicity on personality development was heightened by my early work with patients.  There was little in the literature about Italian American ethnic identity and mental health before the late 1970s. While looking for answers–and missing the big family I left behind in Brooklyn some 20 years earlier–I began to attend events in the Italian American community.  My parents had seven siblings each, which gave me 14 aunts and uncles, each of whom married and most of whom had children; that’s many aunts, uncles and cousins left behind!

In 1980, after attending a few meetings, I heard a panel discussion with elected Italian American politicians from different political parties.  Serf Maltese, Mario Biaggi and Geraldine Ferraro were three that I recall on that panel. When it concluded, I approached Congresswoman Ferraro and introduced myself. We chatted a bit and I then asked her if there were any groups for Italian American women.  Her response was, “The only groups I know of are of both men and women.  The men make the speeches and the women make the coffee! Why don’t you start one?”   When my jaw dropped in surprise, she then quickly added, “Why don’t you come to Queens and we can talk about it?”

Gerry Ferraro was very persuasive, and as I later realized, she was giving me the opportunity to reunite with that big family I was missing.  It was the beginning of a long and close friendship that ended sadly when Gerry died in 2011.  She was a dear and caring friend! Yes, I did go to Queens, and on Gerry’s advice spoke with others who helped to provide a list of prominent Italian American women to invite to our first meeting at my apartment on July 15, 1980.  At that first meeting, Matilda Cuomo named our organization, and I became the designated President.  Shortly after, Mary DePiano Rothlein Goldstein, Provost of John Jay College, and Jan Zarro, Esq., an Executive at Avon, became Vice Presidents.

During the early years of building our organization, my curiosity intensified about effects of affiliation with other Italian Americans. Joining with a co-leader, Prof. Anthony Patti of Lehman College, and with the help of researcher Lisa Mann, we designed an Ethnotherapy study. We recruited 3 groups of Italian American men and women, ages 26 to 72, and we met each group for two-plus hours for 10 weeks each.  Members had the opportunity to discuss their issues and experiences as Italian Americans. We tested participants before and after the group experience and found that participants tested in the post group had a statistically significant stronger sense of group belonging, a greater sense of control in their lives, and perhaps most important, a marked increase in self-esteem than before the group experience.

There is little question that service in NOIAW has done some of those same things for me, as well as helping me in some way to emotionally reunite with the supportive family of my childhood.  And we are grateful to all of the women, and men who contributed to building and supporting our organization. Serving the National Organization of Italian American Women as first President for 7 years and Chair of the Board for 25 years, I retired in 2012 and was given the title of Founder and Chair Emerita. My work has led me to become active in other Italian American organizations, including the board of NIAF. In 2018, I became the first woman President in the 44-year history of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations.

But more importantly, NOIAW has enriched the lives of our many members and friends. We are proud of all that our organization has accomplished and continues to do.  An organization that started in my living room and had its first office for 4 years in my spare room, now has a real office, regions in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Washington DC, and members in other many other states. An article about our organization appeared in the New York Times in 1982 that helped to expand our membership nationally.

We have also developed close relationships with many women in Italy, Argentina, and Australia where we sponsored numerous conferences and meetings that resulted in meaningful exchanges. We  shared issues related to the role of women in our respective countries. We  particularly treasured our close, special relationship with the Hon. Tina Anselmi, the first woman Minister in Italy.  Tina arranged for our group of 123 women and men to have a private audience with Pope John Paul II. We also visited the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies and the National Assembly of Sicily, and we were hosted by the President of Italy twice. All of the meetings in Italy took place in connection with tours we organized for our members and friends. Together, we visited Rome many times, Naples, Florence , Tuscany, Palermo, Catania, Friuli, Ancona, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We were invited to speak in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, Australia.  We continue to work cooperatively with the Consul General of Italy in New York.

NOIAW provides our members with many opportunities to connect with the richness of our Italian culture and the Italian American experience. For 40 years we have hosted many programs in all of our regions directed at exploring Italian history, including art, literature, and music, through panel discussions and speakers that also addressed women’s issues.  We have also joined with other organizations to preserve the teaching of the Italian language.

Nor have we neglected purely social functions designed to bring together Italian American women in all walks of life. We have supported each other as we furthered our professional careers. At our regional Epiphany events- luncheons and dinners–we annually honor outstanding Italian American women who have achieved notable success in their fields of endeavor.

NOIAW is most proud to provide support for young women through our scholarships, and the Mentoring Program started in 1982. Working with the Italian State Department we had a very successful Cultural Exchange Program for college-age women. We hosted a group of Italian college students for two weeks one year and the next year a group of Italian American students spent two weeks in Italy at no cost to the students. The exchange program is temporarily suspended due to budgetary constraints on the part of the Italian government.

But our successes don’t end here! Our Chair Maria Tamburri has developed many important new goals for an even brighter and more successful future, which will be detailed in future posts.

Meanwhile, be sure to follow NOIAW’s online programming (developed to address the needs of our members and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic) here on our website’s homepage and via social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube).

 

NOIAW’s 10th Anniversary dinner honored actors from the film Moonstruck as well as past and then-current Presidents Jo Lerro and Barbara Gerard.

 

NOIAW women meeting Pope John Paul II in 1991 at the Vatican.

 

(L to R):  The author with Italy’s first female Minister, the Honorable Tina Anselmi.

 

NOIAW’s 1984 Annual Luncheon Honoree, comedian Kaye Ballard, flanked by Aileen Riotto Sirey at right, Geraldine Ferraro, second from left, and emcee Joy Behar, far left.

 

Geraldine Ferraro (L) and the author (R) chatting with NOIAW annual luncheon honoree, Chef Rachael Ray, in 2007.

 

NOIAW’s 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2005 at New York City’s Rainbow Room (L to R): Bonnie Mandina, Dr. Aileen Riotto Sirey, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, Geraldine A. Ferraro, Roseanne Colletti, Donna de Matteo.

Top image:

NOIAW women, with honorees Renee Taylor and Marlo Thomas, at the organization’s first annual luncheon in 1982.

Photos courtesy of the author.