Who Are the Real Italian American Girls?

Now a days it's getting harder and harder to tell the real Italian Americans from the so called, mainstream media "Italian Americans." I think its fair to say you can have your own definition or meaning of being Italian American based on how you were culturally brought up or what the "norm" is --based on your geographic/ tri-state location. Its so hard to explain what that actually means, but to break it down, I guess everyone wants to be Italian American. Can you blame them?

As I was working on some new projects for the Italian American Girl site, I began to think who are the real Italian Americans? I have a hard time accepting the mainstream ideas, images, personas and stereotypes. Then, I said to myself the very purpose of my site was to really feature the true ITALIAN AMERICANS the local personas, friends and celebrities.

I can speak for myself as an Italian American woman, that I'm proud of who I am, where I come from and what I've achieved. As the Italian American Girl site grows we've included and featured many up and coming; successful Italian American women.

The focus is to bring positive attention to the accomplishments of the real Italian American Girls.

Take a look at the list for the Top Italian American Women:

Margaret Fontana.- Creator of the Italian American Girl Site & Italian Americans in Social Media.

Alicia Vitarelli- Television Anchor & Media Personality for News12 NJ

Dawn DelRusso- Stylist and Fashionista

Giada Valenti - Singer, Songwriter

Patricia Volonakis Davis- Italian American Author

Rossella Rago - Host of "Cooking With Nonna"

Serena Palumbo- Accomplished Professional & Contestant on Food Network's "The Next Food Network Star"

Maryann Maisano- Comedian and creator of "Italian Chicks"

Ornella Fado- Host of Brindiamo TV

If you would like to be considered for the Top Italian American Women's List on IAG, please email me to be included with a brief bio and link to your site.

**This listed was originally posted on August 10, 2010

Grazie!

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Podcast Interview On 'Tandem With The Random' Show With Italian American Girl -

I'm sharing this great interview I did with a fellow journalist; Brian Kelley founder of "Tandem with the Random" podcast show. Brian and I went to Rider University and shared many communication classes together. Brian contacted me via Twitter and he informed me that he was following me on Twitter and asked if I remembered him? I said, "Of course!" -- So from there, we coordinated a podcast interview focusing on cultural blogging and the history and launch of the Italian American Girl site. Thank you Brian!

Listen to this amazing interview here:

http://tandem.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/tandem-with-the-random-014-08-22-2011/#comment-485

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Being Honest About Being Italian American

Its all or nothing with me at times.. you might get a few posts in one week or none in two weeks. This Italian American Girl must be honest to the readers, I don't like to make things up or come up with a phony editorial calendar for the Italian American Girl site, I post when I've experienced something or think you the audience could benefit from certain cultural events or topics that you haven't heard about ten thousand other times.


I think its important for you guys to know that yes, I may not be banging out posts on a daily but I will guarantee you that I am genuine about my blog and not looking to be at every event in the tristate area or collect as many Facebook fans as possible. At times I hold back what I really want to say, because it may not be politically correct.

A lot of how I feel and my genuine character come from once again my upbringing, my parents brought me up to be me and no one else, don't follow what the kid next door is doing just be you. If it means sticking out like a sore thumb then so be it. Cultural individual-ness is what makes a person. I talked about different degrees of Italian American in another post a few months back and I feel even stronger about it now. Everyone has their own degree of Italian American, some are first generation like me, where sometimes I don't always understand the actions of other Italian Americans. (But, that's OK) The point I'm trying to make here is we're all trying to remain connected to who we are and sometimes that occurs on different levels some good, some bad and some very phony. Its up to you to decide how you want to educate or remain connected to your cultural heritage.

It's like school, when the teacher or professor tells you to always use a credible source.

Ciao-
Margaret

Photo: Copyright of Italian American Girl - 2010

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Italian American Girl - Where Have I Been?

Its been a while, yes I dropped off the map a little from my Italian American Girl duties on line, but never in real life. I've had a lot of challenges lately with life, career and everyday happenings. Thank God, nothing terrible but the usual. The "usual" in my life includes the Italian American upbringing, I don't know I was having a discussion with my sister the other day and asking-- do people think the way we do or is it because of our upbringing? I know I can't function without my family and we all collectively make decisions and know that what we decide always affects the family. Yes, the family.

Its funny, I go back on some of my old posts and see what I've written or talked about when it comes to stereotypes, struggles and the daily task of fitting into Americanized cultural traditions and no matter how much time passes; I realize these things are always a challenge and never change. You can't forget who you are or where you come from.

I am so consumed with work and my daily life that sometimes I feel like the outside world wants you to forget about your cultural upbringing and I struggle with this hard core. Understanding American-isms is part of everyday, but at times I know those "isms" are the very thing that could easily erase who I am. I can't have a conversation with anyone without talking about my culture or how the way I was brought up influences my social mannerisms or how I engage with others. Does anyone else think about this?

Wow, so the ultimate question is, "Where have I been?" I'm here just looking in and listening. I want to regroup, re-energize and come back strong on Italian American Girl.

You, the readers of IAG, have made this blog so successful and the next step has arrived, I want more!

I love that saying, "Love what you do and never work a day in your life." That most certainly applies to the Italian American Girl site.

Get ready!

Love-
Italian American Girl

Margaret

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Italian American Girl Voted One of The Best Europe-Related Blogs.

Tripbase Blog Awards 2009

A big thank you to http://www.Tripbase.com Tweet

National Italian American Foundation Profiles Italian American Girl In Their Monthly Newsletter.

Exciting news for ItalianAmericanGirl.com, this month the National Italian American Foundation has profiled my personal story and work on creating the Italian American Girl blog. This is a great honor and I would like to thank the staff at the foundation for including me on such a wonderful monthly newsletter. Please check out the story on their newsletter page on the official National Italian American Foundation site:

http://niaf.org/news/news_monthly/2009/news_monthly.asp Tweet