International Women’s Day Was Made Bright With Seven Talented Italian-American Women.

There is no better way to celebrate International Women’s day than Zooming with seven talented Italian-American Women.Last Sunday, these dynamic women entertained with food, music and comedy. The evening started with Chef Michele Di Pietro demonstrating her delicious recipe for Spicy Avocado Carbonara. It made my mouth water. Michele is a chef and entrepreneur, a culinary consultant, food writer, blogger and creator of Mangia with Michele.

To get the entertainment portion of evening started, popular standup comedian, Tara Cannistaci, put everyone in a good mood with her funny observation comedy. To work off Michele Spicy Avocado Carbonara, Mickela Mallozzi recruited her mom and Nona to demonstrate the Tarantella, a dance that is popular at Italian weddings. Mickela is a four-time Emmy Award-winner and executive producer of “Bare Feet With Mickela Mallozzi”, a series highlighting the diversity of dance around the world that airs on PBS stations nationwide and on Amazon Prime globally. 

Jena Esposito continued the evening with classic Italian songs. She did an outstanding rendition of a Dean Martin hit,” Everybody Loves Somebody”, followed by a Dusty Springfield hit, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”, a song that was a 1965 Italian hit, “Che non Vivo” by Pino Donaggio.  Jena sang the Italian version.

The laughs continued with Regina Deccico’s rapid-fire comedic delivery. Regina spends her days warming up the audience for The View. She was also warmup comedian at the New Hampshire 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate. Regina kept the Zoom audience laughing non-stop.

Beautiful Vanessa Ricci was not only co-producer of the evening, but also treated the audience to her pop-jazz singing style. Her first song was one of my favorites, the Italian hit “Al Di La”. Vanessa also introduced the evening’s special guest, Deana Martin, talented daughter of legendary Dean Martin. Deana told wonderful stories of growing up with her famous father and all the greats of show business.

Opening photo Vanessa Ricci