Italian Roots and Genealogy
Journey of Heart and Heritage: An Italian American Tale of Immigration and Entrepreneurship
Embark on an emotional odyssey with Diane Marie Pisera as she recounts her voyage from the picturesque Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia to the bustling heartbeat of New York State. In her narratives of youthful summers spent in Calabria and the significant life shift of immigrating to America, Pisera's story is a vibrant canvas of nostalgia, love, and the enduring spirit of an immigrant's journey. Her recent engagement in the cobblestoned town of Tropea adds yet another heartfelt chapter to her tale, underscoring the profound connections that bind us to our places of origin.
Our conversation then weaves through the entrepreneurial endeavors that define our collective heritage. I reflect on my own family's past, from my grandfather's American business success in the bridal wear industry. These narratives are not just personal recollections, but a testament to the entrepreneurial flame that flickers in the hearts of those with Italian roots. Diane's transition from candle making to marketing, and the inspiration behind her podcast "Passport to Thrive," further illustrate how a lineage of enterprise continues to shape our aspirations and actions today.
Finally, we turn to the transformative magic of travel, urging our listeners to embark on their own paths of discovery, whether through the lens of a tourist or the ambition of a budding entrepreneur. We dissect the cultural threads that connect Italian Americans to their ancestry and muse over how traditions, such as hip hop, can fortify identities across generations. The episode culminates with the evocative experience of visiting the Vatican amidst the uncertainties of COVID-19, a poignant reminder of the complex world we navigate. Together with Diane, we invite you to join us in celebrating the intricate mosaic of Italian culture, entrepreneurship, and the unyielding quest for personal growth.
Immigrating from Italy with her mom at nine years old has given Diane Marie the grit and resilience to start her own business to reshape generational legacies and create her own American Dream.
An immigrant, entrepreneur, podcast host, and speaker Diane Marie is multifaceted founder, who promotes building an intentional online presence as a tool to expand reach and to create a brand with heritage that leaves a legacy.
She has spoken at Iona University and diverse corporate branding and marketing workshops. Additionally, she earned recognition as a Top LinkedIn Creator, showcased on a Times Square billboard.
Currently residing in Westchester County, NY, she actively contributes to the local economy and educates the community on personal branding, social media, and leveraging AI for effective business marketing.
DMB Consulting
Online tee shirts, hoodies and more for Italians
Farmers and Nobles
Read about my research story and how to begin your family research.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Embark on an emotional odyssey with Diane Marie Pisera as she recounts her voyage from the picturesque Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia to the bustling heartbeat of New York State. In her narratives of youthful summers spent in Calabria and the significant life shift of immigrating to America, Pisera's story is a vibrant canvas of nostalgia, love, and the enduring spirit of an immigrant's journey. Her recent engagement in the cobblestoned town of Tropea adds yet another heartfelt chapter to her tale, underscoring the profound connections that bind us to our places of origin.
Our conversation then weaves through the entrepreneurial endeavors that define our collective heritage. I reflect on my own family's past, from my grandfather's American business success in the bridal wear industry. These narratives are not just personal recollections, but a testament to the entrepreneurial flame that flickers in the hearts of those with Italian roots. Diane's transition from candle making to marketing, and the inspiration behind her podcast "Passport to Thrive," further illustrate how a lineage of enterprise continues to shape our aspirations and actions today.
Finally, we turn to the transformative magic of travel, urging our listeners to embark on their own paths of discovery, whether through the lens of a tourist or the ambition of a budding entrepreneur. We dissect the cultural threads that connect Italian Americans to their ancestry and muse over how traditions, such as hip hop, can fortify identities across generations. The episode culminates with the evocative experience of visiting the Vatican amidst the uncertainties of COVID-19, a poignant reminder of the complex world we navigate. Together with Diane, we invite you to join us in celebrating the intricate mosaic of Italian culture, entrepreneurship, and the unyielding quest for personal growth.
Immigrating from Italy with her mom at nine years old has given Diane Marie the grit and resilience to start her own business to reshape generational legacies and create her own American Dream.
An immigrant, entrepreneur, podcast host, and speaker Diane Marie is multifaceted founder, who promotes building an intentional online presence as a tool to expand reach and to create a brand with heritage that leaves a legacy.
She has spoken at Iona University and diverse corporate branding and marketing workshops. Additionally, she earned recognition as a Top LinkedIn Creator, showcased on a Times Square billboard.
Currently residing in Westchester County, NY, she actively contributes to the local economy and educates the community on personal branding, social media, and leveraging AI for effective business marketing.
DMB Consulting
Online tee shirts, hoodies and more for Italians
Farmers and Nobles
Read about my research story and how to begin your family research.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
This is Bob Sorrentino from Italian Roots and Genealogy. Be sure to check us out on Facebook and our blog and our newsletter, and also please subscribe to our channel and check out our great sponsors Yodoche Vita Italy Rooting and Aviv Tivo Casa. And today I have a great guest. I love when I get to speak to somebody who was born in Italy, Deanne Marie Pserra. So welcome, Deanne.
Speaker 2:Hi, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Oh no, it's great. Like I said, I love having people born in Italy because I'm so used to interviewing Italian Americans and not real Italians. So, just you know, you have so much going on and I want to hit on your podcast and some of the other things that you do. But before we do that, where were you born in Italy? When did you come and why?
Speaker 2:Okay, so my family is originally from Calabria. My parents moved up to Northern Italy, in Frioli Venezia Giulia, and that's where I was born and lived there for eight years and then, like in the summers around Christmas, we would always go down to Calabria just because my non-nume, my grandparents, were still there, so we would just spend, like our summers and our holidays there. But I lived up north in Frioli. My parents moved up there just because there was more job opportunities there. My dad was actually in the army there. So you know, they moved.
Speaker 2:And then I was born and went to school there and my parents actually got divorced when I was eight years old and my mom and I moved to Calabria for one year. So I did my third grade in Calabria. We stayed with my grandparents in their house and then my mom and I moved to the US, to New York, when I was nine years old and we really just moved here because of the divorce and my mom didn't want to stay in Calabria just because she didn't think I was going to get fair opportunities there for career and whatnot and we already had family here. So she decided to make the move and we moved to New York, but it was just my mom and I.
Speaker 1:That's interesting and we're in Calabria because I have a lot of Calabrian listeners.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we're in province of Vipo, valencia, so we're in that area by Bicero. Tropea is my favorite place on earth, so I'm basically I'm 45 minutes from Tropea, but yeah, it's literally my favorite place ever.
Speaker 1:I can imagine we you know we didn't get to Tropea when we went, not last year, the year before, Okay, Two years already. But we went to Sheila and beautiful, we just fell in love with it there. Nobody knows about Sheila.
Speaker 2:I know Sheila is beautiful. But I have such like a deep connection with Tropea because I used to go there in the summer with my grandparents, with my cousins, like so I just have like such like a great memory of that place and I love the beach, I love the shops, the restaurants, so it has everything that I to make me happy so that I always say it's my favorite place ever. And then last year I actually got engaged in Tropea, so that was another reason now that I have to love the place even more.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Yeah, I keep telling my wife because she keeps saying well, if we were ever going to buy a place in Italy, I want to. I want to live in Sheila because you know, it's got the water, it's got the mountains, I got everything. And I say, but I tell her, I said well, we haven't been to Tropea.
Speaker 2:So it's definitely. Sheila is less hectic. I think through bad. Through the years it's gained popularity and it definitely got a little bit more busy and just more tourists are going there. Just because it has gotten more popular through the years. Sheila is a little bit wider. I mean, it's gorgeous, I love it there, but I would definitely say like that's a main difference right now.
Speaker 1:And my collaboration connection is that my grandmothers, my paternal grandmothers, my great, great great grandfather was the Count of Montabello Piumallo, this is his name. So they were all but you know. They lived in Naples but they would go to Calabria once or twice a year, they told me, and it's hard to imagine how these people 100, 150 years ago would get from Naples to Calabria because it's a trip today. Yeah, so you know. I want to ask you because I listened to your American Dream podcast and I found it fascinating because you know you lived, personally lived what my some of my aunts and uncles lived and my grandparents lived.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And you explained that it wasn't easy. So was it hard leaving Italy? What was harder leaving Italy and your friends behind, and your grandparents, or trying to get things going in America?
Speaker 2:I think I would say I get things going in America, because I think I was so young that I didn't really, like I knew what was going on but I didn't realize, like, how big of a change it was. So obviously I was sad, like I was sad to leave family behind, you know, but and I was a nine year old girl I was sad because I was leaving some of my favorite toys behind. You know, like, think about it like I was a very like young kid, like my mom. I remember this hat I love. I was always into Barbie and I had a ton of Barbies, and my mom is like you have to pick 10 of them because you know, like you can't just bring everything over. And I was just like I remember, just I hated leaving that stuff behind. But I was such like a young kid that like I was a little kid, you know, like a little kid, you know what are you thinking about? Like you're thinking about like your toys, you're thinking about, like your friends, like that's what's really what was going on in my head. But then when I got here and I think I went to school, then I'm thinking, okay, well, I don't know what's going on here.
Speaker 2:Like it was kind of like, and I was always a good student in Italy, so I had to basically go from being like a really good student in Italy to going to school here and not getting good grades, just because I didn't know what was going on and I didn't understand, like anybody, I didn't have friends.
Speaker 2:It was just it's sad, you know, I was sad because I was just there, like I would just try to do what everybody else did and you know I'll fit in but it was very nerve wracking because I had like no idea like what, like you know what teacher was saying. So I was just trying to go with it and I was in ESL classes and, you know, tried my best, obviously, but I think it would. That was more of an experience for me because I, you know, I went to school, but when I was leaving Italy, I think I was too young to really grasp like, oh my God, I'm leaving my family behind. Like in my head I'm like, oh, they'll come visit more. Like I thought I don't know, it was sad, but I just I was too young, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think certainly one of the big differences is you know you could get in touch with a phone call or you could do a video and things like that. You know, I have one of my cousins over there. His mother saved everything and I didn't know anything about these people up until just a couple of years ago and he found a picture that I had from my grandmother. But he sent me the photograph, the same photograph that she sent to her father, and on the back it says from your dear daughter to my dear father, so you don't forget. So she knew she was never gonna see him again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:So it's when you see that it's kind of it's kind of a bit of sweet. So now we're in New York. I'm assuming you came to New York, but where in America did you settle in?
Speaker 2:In New York. Yeah, so I'm not in the city, I'm in Westchester County. It's about an hour away from the city. Yeah, I've always lived here. Once I lived in the US.
Speaker 1:And so. So now you know what did your mom do when she got here.
Speaker 2:Did she work, or yeah, so my mom didn't work in Italy, so when she came here she obviously had to work. She were in the cafeteria in an elementary school because she also wanted a job that aligned with my school hours and like the days off. So she my great uncle was actually like in the school system, so he was able to get her in the cafeteria. So that's pretty much like what she did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know that's a, that's a. You know really, really great story, and so you know, when you talk about the American dream, americans forgot the American dream Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I agree with that 100% so.
Speaker 1:I'm looking for the right question for you what, what drove you? What? What do you think drove you that may not be driving us? I think this is important for young. Not that I have a lot of young listeners, but you can replay this, you know. What do you think's missing? What do you think we're missing?
Speaker 2:I think one thing that I always had that drive is because, like I lived through it. So I lived through, like you know, like it was like a life changing experience, like I had to watch my mom work when, like she wasn't used to working, like my house in Italy was a million times nicer to like the where we used to end here. So, like I went from like something. Like it's easy to go from something bad to something good, but then when you have something good and that's taking away like that's you know, like that's not fun, like no one wants that. So when you go through that experience and you're like, wait a second, I never, I never want to relive this. But then, like you think, like okay, then I'm going to have kids. I never want my kids Like I don't have kids right now to go through that.
Speaker 2:So I think that's a lot of like what I'm, like the driving force behind it and also, just in general, like having like the American dream, because my mom gave up so much you know like and so much sacrifices. Like it would have been so much easier for us to just stay in Calabria, like my, like my grandparents house. They have a big house. You could have stayed there. It would have been a lot more comfortable for everybody and easier to do that than to move here Something okay. Well, all these people, like my mom, even my grandparents, like sacrifice, like so much that I'm like, if I'm not successful, like you know, like being able for to one day, like be, like set my mom up in a way that, like she's comfortable, like so it's kind of like just paying it forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what did you? So what did your grandfather do in Italy? He must have, he must have done well for himself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my, my grandfather actually he lived here for a couple of years with my grandmother and everybody. My mom actually was born here and that's why I was able to get my citizenship very easily here. My mom was born here and then the American citizen. They moved back when she was four years old because my grandfather was like okay, like I made my money in America, but I want to live in Italy. Well, my, my family to be in Italy. So he actually he had a store in town like a little like convenience, like grocery store, and that's how, like he basically made a living.
Speaker 1:No, that's, that's cool, that's so that's. I love those kinds of stories and you know, I I could never figure out why my father's parents came for, because of the same reason, my grandmother. She lived a. She lived a good life and the only person who was here was her aunt. And the only thing I could think of because I never thought to ask my was a kid. And I love that. You keep a diary. That's so smart. I wish I did that. Everybody should do that, because there would have been a lot easier writing my books if I did that. Yes, but but I don't understand why. And the only thing I could figure out is that, for the same reason, she maybe thought, or they maybe thought, that World War one was just breaking out and maybe they felt that they would be safer here. Or her aunt, I think her husband was like an entrepreneur of sorts. So maybe he said we'll come and I'll start you up in a business, because my grandfather and his brother they had a. They made bridal veils and bridal crowns.
Speaker 1:I love that 14th Street in New York City. So, but I, you know, I don't have the whole story and it makes me crazy. Yeah, the whole story. So now was your family in that village. It for you know hundreds of years.
Speaker 2:Yes, I remember that, like yeah, that's where I go in the summer now, like we, basically I stay at my grandparents house. They both passed away, but they obviously their houses still there, so that's typically where I go and I say oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:That's just, that's just great. I wish I had a house in Italy, because I just, just, I just love it and I know it's very I like it because it's very.
Speaker 2:It's also like you're staying in a house. So I do a lot of traveling but I always end up going to God, especially now my fiance is also from there, so we always go there because, like, he also has family he wants to see. So, like, and I love going there, just I love the beach. So any but any place that has a good beach I'm happy. So, but it's nice that we have, like houses there instead of just like having a hotel, because, like, I like it. Just it's more comfortable when you're in your own house, you know.
Speaker 1:Sure yeah, definitely. And did your grandparents speak Italian or dialect, or both?
Speaker 2:So they definitely spoke dialect. They spoke Italian to, but they spoke both. So like I don't speak dialect, but I can understand the dialect from Calabria, just because I was around it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's some. It's such a different language.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I understand it, just because I grew up with it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit. You know about your podcast, you know what do you focus on when you do your podcast and what, what, what, what, what excite people about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my podcast is called Passport to Thrive and my podcast I interview guests and I talk a lot about. I have a marketing firm that focuses on social media and online branding, so my podcast is a little bit of marketing mixed in with some self development and entrepreneurs like mindset tips. So it's a little bit of that. It's not really an Italian American podcast, but it's from me, so it's definitely has like that immigrant kind of like mindset. We've been just because that's my story, it's my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's good. I listened to a couple of them and and now are you still doing some of the other things, like like Italy in the jar and that kind of stuff?
Speaker 2:So I am not no longer doing my candles just because I'm focused on my consulting firm and that just took over. I love to doing the candles and maybe that's something I'll do in the future, but right now I just had to focus on one thing, and then consulting was just where I had to pay them was energy to know I can understand that and that's that, that's certainly, that's certainly a big job and that's family.
Speaker 1:Where were they from and they're from the same town. He was in the army.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're this in the same town as like, where, like my, like, my mom and him went to high school together, so it's the same town.
Speaker 1:So now you said you travel a lot. Do you do that as just for pleasure or are you doing it as as part of you know, your entrepreneurship and things?
Speaker 2:like that. I do it for pleasure. To be honest, I do it for pleasure, like when I'm there, I'm on vacation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great, I'm retired.
Speaker 2:I'm on vacation. I am just living my best life, for you know when I go there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's, that's great. So you know, like I said, I don't have a lot of young listeners. I do have a few here and there, but you know, forgetting about the immigrant thing and all of that kind of stuff, what would you suggest to somebody young like you that wants to start a business or start a podcast, to do something online?
Speaker 2:So my biggest tip, I would say, is so I wanted to start my page. I started Instagram page in 2019. I wanted to start in 2016. And I didn't, because I kept second guessing myself. I was scared, did I know? I'm like, okay, well, how am I going to be perceived? Why would anybody even care? And that I just one day, I think I just I was I probably was just like mad. I'm like, okay, I'm doing it. And because I was seeing other people that were less qualified than me doing what I wanted to do, and I think that just angered me so much that I said, okay, like this stops now, like we're doing this and that's it.
Speaker 2:So I know, like a lot of people say, just start.
Speaker 2:But like that really is like do your research and just go for it, because at the end of the day, like whenever you're starting something new, you're not going to be good at it, like at anything you do in life.
Speaker 2:So you might as well just get over it and, do you know, be bad at whatever you're trying to do, and then you're just going to get better and that's it. Like there's no like fast track. You just have to literally start it and do the work and just accept that my first podcast episode was bad, my first Instagram post was bad, like my first LinkedIn post was bad. But then you grow, you evolve and you learn and that's how you're going to get there. But or also you're just going to watch other people that don't have the skill sets that you may have, but are doing the things that you want to do, and I like to me that just put me like would put me in such like a bad mood and I wish like I would have started earlier. Now, looking back, because I wanted to do this like three years before I actually started.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and you know, no, no, it makes a lot of sense and you know, I did the same thing. I didn't know anything about to know this.
Speaker 1:And I go back and listen to my first podcast and it's like, oh my God, this was horrible and my wife would tell me you talk too much. You know, let the people so I try not to talk as much as I used to talk, but she said you need to listen to them. They're telling their story. But, you know, I started just with the blog and writing my own stories and then I wanted to get other people's stories, you know, and that's why I evolved into the podcast and love that. We want to be YouTube because, as you probably know, italian Americans, we have a lot of different stories but in some ways they're all similar.
Speaker 2:They're all very similar. That's what I found Like the theme. It's very similar, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and certainly, you know, one of the things that I'm trying to do is connect the generations, you know, two and three generations behind me, because I feel and there's some of us, you know, around my age, I feel that the Italian Americans, we're losing our identity and we want to try and connect them back to Italy and make them see that. And I was just on a call this morning with somebody I'm working with who does these you know tour, did my tours, and I said to her we were talking about videos and things and I said what I really loved when I was there and I said and people like when I put it out, there is when there's a group in Italy either doing, you know, a dance from the region or a song from the region you know and collaborating and dialect or bodies or something like that. I said people love that. I said. But I said my wife and I were watching an Italian movie one time.
Speaker 1:And all of a sudden the hip hop song came on and we were like they have hip hop. And then Simone this morning says yes, we have a lot of that stuff. I said well, you know, maybe that's the connection to some of the young people.
Speaker 1:There's hip hop and things like that going on, and so, you know, like I said, we want to try and make that connection back and that's why, I think if we get you know more people like you out there that are younger, and the other thing that and you may have, we'll know this firsthand is that Italian Americans don't realize how much Italians appreciate us going back.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think so, for sure. I think they love when Americans go, because I feel like they're like oh well, someone appreciates our culture, Like they cared off. So like they, they like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my fiance and I went. We went in 2021. It was COVID and we're like okay, we're not doing another summer like here. I'm like we're going, you know, like whatever, like however we get there, we're going. So we went and it was the. I think it was the best year to go, because we ended up going to the Amalfi Coast and it was like nice, because there wasn't, but like they were.
Speaker 2:So when they're like, oh, where are you guys from? And we're like, oh, we're from like America, but like I swear we were like the only Americans there. So they're like, oh, like they were so nice to us, they're like you guys came, like they were all like excited. I'm like, yeah, like we came, like we're like we're staying here for a couple of days and we're going to see, like we're going to stay with family. So like that was the other reason, Like we'll go for like four days there and then, like we'll drive down to Calabria and like, and then we're just like with like family, we're in our home. So we're like this is like it was like safe enough for us, and like we just were like we're not staying here, we're not missing another summer. So we went, but they were so happy to see us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we were supposed to go the April of the year COVID hit and we were on the fans here we could read, and then everything just got right. Yeah, yeah, and that took us like it was two and a half years before we finally got there.
Speaker 2:Most people didn't start traveling till 2022. I feel like everybody that like I say like no, we went in 2021. They thought I was like, they thought we were crazy, and then we came back like everything that God went well, we're like we had the best time and they're like, oh damn, I should have gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we, we, we had posed we were going to go in September of 2021. And then there was another big wave and then they had, and then they had, I guess, those zones you know, going on yeah.
Speaker 2:We just we went. It was like great timing because it was August, with like end of July August, like the restrictions were lifted, like pretty much like here and there, like there was like some regulations, but like you could work around it, like it was very easy. And then we're just like okay, like we were there for two weeks and it was fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when we did finally go in in June of 2022, they was just getting to where you know every you didn't need to do anything. In fact, when we came back, you finally didn't have to be tested and everything. But when we went we had to get tested. We had to get the COVID test and I was going with my wife and my son and daughter and my daughter is in Texas, so she was going to meet us in Kennedy airport and all of that and we had to get the test and I was like you know what if one of us was positive before?
Speaker 2:that that's what we were like. We were like thinking like, okay, what if we test positive when we come back? I'm like, I'm like, are we all staying? I'm like, but what's the deal? I'm like, is it like we all stay? I'm like, or is like just one person like what? Like, thankfully you didn't get to that, but we were all thinking I'm like, okay, I'm like, if me and my fiancee, like you know, like if I test positive and he does it, I'm like, does he come back? I'm like me, my head. I'm like he better stay with me. Why you better not leave me?
Speaker 1:Well, we had tickets. We had tickets for the, for the Vatican, and they said you had to have the test 72 hours before.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it was up to 72 hours and we had the 48 hour test, except for my daughter. She did the other test. So I was like, well, what if we go? What if we test? And then we test positive you know the second day in Italy, and then we can't do all the other stuff that's planned, and then yeah, no, it's packed that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I said to my wife, I said you know what, let's go. If they tell us we can't go, we won't go in. We get there. Nobody's checking anything. There were a million people walking through the Vatican, no masks, no nothing, and we were fine.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it was fine yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we got through it and then, thankfully, you know, things are back to normal and everything. So, before we go, how do people get in touch with you if they, you know, want to be on the podcast or if they want some of your other services?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my website is dmbconsultingco and you can find me on LinkedIn just my name. Or you can find me on Instagram it's De'Amore, underscore Passera, or my business Instagram is dmbpericconsulting.
Speaker 1:That's great. That's great and I really appreciate you taking the time. There's been a lot of fun and, like I said, I love talking to people who move there from Italy.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. This was fun.
