Embarking on a nostalgic journey to the heart of Italian-American life, we sit down with Margaret Fontana, more affectionately known as the Italian American Girl. Her story unfolds like a rich tapestry woven with threads of cultural heritage and familial pride, offering an intimate glance at the Italian-American dream. Margaret's tales of Reggio Calabria, the land of her ancestors, and the enduring tradition of family homes passed down through generations, serve as a poignant backdrop to our conversation, inviting you to rediscover the scenic landscapes of Southern Italy and the cherished summer experiences that shape our Italian-American worldview.
As we taste our way through the regional flavors of Italian cuisine, the resilience and hope emblematic of our immigrant forebears come alive. Margaret recounts her father's post-war emigration to Newark, New Jersey, and the strength it took to forge a new path in a foreign land. The vivid family narratives continue with homage paid to the matriarchs who tightly held onto their Italian roots while nurturing an American identity. These stories of hardship, ambition, and the relentless pursuit of the American dream not only resonate with those of Italian heritage but echo the universal experiences of families who have bridged the gap between old and new worlds.
Our episode culminates in a reflection on the vital role of media in preserving and educating about our Italian-American heritage, a task Margaret has passionately undertaken. We delve into the transformative power of storytelling and community building, essential threads that bind the tapestry of our shared cultural identity. As we look forward with excitement to reconnecting with family and friends in anticipation of the summer, we invite you to join us in this episode, where memories intertwine with aspirations, and the Italian spirit continues to thrive within the heart of the American experience.
Margaret Fontana is a highly accomplished media executive renowned for her extensive expertise spanning various industries, including nonprofit, healthcare, film, media, television, technology, and digital-driven broadcast. Her career boasts a remarkable track record of accomplishments and a storied reputation in these diverse fields.
Margaret is also the Founder of The Filmmaker Forum, an online resource and community for aspiring and experienced arts, media and filmmaking professionals. Students are welcome as well. In keeping with her cultural first generation Italian roots, Margaret is also the Founder of another popular online community and blog called Italian American Girl with over 45,000 members across various social media networks. The community has become an online networking resource for many Italian Americans to share educational stories, history, ancestry traditions and connections. Margaret also features celebrities, musicians and filmmakers on the blog.
In her "free" time, Margaret acts as a guest speaker and influencer while regularly presenting and teaching on media topics at Rider University and national digital conferences including Advertising Week in New York City
Margaret is the host of the self produced podcast called, The Margaret Fontana Media Podcast The podcast covers
Embarking on a nostalgic journey to the heart of Italian-American life, we sit down with Margaret Fontana, more affectionately known as the Italian American Girl. Her story unfolds like a rich tapestry woven with threads of cultural heritage and familial pride, offering an intimate glance at the Italian-American dream. Margaret's tales of Reggio Calabria, the land of her ancestors, and the enduring tradition of family homes passed down through generations, serve as a poignant backdrop to our conversation, inviting you to rediscover the scenic landscapes of Southern Italy and the cherished summer experiences that shape our Italian-American worldview.
As we taste our way through the regional flavors of Italian cuisine, the resilience and hope emblematic of our immigrant forebears come alive. Margaret recounts her father's post-war emigration to Newark, New Jersey, and the strength it took to forge a new path in a foreign land. The vivid family narratives continue with homage paid to the matriarchs who tightly held onto their Italian roots while nurturing an American identity. These stories of hardship, ambition, and the relentless pursuit of the American dream not only resonate with those of Italian heritage but echo the universal experiences of families who have bridged the gap between old and new worlds.
Our episode culminates in a reflection on the vital role of media in preserving and educating about our Italian-American heritage, a task Margaret has passionately undertaken. We delve into the transformative power of storytelling and community building, essential threads that bind the tapestry of our shared cultural identity. As we look forward with excitement to reconnecting with family and friends in anticipation of the summer, we invite you to join us in this episode, where memories intertwine with aspirations, and the Italian spirit continues to thrive within the heart of the American experience.
Margaret Fontana is a highly accomplished media executive renowned for her extensive expertise spanning various industries, including nonprofit, healthcare, film, media, television, technology, and digital-driven broadcast. Her career boasts a remarkable track record of accomplishments and a storied reputation in these diverse fields.
Margaret is also the Founder of The Filmmaker Forum, an online resource and community for aspiring and experienced arts, media and filmmaking professionals. Students are welcome as well. In keeping with her cultural first generation Italian roots, Margaret is also the Founder of another popular online community and blog called Italian American Girl with over 45,000 members across various social media networks. The community has become an online networking resource for many Italian Americans to share educational stories, history, ancestry traditions and connections. Margaret also features celebrities, musicians and filmmakers on the blog.
In her "free" time, Margaret acts as a guest speaker and influencer while regularly presenting and teaching on media topics at Rider University and national digital conferences including Advertising Week in New York City
Margaret is the host of the self produced podcast called, The Margaret Fontana Media Podcast The podcast covers
Hi everyone, this is Bob Sorrentino from Italian Roots and Genealogy. Be sure to check us out on Facebook, our blog, our YouTube channel and our great sponsors, your adult JVita, italy Rooting and Naviativa Casa. We're going to have a fun guest today who just sat on the block for me here that I didn't know, margaret Fontana, the Italian American girl. So welcome, margaret. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Bob. This is really great. It's great to know that we're neighbors too, so we're both New Jersey Mommeth County neighbors, so that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm just in the process of joining. I don't know why it took me so long to join an Italian club, but I'm finally joining one and I'm excited about that, because they run a big festival and everything like that, so it should be, fun. So I certainly want to talk about your website and everything, but before we do that, where's your family from? Originally in Italy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I am a first generation Italian American, and so my mother and father are directly from Reggio Calabria, which is the southernmost tip of the boot in Italy and it's the part that everyone says is kicking the part of Sicily. So it's the most connected part, where most folks, when they go to Calabria, they visit Calabria but then they take this notorious ferry boat over to Sicily and usually it's to go to the. There's always this big festival in Messina, sicily. So that's where we're from. We're from Reggio Calabria, and my family is always back and forth. We're still very much connected to our family there because most of our family stayed in Italy.
Speaker 2:I think my parents are the only people from the family who actually came and settled in the United States, which is pretty interesting and pretty brave. So, and here I am, along with my siblings, as the first generation, first level of family in America. So it's definitely a nice story to tell, and now we have nieces and nephews and grandkids, so they are learning the story and they know that Nonna goes to Italy every couple of months and that's just the process. That's who we are and that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's fantastic. Well, boy, I'd love to have your parents on the show one time, if we could arrange that, because I love talking to people who are first generation. I'm second. My parents were both born here, but on my dad's side, three of his older siblings were born in Italy, and on my mom's side, two were born in Italy and the rest were here. So then it was kind of a mix and match type of thing. But exactly what you mean about the ferry, because we took the ferry two years ago from Reggio Calabria to Messina.
Speaker 2:See, and that's always like the location landmark, like when everyone's like, well, we're in Calabria, because you know like in Italy it's like Jersey, right, they're like what exit are you? And when you're in Italy, they're like, yeah, but what area you know. So it's always like that's the landmark that I always use and kind of give that example, everyone's like I know where that is, so that's good.
Speaker 1:Now, were they actually in the city, reggio Calabria?
Speaker 2:Yeah they're in the outskirts closest to the town where you pick up that ferry, which is Villa San Giovanni, but then there's, like other smaller towns next to it, so they're in a town called Catona, and so my father still has his home, you know, his childhood home. My mother still has her childhood home there, yeah, but you know it's so different there than how we have it here in the States. You know like here it's like everybody goes off and buys her own home and there it's like passed down from generation to generation and it's a whole different dynamic when it comes to being able to go back and visit the childhood homes, because they're actually still there. It's very interesting.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great. Well, when we did the tour because I have part of my family, well, I actually they own places everywhere because they had. They were nobility Pirmalo and they used them. My grandmother's grandfather was the count of Montabello, montabello and Fusato, so you know, our first stop in Calabria was Sheila, which we actually fell in love with Beautiful. I'd move there tomorrow if I could convince my mother.
Speaker 2:It's one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and honestly it's. So you know, like now there's so much like connection in social media where everybody's able to broadcast and, you know, post things, and there's so many people out there putting content out about Italy and like all of these wonderful beach towns and things. So there are a few people I follow who actually post constantly about Sheila and I say to myself, like Sheila is where, like you know, my uncle and my cousins would take us like on day trips. You know it's a couple towns down from where we are, so it literally like I see it now and it's like so glamorized. Now you know, it's like, oh, you know, summer's in Italy and I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Like when I was, when I was like younger this is a true story I used to complain because my mother would be like, oh, we're going nearly the summer so we can see Tia and everybody, and I'd be like, well, why can't we go to Disney?
Speaker 2:You know, like the American in me is like, you know, I want to do what my friends are doing and so I never realized. So, obviously, I got older and I was like in college where I'm like, oh, my God, I was in the most amazing places my whole life. And here I was being like bratty because I was like you know, maybe I thought Disney was what it was all about, because that has a lot to do with growing up Italian and American. You know, like you want to, you want to be like everyone else, but at the same time you know that that's like part of who you are, it's like your DNA. So places like Sheila are like home. You know, it's somewhere I would go and just hang out for the day and come home with my cousins, you know, hop on the back of a moped and go back home. So it's it's, it's beautiful, it's it's like unbelievable, you know you're killing me.
Speaker 1:You're really killing me. Yeah, I, you know, we. We were just so amazed by it and we stayed. We were all the way up on top. So we, you know we made the mistake of taking the elevator down and walking back up for some strange reason. But oh boy, you know my kids are young, so they were bouncing up the stairs. They're in their 20s, so they had no problem. They had to wait for mom and dad to let themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and you know I tell people I'm not a big fish person, but the fish, the restaurant, just you know, you know you envision the chef just sticking his hand in the water and pulling the fish.
Speaker 2:I mean literally.
Speaker 2:You know they, they go out, they have like these very authentic boats, like I'm sure you saw when you were there.
Speaker 2:It's like wood boats, you know fishing boats, and they just get out there at like four in the morning and they're bringing in like the most exotic fish.
Speaker 2:You know, like you, and if you're at the beach, when they pull in and they have their nets and things like, and it's such an education, right, because you're, you're seeing like well, if I'm at the Jersey shore, like I see like tuna and you know, like my, my nephew's, into fishing here and like you know, it's like the idea of the fish here and the idea of the fish there is like completely different, you know, but so fresh, so exotic, you know, you can, you can, just if you're not a fish person and I'm like you, bob, I'm the same way like, and I'm Southern Italian like how do you not like fish? But you know if it's like fried calamari or like the way that they make it, you know the mussels and things like I'll be slightly adventurous because honestly, you can't, you can't like go wrong with how things are prepared. It's so fresh and so amazing and like who am I to be picky about food when I'm there, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and that's, that's the kind of way I was. I want with the flow. You know, my, my kids, they all eat fish, and my son he'll try it and my wife will try anything, yeah, yeah, you know I'm picky, always been picky, so so why did your parents come?
Speaker 2:Well, so my father, you know my so my father passed away two years ago and you know I always like had this you know idea in my mind to like always capture everything. He always kind of told like his stories and part of the story of why he came here. He was the oldest of all of his siblings and so my father's father, my grandfather, was in World War two and so after world, so my, my grandfather got killed in action in World War two, and so at the time there was this Kind of almost like a like a program, you know, like the government was kind of like trying to help Families kind of get back on their feet. So there they put like the eldest son you know in in kind of In charge of families if, if the father is not there, or something like that. So my dad became basically, you know, the, the father for the whole family in a sense, and he was, you know, talking to a cut like a near distant cousin who was here, and so he was also older, this cousin that lived here. He said to my father, you know like he called him after. You know, I think my father was like in his teen years, you know, like, when they went, all of this happened and and he said to him you know, I think I think it would be better for you to come here and, you know, start a life here and make money and you know, you can support the family if you come here and you know, we'll figure out how to, like, you know, get you a job and all those things. So, literally that's what happened.
Speaker 2:So my dad, you know, signed in, signed up for, you know, this like program to kind of bring people over to America, to kind of likes, you know, give them some kind of Direction. And so my father went through the process, you know, the immigration process, and you know, back then it was a very big process, you know you had to go through all All the levels and pieces of it. So he ended up coming to and settling in Newark, new Jersey. So His, his first, you know kind of like settled time was in Newark. He, like I said, he had this one uncle who, you know, just kind of like, guided him and helped him and you know, and that's, and that's my uncle Joe like, so, uncle, my uncle Joe, his dad Is the is the person who helped my dad. So, like we always call. You know everybody's like an uncle, cousin, so but it it really was how my dad came here. So he basically came here for Like a great life and to start over and to really be able to support his family, who was still in Italy. So you know he had three other siblings and you know my grandmother was still alive, but they had nothing.
Speaker 2:You know the house that my father lived in growing up. I was telling you about the. You know the childhood home, his house. He built, you know, with his own hands, it's like. So I've gone back. You know We've, we've all seen the house and you know many memories.
Speaker 2:Eric's, my aunt ended up living there with my, my grandmother, but my father, you know, after living here for a while, after many years, he then had enough money. He actually went back to Italy and he ended up like Putting in like plumbing in the house. Like he went over with a couple thousand dollars, which was like a million dollars back then, and he ended up putting in plumbing and all these things in the house to kind of like modernize it. And the house is still there. You know it's um, it's still there and it's it's in, it's in great shape in and it's like, you know, my sister was there not too long ago and she went to the house and just took a picture and it's like All the things that my father talked about. You know, my father built this big wall, you know, to kind of like Build out like a patio and it's like it's very, very meaningful. You know, like when you, when you think of his story, you know he asked me like why did he come here? So it's like it went full circle, you know, and and now the house is there, it's uh, you know Our goal is to maintain the house and to keep it as, like you know, memorialized basically for my father.
Speaker 2:You know that was his blood, sweat and tears and he, he took that journey on on a ship, not even a plane. You know he came here like in the 50s so he was on like um, like the Olympia and the Andrea Doria. Like the Olympia and the Andrea Doria, I think he took like one trip at one point which is like significant, because Andrea Doria years later. So you know it's like a big story. So, but my father never, he was, he was a very um Like modest. He did. He never made a big deal about anything. He was like, yeah, you know, was it? We were on the boat? Like, yeah, we had to get here, yeah, we were in New York, so big deal. Like you know, he was just worried about working. He was like hardcore work ethic. Um, you know, he owned his own construction company. He worked multiple jobs, always, um, just to always make sure that things were paid and we never really, you know, wanted for anything. You know he, he was an amazing provider and, um, that, that's just like.
Speaker 2:I still tell the story. I'm the little, I'm the, I'm the parrot in the family. You know, like, I'm constantly reminding everyone of, like it, we, we call my father, papa, so all of his stories are just, you know, never ending because he has a story for every part and every like section of his life, um, even till the end. You know he passed away at 91 and you know he was still kind of like, not done. He's like, oh, you know, he always had something to do and, uh, italy was, you know, his, his heart and soul. But, um, you know, but he, he was also American, you know it's, he became very Americanized in his own ways, um, but you know, it was really All about, you know, his heart and soul in Italy. So, and the same thing for my mom um, you know, she, she really my mom's 81 and um, so she came over.
Speaker 2:You know, many years later, after my father was here settled, my dad went back to the town that I mentioned and, um, you know, he knew my mom, he knew their family, so he went and did like that proper introduction and said, you know, uh, you know, I want to marry your daughter. He went to my grandfather, you know he did. He did all those moves, you know all the proper moves, and uh, my mom was like 25 or 20, 25 or 26, and she just was like, yeah, I'll go to America. And um, you know, so she kind of just came here. She came on pan am, you know, so modernized many years later, and we laugh because she still has like tags, like luggage tags from pan am and stuff.
Speaker 2:I'm like this is like vintage now. I'm like if we have to keep these, um, so, and then my mother. You know she had four children here, so I have others, you know, three other siblings, and um, my mother was always very driven and uh, she became like this powerhouse of a woman, always. I mean as much as my father was like the head of the family. My mother always kind of wore the pants, but my father let her, you know, like he's, you know she.
Speaker 1:It's so funny you say that because I said that to somebody a while ago. I said I said you know, the women were smart. They let the men think that they were in charge.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, you know, because my father was like the, the, the breadwinner, you know. So he'd always like, just, you know, give out the money and stuff. But she'd be like, okay, you know, she was like they count and she would like put it in places. And, like you know, and they did really well, you know, my, the two of them together, you know, they, they invested in real estate before we started getting savvy and talking about like flipping houses and things. They were doing that back when they were in Newark, you know. So they, they settled in Newark.
Speaker 2:I was born in Newark and um, and my parents, you know we have like a history in Newark as well. So we, um, my parents, bought and sold a couple of houses throughout those years, like you know, like in the 70s and the 80s, and um, and they did, they did good with that, you know, and that was part of like their American dream, you know, and that's how they built a little bit up for everybody to kind of have a foundation now of you know who, who we, we kind of are now and um, and so part of her whole thing too. So she was so driven, you know, when I went to college she actually signed up for college and it was like a big deal because, you know, my father's like you're gonna go to college, like he was just adjusting to me going to college, but he was all for it and he's like you're gonna go to college. And so at the time we lived in Union, you know, which is up North, and came, came college, as it was called. Then my mother started taking classes at Cain and then she just like got so kind of like entrenched in college and she loved it. So she ended up getting her bachelor's degree from Cain College. So well, now it's Cain University.
Speaker 2:But so she really like took on the American kind of, you know, persona and the dream and that was part of what she really wanted to accomplish. So not only did she work all the time, but she also went to college and it was like such a big deal. And when she graduated, you know we were all like my father's standing there. My father's a man, a few words. He was just like it was pretty good. She finished college. So you know, so we're proud of her. She's like she's 81 and you can't keep her down, you know. So she's actually in Italy right now and you know. So she goes back and forth because her sister you know her and her sister kind of like try and stay connected as much as possible.
Speaker 1:So when she goes back, so her sister still lives there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, her sister's there and you know. So they go and she goes and I said well, what are you gonna do? What are you guys gonna do? She's like we just, you know, we just sit, and you know, like that's what Italians do, like they just like, sit, they have their tea, they'll have their food, then they rest.
Speaker 1:So, hey, I can't think of anything better than to be in Italy eating food and resting. So it's a good like, and she goes on by herself on the plane and everything.
Speaker 2:Thank God yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, fabulous.
Speaker 2:You know so, but we keep, you know, we keep tabs on her because I'm like, all right, call when you do this, call when you do that, and then you know like everybody's there, so she's not alone, so that's, that's like the most important part of all of it, right, but she doesn't, she doesn't. If you look at her and you see how she is, like she's not a typical like 81 year old, like she's, she's got a big pep in her step. So, thank God, and you know, at this, at this stage, you know, seeing how, like you know, my father, when he passed away, like he just felt, like there were so many things he still wanted to do. So now I feel for her, you know, keep going and you want to be in Italy.
Speaker 1:Who's?
Speaker 2:gonna say anything at this point. Go and enjoy yourself, you know. So that's, that's so. Yeah, I just spoke with her this morning and she was just telling me, like you know, all about her food and what she's been doing. So I'm like, all right, sounds terrible, I got to go.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, italian moms, I guess, and grandmas are what they used to be. When I was growing up, you know my, my, my dad's mother was the typical, you know, black dress, bun, the whole deal. My mom's mom was the atypical Italian grandmother. When my grandfather died she wore the black for three days and then she put on the print dress or, you know, house dress, and that was that was her. You know, that was her way and you know she, she, she didn't subscribe to, I guess, the normal thing back then. But you know, I remember going to the churches and and Corona Queens, and it was filled with little old ladies wearing black.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the staple and you know, and, and when my mother is here she's a little less like, you know, around those rules, but when she's in Italy, like, she still abides by, like, the traditional like you wear. You wear black because technically, you know, we're still in mourning it. You know, like, and you do that for respect of you know which. You know mainly the wives do it, but you know the husbands it's, it depends if the women do it more than the men.
Speaker 1:Well, I grew up with the, you know the, the three day funerals, you know, and oh yeah. Twice a day, three days, that was. That was you know standard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's and that's interesting too so like culturally, like there in Italy, they won't they keep. They keep the person in the house. So like when the person passes, like the person stays in the house. They don't do what we do here, which is, like, you know, funeral home and three days, like two days, wake, like there. It's like, if you know the person, you go to the house, the person is there, you visit the person and it's a quick window because they don't do what we do here with, like all of the preparation of, like you know, the past person and things like that. So it's, it's definitely culturally night and day, you know.
Speaker 2:And and if we're talking about Italian and Italian American culture, this, this is where it's interesting, because we almost have to.
Speaker 2:You know, like there's so many layers to Italian American culture, because this is who we are here and so like we still kind of like respect all these traditions that we came from Italy with. But it's like so if I tell my family there like what, what I've done, or something relating to that, they're like wait a minute, but you're you, you you have somebody out for three days, and things like that, and I'm like that's, that's what that we're American, but that's what Americans do you know? Like that's our culture, the Italian American culture here, right, is like oh, you have the big repass and every there's like it's all my food and catered and all these things there. It's like it's kind of like a bad taste to like be so gluttonous with food and you know you, it's really like people are really focused on just like the empathy and the sympathy of of what has occurred. So it's definitely it's an education, always, at all times, you know it's it's very interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I hear you. You know, a couple of trips back was was that kind of thing, but that's a good segue into the Italian American girl. You know, I think you started about 15 years ago. So why? Why did you do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so about around like 2008 and 2009,. Like this is when social media started sprouting and I had a, I had a moment where and this is before we started seeing like Italian Americans on social media, because if you go on social media now, you get bombarded by all of these like quote unquote influencers who are Italian, italian American, more Italian American. So my reasoning for for doing that so at that time I was working for the Discovery Channel, so my background is in broadcast media and you know so, I've been a TV producer in my many past lives and so during that timeframe I was working at the Discovery Channel and you know so, I really was just in this moment of trying to create a space where I could start really connecting with other Italian Americans and and education was an important component of it for me, because I had this education background with working at the Discovery Channel, and I just felt like I really needed to put more together, and this is before Facebook, so I wasn't able to like put groups and things together. So it was completely from the ground up. You know, how do I, how do I bring more Italian American people together or how do I start collecting information that would be helpful for Italian Americans and even you know, in the Tri-State area, because at the time you know, you're always seeing just maybe like the national organizations and and sometimes the national organizations are so big that it's hard to like, like you said, you just joined an Italian American club locally. It's hard to get like the information or the connection. Now it's not hard, you can connect on Facebook. Let me look up Italian American club Mammoth County or you know whatever county you're in and you find it.
Speaker 2:So when I built the site then I thought to myself I have so much content from all of the times I've been in Italy. There was so much I wanted to say because I really feel like it's hard. You know someone in my position. You know, as first generation having to go to school, you know, maybe not fully always speaking English, you know I speak English and Italian. So I just felt like how do I? I want to know other people who are like me and and it's like little did I know that we are so many? And so back then I just didn't.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I grew up in Union, which is a city suburb. It's about 30 minutes outside of New York and it's close to Newark. But everybody in that town was very blue collar and from all different backgrounds, not necessarily Italian or Italian-American. So I grew up very much surrounded by a diverse community, always, but not specific Italians. So that was my main reasoning for creating the site. I was like, let me put this together, let me see what I can kind of build and then see what kind of community I can have connected with me. And from there I started connecting with so many amazing people and it was like this domino effect because the more I started updating the Italian-American site again, facebook wasn't a part of the equation at that point, so it wasn't like I was putting content and then sharing it out and saying, hey, everybody come look, it was really like someone going on Google and seeing if they find an Italian-American and I would come up on the Google search. So I really met and created a huge community of people.
Speaker 2:I mean, at that time my web traffic was like through the roof and then, a couple of years later, I decided, when Facebook and then Twitter and then YouTube became more prevalent, I created all of the other supplemental pieces and so from there I have like over 50,000 kind of, I guess, friends from around the world who just constantly are either interacting with me, I get to share educational information, I get to share cultural stories. That was one of the biggest things was stories, because there's so many people who have amazing stories about growing up Italian-American and I think that it gets very diluted, especially now, right, because you have mass media where you see fictional characters I'll leave out names and things but you see fictional characters of lifestyles or of perhaps maybe some things are true and we have to respect some of those things that are true, because we can't deny history or things like that, because some of these things do occur and are real things. But what has happened with mass media and social media? It's diluted the idea of Italian-American, italian, italian culture, education. All of it has kind of like gotten really muddy. And it's scary because what I created the site for back then was about connecting with people who were like-minded from our culture, and I did meet all of those people and I still have them interacting with me. But now I'm seeing a different type of culture kind of emerging and that's like the younger generations and the probably third or fourth generation Italian-Americans who just think that Italian-American means a hit HBO TV show, that's. Maybe there are nuances of culture that have to do with New Jersey culture, tri-state culture, which you can't deny, like we are a certain way from New Jersey, we do speak a certain way, we do eat a certain way, we do visit certain things.
Speaker 2:So the site now, for me, and like my goal now is to re-emerge and kind of educate everyone a little bit more, reintroduce the education of Italian-American. We have to respect the different layers of Italian-American. So I'm first generation. Yes, am I closer to like those pieces of the way my parents came here and it's almost like the time capsule pieces. Yes, I'm closer to it. But I also have to respect the second, third, fourth, fifth generations, because these are the people who settled in the 1800s, their families, right. So they built America, as we say. It's like the Italians built America between, like infrastructure and all those things.
Speaker 2:So why did I build the site? Italian-american girl? Because I just think it's really important. It's really important to put in the layer of education the best way possible that I can contribute my part and I think that I have a valid voice because of what I come from and also my American culture, my American background and the fact that I've invested my background. My parents spent money on college for me and I went to college and I've always had these amazing, wonderful jobs. I've always worked for Fortune 500, amazing places. I've had great mentors. So I'm at a level now where I think it's my responsibility to almost start reintroducing and inserting myself to educate more on Italian-American culture. So that's the long, short version, bob.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know exactly where you're coming from, because when I started doing my family research, I was just doing my own thing and finding what I found.
Speaker 1:But you're right about the stories, because I started thinking well, I have stories, other people must have stories, and their stories are probably similar to mine, maybe completely different, but I don't know. So when I did the blog, when I first started the blog, it was one way I was just regurgitating everything that I saw and knew, whatever, and that's why I started doing the podcast and then eventually putting on YouTube, because the stories are fascinating and there are differences between the generations from my parents' generation to my generation, who grew up in the 50s and 60s surrounded by Italian-Americans I mean my grandmother's neighborhood. There was nothing but Italian-Americans there as opposed to someone like you or my friend Tildi that I'm gonna interview next month, who's also first generation, but my age. So the stories are a little bit different. But I'm terrified and there are some others like me that we're gonna lose our connection to Italy and that's what I'm trying to promote as much as I can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's really. I think not everyone can probably get to Italy in their lifetime. I mean, maybe they can, and that's like a wonderful investment and moment for someone, whether you have just interest or you have like you come from it. Yes, it is scary because I think that there's a lost, that's the main lost story, because it's what we're trying to do too is put education into the school systems, right. So you have organizations Italian-American organizations that are working really hard to then implement the education and the curriculum into schools to make sure that there's a layer of education.
Speaker 2:Oh, italy, where is that located? We're talking history 101 and geography and really making sure that there's historical context. So if you're on social media now and you're looking at the world news, right, and does anyone know where Italy is in proximity to any of these war zones? Do we know that Italy is part of the European Union? Do we know that Italy is an ally to the United States? I will bet you the bank if you asked any Italian-American any of these like top four or five questions, they'd be like, well, maybe I don't know, or where is you know? Maybe they do, but I'll bet they don't know as much. Just because there's no education too, us being connected to Italy or what it stands for for us.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and the art and the culture going back 2000 years is just phenomenal. And what also kind of bugs me is that we know so much about all the other European cultures because they've made movies about the kings and queens of England and Spain and France and all of this kind of stuff. They very rarely do anything like that for us and when they do, it's baloney. And I was thrilled that they're remaking the leopard now in Sicily, which I can't wait for because that's 70 years old. The original movie and it's just was 90 minutes or whatever it was where this is gonna be a series. And, like my friend Adriano from the Amante TV who's putting a lot of stuff out there, I'm trying to get people. Even if you don't understand the language, you get it when you start seeing this stuff and it reminds you of at least me, of where you came from and I think that's really important for people to connect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think it who you are actually really in my experience, right, it's like who I am is how I interact with you. Who I am is how I show up when I'm at a meeting for a very high level, meeting for my job, when I'm doing something that's important. How I interact and how I treat people has everything to do with how I grew up, and even religiously so, and that could mean in a different nuance. It's like, well, do I forgive people? So, and that has everything to do with how you do business and how do I interact and should I have more empathy? And as a leader, do you have empathy?
Speaker 2:And these are all things I learned because of my background and because of the connection to being from Italy and it's fascinating because I do this comparison all the time, because my mother raised us to obviously be religious, because we grew up very Catholic and she was like the CCD teacher, so really it's everywhere, like in the house we grew up in, she had statues of Jesus and Badra Biel, everywhere, and still does.
Speaker 2:So these are all connective pieces that really determine how you are as, how I am as a person now and how I interact with the world, and so I think it's so important to unravel, like you're saying they're gonna remake, even like an important film. It's like it's so important to unravel all of those pieces and determine or give that prime time kind of like availability to the story so you can see it, so it exposes everyone to oh, that's why this is that way, or this is why we built that, or this is why so-and-so interacts this way. Or I think it has everything to do with your core DNA of just like Margaret. Interacting with the world has everything to do with where I come from.
Speaker 1:Everything yeah, and the other thing, one of the big cultural differences, I think, between here, not necessarily Italian Americans, but Americans in general, and there they don't forget the past. No, they're still living the past, three 400 years old, the same food, the same place, the same festivals, everything you know, and they're so proud of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Bob, you know, if you so, if I go back to, like my parents' hometown, you say from a hundred years ago, like the streets are from a hundred years ago if you have a modern car. And so this is the true story. I rented a car one year and it was a larger like station wagon type car, and I got it only because there were a couple of us there from my family. So I figured, let me get the bigger car. But problem number one, I got an automatic and they all were like, oh, how dare you get an automatic Right? But I had. I couldn't, I didn't have enough time to do the crash course for a manual, and so I was like, let me be safe and get an automatic.
Speaker 2:But I will tell you, even driving in the street, okay, I had to adjust, like my brain, to drive in the streets that were made for a hundred years ago, a litter or more than that, because they don't, you know, they keep the posterity of history intact, so they're not gonna change because you're driving a hybrid electric station wagon. They're like, go around the monument, my friend, like figure out how to adjust the car and the streets are so small there. The streets are small because it's still from, you know, many hundreds of years ago and so, to your point. You know that's like a concrete, real example of like the pieces not moving or changing there, and so it's like we have to adjust but we maintain the posterity of like the historic pieces that remain there. You know it's like you don't change that, you leave that. You know, if it's not broken, don't I mean, they maintain things but it's like, yeah, you don't undo 200 years of history at all.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and you know our driver in Naples, he had like a I don't know a 10 or a 12 seat minivan or something like that, and he's going down these streets and backing up and I'm like jeez, you know, I wouldn't drive anymore. I don't even like driving here. I drove when we were there 25 years ago and drove the Amalfi Coast, which was quite an experience for sure. Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean my mother was like are you sure you want to drive? I was like I'm fine, you know, because I would always drive into New York. So like I kind of was like a little like cocky maybe, I think, and so but when I started driving there and I'm on the Aldo Strata and I'm like on all these, like you know, I'm trying to follow their rules, I was like this is hardcore driving here. Like you have to really prepare yourself If you're going to rent a car there.
Speaker 2:It's they don't mess around. You know it's a whole different ballgame driving there and they're a little riskier. You know they drive faster. They're like they'll like squeeze in places Like here we have the, like we have so much room, like with our streets and our highways, like we're very spoiled here If you go there. You're like I was like flipping in my windows. I would like tell my mother I'm like we'll wind it down, like flip the window in because people would like scoop by and I'm like, oh my God, you're going to hit the car. They're like no, we got room. I'm like next to no room.
Speaker 1:They're like it's fine, it's so funny so funny we learned in Naples don't try and dodge the Vespas, They'll go around you. If you try to get out of the way, you're going to get run over. Just let them do what they want to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so funny, so funny.
Speaker 1:So, before we go, we're going to have to do this, like you said, we'll have to do this live over Subwine someplace. But before we go yeah, before we go where can people get in touch with you? I'll find the Italian American girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's ItalianAmericanGirlcom. And then, if you want to find me on Facebook Instagram it's just the same Italian American girl. On Facebook, it's Italian American Girl, USA, as the URL is when you search. But I'm there, I'm on all social media. You know, like I said, ItalianAmericanGirlcom, and you know my name is Margaret Fontana and I also have Margaret Fontana, my professional kind of. You know what I do in media and marketing and all of those fun things, so you'll find me on Marg M-A-R-G Fontana. It's the same on everything. But this was awesome, this was so fun. Bob, I'm so happy you reached out. I was like so, so excited when you did.
Speaker 1:I can't believe it took us this long to find each other.
Speaker 2:I know you're right down the street literally, so this will be fun. We can definitely connect, you know, maybe in the summertime when it's it's. I can't wait for the weather to break and for it to be summer soon. Yeah, no, no I can't take the rain anymore.
Speaker 1:No, me too, and maybe maybe we get your mom on too. That would be fun. I'd love to have her on.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, She'll be all over that.
Speaker 1:She'll be excited.