Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
A recipient of a bachelor’s degree from Dominican with a major in journalism and minor in English, she is currently balancing the demands of an internet magazine that she founded with her reporting duties at TribLocal and Pioneer Press.
Pisano began her ambitious writing career at a very young age. “When I was 3 years old, my mom would always read books to me. I was so fascinated by books,” she recalls. “After a while my imagination grew, I drew pictures and would write the words.”
Pisano attended East Leyden High School, where she was the arts and entertainment editor for the school newspaper. Her passion for writing led her to pen her first book at 14, and by 15, she was self-published, with a novel titled, “The Decision.”
“In self-publishing, you have to do all the marketing yourself,” explains Pisano. Launching her own publicity campaign, she was interviewed on college radio stations as well as WGN radio with Steve Cochran. Pisano was named “Cochran’s Kid of the Week” and honored by Newspapers in Education, a campaign to encourage young children to read.
After a standout high-school career, she pursued her writing dreams at Dominican University. “I majored in journalism because that’s what my passion is,” she explains. “Everyone in my family wanted me to be a teacher.” While at Dominican, she took classes in journalism and English, which allowed her to delve into several dimensions of writing. By the time she was a senior, she had worked her way up to editor of the school newspaper, the Dominican Star.
And there was no let-up after she graduated from Dominican. Covering the Chicago Film Festival for Stumped Magazine, a local online film and entertainment magazine out of Oak Park, she learned a lot from her editor about landing important interviews.
She soon added writing for Pioneer Press and TribLocal to her resume, and began blogging about fashion, dating, love, reality TV and other topics of interest to young women. Seeing a broader potential for her blog, she expanded it into an internet magazine, dubbing it emme-magazine.com, hiring a web designer and becoming the CEO of her own corporation.
While she lines up sponsorship for her new enterprise, she continues to snag impressive interviews with reality stars, including “Bachelorette” contestant and model Gia Allemand. She also interviewed Albie Manzo, the son of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Caroline Manzo, garnering a scoop on his new water company, BLK.
Pisano also offers insights into relationships and shares general health advice via her website. One of her regular contributors is Dr. Carsi Hughes, a licensed clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. from Northwestern University who specializes in adult psychopathology, clinical neuropsychology and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. “Dr. Hughes was my psychology professor at Dominican and it’s great to include her expertise on my website.” Pisano says. “People are able to ask her questions and get a real expert’s advice.”
Pisano has several other interesting articles in the works for emme-magazine.com, including a possible interview with Food Network Star Jeff Mauro. She looks up to her grandmother and likes to stay true to her Italian roots. With that in mind, she has created a children’s book based on her grandmother’s experience of coming to America from Italy as a child.
Pisano continues to gain experience of her own while building an impressive resume. As a millennial, she is able to use her knowledge of technology to hone her writing abilities and reach a broader audience. “The publishing industry is incredibly competitive,” Pisano states. But, Pisano has the drive and guts to make her dreams come true.
