Linnea McHugh knows that spearheading change in government is a slow process, but she’s up for the task. McHugh is the chief policy officer for the Cook County Board of Review’s District 2, playing a key role in shaping policies that improve transparency, efficiency and equity in property tax assessment appeals and ensure fair property valuations across Cook County. “I was brought on to help address the  consistent communication issues which exist between the factions of government that oversee the property tax system to become more manageable  and successful through interoffice relations, to make sure that the Cook County District …

When Italian teacher Alessia Defraia earned a scholarship for an internship at the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago, she thought she’d spend about three months in the city. Eighteen years later, she is still there, having amassed an impressive breadth and depth of experience in her field. “I jokingly say I’m like the ‘Nutella of Chicago’ because I’m everywhere in the Italian teaching scene,” she says. Defraia is a part-time instructor at the University of Loyola Chicago, where she has taught elementary, intermediate and advanced Italian, teaching methodologies and Italian linguistics. She teaches Italian at the nonprofit ItalCultura, the Italian …

Born and raised in the Big Easy, Charles Marsala has helped transform the way the public views the city’s vibrant Sicilian past. From the time he spearheaded the recognition of Italian History Week when he was high school student council president, Charles Marsala has been steadfastly devoted to honoring the contributions of Italian immigrants in his native New Orleans and across Louisiana. Marsala has served as president of the American-Italian Federation for the Southeast since 2019, and established the Marsala Cultural Fund to support projects to memorialize local Italian American history in film, TV and historic markers. A businessman and …

For Tracey Tarantino, fashion is a constant, an integral part of daily life that naturally evolves with her activities and environment. “For me, fashion isn’t about adhering to ‘high’ fashion trends,” she explains. “It’s about expressing a personal, elevated and curated sense of form, fit and function that aligns with my lifestyle.” Tarantino is the founder and executive director of Zzazz Productions, a Chicago area company that produces fashion shows. The company produced the domestic traveling fashion show for United Health Care and the original live and video fashion shows for JourneyCare, Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind, Ingalls Hospital, Service …

From selling comic books as a kid to creating one of fashion’s first online giants, Federico Marchetti has lived his life at the intersection of creativity and commerce. Federico Marchetti, founder and former CEO of the online fashion retailer YOOX Net-a-Porter, recently published his memoir, “The Geek of Chic: An American Dream, Italian Style.” Featuring a foreword by the late fashion icon Giorgio Armani, Marchetti’s memoir describes his goal of blending American innovation with Italian craftsmanship. From a small town in Italy, Marchetti’s journey led him to work for Lehman Brothers, earn an MBA in the United States and establish …

Like many successful educators, DuPage High School District 88 Superintendent Jean Barbanente was inspired to embark on the profession by a wonderful teacher. Her Italian teacher at Maine South High School in suburban Chicago’s Park Ridge, Stella Martorana Weber, made Italian language, history and culture come alive for her students, Barbanente recalls. “She engaged us in a way I had never experienced before,” she recalls. “She truly cared about each and every one of us.  She motivated me not only to continue to study Italian, but to add additional languages to my studies, and to consider education as a professional …

Dan Brandolino’s involvement with the American Italian Cultural Society dates back so far, he can’t remember a time before it. “My grandparents were involved at the beginning and I was there since as far as I can remember,” he recalls. “I helped as a kid with little stuff, and started in the kitchen as a dishwasher for Friday night dinners and spaghetti dinners.” In May, Brandolino was elected president of the social and cultural club based in suburban Chicago’s Crest Hill. Now a resident of nearby Shorewood, Brandolino works as a sewer and water crew foreman for the construction company …

With nearly 40 years of experience practicing law, Chicago attorney Karen Conti is also an author and media personality who makes appearances on national and local radio and TV. Next on her list of goals: finishing her second book, upping her list of visited countries to 62, and hosting her own TV show. Conti, whose paternal grandparents were born in Italy, grew up in Berwyn, a suburb just west of Chicago. She graduated from Morton West High School and earned an undergraduate degree in political science and a law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I was always …

  Jim Distasio hasn’t missed the Feast of Maria SS. Incoronata in what is now Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood since he was a little boy. At first, it was top avoid incurring the ire of his grandfather, who expected every family member to be in attendance at the yearly tradition started in 1897 by emigrants from his ancestral hometown in Italy. “We had to make sure we were all there at the feast — cousins, aunts, uncles,” Distasio recalls. “If you didn’t show up, you better have a good reason why, because that was my grandfather’s day.” Nowadays, the longtime president …

With its genesis during a family trip to Italy, the dinnerware and home décor company Vietri has grown into the largest Italian importing company within the American tabletop industry. The company was co-founded by sisters Susan and Frances Gravely, who took their first trip to Italy in 1983, staying on the Amalfi Coast. “They went to lunch and found themselves captivated by the hotel’s colorful, handcrafted dinnerware,” the company’s website says. “The next day they arranged to meet the artisans at a nearby factory in the town of Vietri sul Mare. As they watched the artisans paint, glaze and fire …