Several fellows (first-time attendees) and alums (returning participants) from Northeast Ohio attended IAFL, including members from ISDA’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Lodge, University Lodge and Inizio Lodge.
By Maria Costanzo, OLMC Lodge-Cleveland
In January 2025, I attended my first Italian American Future Leaders (IAFL) Convention as a “Fellow” (first-time attendee) over MLK weekend. This year, I returned as an “Alum,” which proved to be its own unique and meaningful experience. From the moment I walked into the hotel lobby, it felt like a big family reunion weekend. People I didn’t expect to remember me did, and we made a point to welcome the new fellows with genuine excitement. The Friday night opening reception is the perfect setting for this. Some of the strongest friendships begin that evening.
Last year, I met people from Middlebury, CT; Chicago, IL; Las Vegas, NV; and San Francisco, CA. A group of us even traveled to Chicago this past August to spend a weekend together celebrating Italian American culture. I was also reunited with friends from Pittsburgh, PA, whom I met while attending a Carnevale party at a Calabrese club. One of those friends was traditional Italian dance instructor Anna Harsh, whose group performed that evening. She later came to Cleveland to host a tarantella workshop with ISDA’s Inizio Lodge.
These friendships and connections that span the country are among the greatest takeaways from IAFL. Over just a few days, strangers become friends, and friends quickly become family. On Saturday morning, as we packed into the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., I was curious to see how the program would differ from my experience as a fellow the year before. I spent breakfast chatting with ISDA Chaplain Fr. Leo Camurati before joining the other alumni for a series of presentations. Topics ranged from thalassemia and its impact on the Italian community, to a culinary academy in Calabria and its love of n’duja, to Italian American heritage commissions and the Italian American Museum in New York.
After lunch, the alumni participated in a scavenger hunt designed to help us get to know one another, including finding people who, for example, make homemade wine, learned Italian as an adult, or (shockingly) don’t like pasta. Later, alumni took part in an engaging tarantella workshop with Ms. Harsh, while the fellows were taught by her colleague, Salvatore Guglielmo. We learned both the dance steps and the history behind them.
The evening concluded with a bocce tournament hosted by the Bocce Bros of Youngstown, Ohio, along with other games like Scopa. Sunday began with Catholic Mass in the hotel conference room, attended by so many participants that there was standing room only.
Alumni presentations that day explored topics such as what it means to be a 501(c)(3), Italian American “deserts” (areas with few cultural connections), and a historic piazza built in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles. When we rejoined the fellows, we shared a Mad Lib read aloud in different Italian dialects, with Fr. Leo singing his portion in Latin. We enjoyed the fellows’ short comedic videos produced as part of a social media initiaitve and came together to sing “That’s Life” in honor of IAFL President and Co-Founder John Viola.
The closing celebration once again felt like a 300-person Italian American wedding, complete with karaoke, dancing, and singing “Happy Birthday” to IAFL Co- Founder Pat O’Boyle. One especially meaningful aspect of the weekend unfolded during Saturday and Sunday lunches, when a group of us stayed behind to pray the rosary together. Last year, I was struck by how naturally conversations about faith emerged (sharing favorite saints, attending Mass together, and discussing the role of God in our lives). In September 2025, we formed a WhatsApp group called IAFL Brigata del Rosario, dedicated to praying a trilingual rosary each week together online in English, Italian, and Latin. It has become a place to pray with and for one another, share stories about the Church and the saints, and practice our languages.
Reflecting on how IAFL has impacted me personally, three themes stand out: community, faith, and new endeavors. This community is what brought me back to IAFL. The friendships formed here are lifelong, rooted in a shared passion for Italian heritage and a commitment to passing our traditions on to the next generation. While I was already active in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and its lodge, IAFL gave me a broader opportunity: to share God through service and leadership.
Since returning from IAFL last year, I was asked to join my parish council, where I’ve helped volunteer at events and contribute ideas inspired by insights shared by fellow Italian Americans across the country. Something unexpected over the past year has been my growing involvement in photography and journalism. I was fortunate to write an article about my IAFL experience that was published in both La Nostra Voce and La Serra, a newspaper shared with the town of Coreno in Italy. Since then, I’ve written additional articles for both publications, and my photographs have been used on numerous occasions. I also help document and manage social media for our parish festival at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Attending IAFL has truly changed my life, empowering me to tell meaningful stories and lead with purpose in my community.
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