About the Founders

It all started with an idea between friends and former colleagues, Sarah Corna Cygan and Danielle Deley. After creating a bocce ball team together called The Meatballs, they both wanted to do more to celebrate the fun and love that comes with being Italian. After their first meeting, they brought on another friend, colleague, and fellow Italian, Dawn Marinacci, who was The Meatballs team coach. Together, the three women sat down at VillaNova in Westerville, Ohio with a notebook and serious passion. They met every other week for more than a year to continue sharing the vision and start to make their dream club a reality. All are very active members of the Columbus community and have a passion for spreading positivity, building camaraderie, and having a good time. And, let’s be real: after years of watching our fathers, brothers, and cousins enjoy “guys” nights at their local clubs, where the women mainly cooked, cleaned up, and kept the place in order, we needed to have a place where women could build that same magic and tradition.

Meet the Board

We all have an Italian background and love getting together to share experiences, laugh til we cry, learn new things, and do something good for the community. Together we have decades of experience ranging from design, philanthropy, and marketing, to sales and business strategy. We’re thrilled to be putting our time, energy, and talents into something that will further build a strong community.

  • Sarah Cygan

    CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT

  • Danielle Deley

    CO-FOUNDER, VICE PRESIDENT

  • Dawn Marinacci

    CO-FOUNDER, SECRETARY

  • Taylor Deley

    TREASURER

  • Melissa Greenwald

    COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

  • Amanda Joly

    MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR

  • Sophia Corna

    PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

  • Ann Oliver

    PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR

  • Tara Allen

    DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

About Teresa “Chicchi” Mattei

It all begins with Teresa Mattei, aka “Chicchi” (pronounced Kiki). When World War II broke out she adopted the battle name of Chicchi when she joined the PCI in 1942, she became a courier in the partisan struggle against fascism.

Once the war was over, Mattei was elected to the Constituent Assembly. The youngest of the 21 female members of parliament, she became a member of the Committee of 18 that drafted the Republic’s new constitution.

She worked hard to continue the struggle for women’s and children’s rights. She established a children’s study centre in Milan and used her love of the cinema to found a cooperative that encouraged and assisted junior school and disabled children to make documentary films. Later, when she returned to live in Tuscany, she helped to create Radio Bambina, a radio station specifically for children. She became national director of the Italian Women Union (UDI) and introduced the use of the mimosa for International Women's Day. Mattei felt that the French symbols of IWD, violets, and lilies of the valley, were too scarce and expensive to be used in poor, rural Italian areas, so she proposed the mimosa as an alternative. The mimosa is Chicchi Club’s official flower.