N a d i a K A R A J
l a f a m i g l i a
è t u t t o
My Italian upbringing has been instrumental in my creative career. I find myself constantly working on projects dedicated to my family and my culture.
Yes. That's me!
It took over 3 hours to be transformed into a traditional Calabrese Pacchiana. It was 95 degrees and I was covered in 7 layers of old wool linen. My very curly hair was pulled in every direction and vaselined into a Star Wars hair style and my shoes were 2 sizes too small but, the look on my grandparents face, as they admired the nostalgia of their past, made it worth all the discomfort.
Bella Vita di Francesco
A documentary in tribute to my grandfather's life.
Bella Vita
An album of my grandfather's favorite songs.
Sound Production by: Domenic Belcastro
Design and Art Direction by: Nadia Fioritto
creative manager
My grandfather opened Da Francesco's in 1991 (watch the documentary to learn more). This is more than just a family restaurant it is the glue that holds my family together. To say the least, I grew up here.
I began officially working at Da Francesco's in 2010, as a bus girl. I worked my way to become a hostess (2011), then carryout girl (2012) and then waitress (2013). In 2017, our restaurant moved into a new building. I took on the role as floor manager. While the rest of management attended to essential back of the house needs, I took the reins and created the guidelines to make the front of the house run efficiently. I developed seating charts, trained the new staff, created all organizational content, and tended to customer needs.
Once the organizational foundation ran smoothly, I evolved into the Creative Manager. As Creative Manager, I use my creativity to make business flourish. I am constantly solving problems with innovative solutions that improve business and boost employee morale.
THE WORK
italian twist on halloween
Halloween is one of the slowest days at Da Francesco's. To boost business and employee morale, I decided to let my creativity loose and put an Italian spin on Halloween. We declared October 31st as "DA'S-owleen" and invited customers to enjoy all their halloween festivities accompanied by authentic Italian cuisine.
