Elizabeth works with a variety of organizations to implement this philosophy, including corporations, philanthropic groups, and schools. Her forte is making the impossible-possible by creating impactful experiences and events. Elizabeth, a native New Yorker, is passionate about social justice and improving her city.
Elizabeth has been invited to lecture around the world at various colleges, universities, and organizations, including the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and the United States Consulate General in Florence about her book, documentary, and the Be the Difference-Never Again program. She has successfully established for more than a decade the Be the Difference-Never Again project at Duquesne University in Rome and Harding University in Florence, where study abroad students learn about the injustices of World War II, the importance of the U.S. military, concepts of sacrifice, as well as exploring peaceful pathways to a world without war by learning individual soldier stories. The students pay homage to the over 16,000 U.S. soldiers buried at the two U.S. war cemeteries in Italy.
Recently, Elizabeth directed and executed awareness campaigns and action programs for the New York City
Department of Veteran’s Services, which included twenty World War II veterans honored at the New York Stock Exchange by General Mark Milley and through a takeover of major Time Square billboards including: Nasdaq,
One Times Square, Good Morning America, ABC/Disney, Morgan Stanley and more.
She arranged for 101-year-old veteran, Dominick Critelli Link needed, to ring the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange, Stephen Colbert to feature the veterans on his Late Show, as well as having these heroes honored by New York City Mayor Adams at a NY Giants game at MetLife Stadium.
A new tradition of honoring fallen New York City first responders was initiated by Elizabeth. She worked with important city and corporate stakeholders to display the photos of the fallen on the One Times Square billboard on the days of their funerals, a first for New York City. Additionally, Elizabeth developed awareness and fundraising projects for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, PBS Stories of Service, and the FDNY Foundation.
Elizabeth created marketing and public relations opportunities for her impactful book, It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust (Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins), a work that brings to light the little-known history of how many Jews were saved in Italy during the Holocaust. The book inspired the making of
a documentary, My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust (Netflix, Amazon Prime). She was instrumental
in raising over $1.5 million for producing the documentary.
Elizabeth is an advocate for Holocaust education and Jewish/Catholic relations with a focus on people being upstanders rather than bystanders.