Dawn’s Passion: Chicchi Club

Our chief marketing and communications officer, Dawn Marinacci, stays busy. She leads all of our marketing efforts at Ologie. She directs a sizable list of internal initiatives for our teams. She volunteers as board chair for We Amplify Voices, a local nonprofit with the mission to heal communities through creative expression. And she hits the gym with a consistency that the rest of us only aspire to. 

Yet that wasn’t enough for Dawn. In 2023, she and a few friends started the Chicchi Club in Columbus, Ohio. (That first word is pronounced “key-key.”) We wanted to learn more about this addition to her impressive list of activities, so we sat down with her to talk about it. 

What is the Chicchi Club?

The Chicchi Club is an Italian club for women in Columbus. You don’t necessarily have to be of Italian heritage to join, but our content and events are centered on facets of Italian culture. It’s really a social club at its core. 

Where does the word “Chicchi” in the name come from? 

We named the club after Teresa Mattei. In 1942, during World War II, she joined the Italian Communist Party, adopted the “battle name” of Chicchi, and became a courier in the partisan struggle against fascism. 

Once the war was over, Mattei was elected to the Constituent Assembly. She was the youngest of the 21 female members of parliament, and she became a member of the committee that drafted the republic’s new constitution. 

She worked hard to continue the struggle for women’s and children’s rights. She became the national director of the Italian Union of Women and introduced the use of the mimosa flower for International Women’s Day. That’s why the mimosa is the Chicchi Club’s official flower.

Is this a common type of club in other cities, or is the Chicchi Club the first of its kind?

There are men’s clubs, like the Columbus Italian Club, which is one of many Italian clubs in central Ohio. But they don’t accept women as members. Today, there are one or two other small women’s clubs in the region, but ours is the newest — and coolest! Ironically, we’ve established a great relationship with the CIC. We’ve had a couple of social events together, and the current CIC board has fully welcomed us into a more shared experience where it makes sense. It’s fun to see that tide change and be a part of it. At the end of the day, we have an appreciation and love for being Italian, so we have fun with it.  

What’s the story behind how and why the club was started? How did you become involved?

It all started with an idea between my dear friends and former Ologie colleagues, Sarah Corna Cygan and Danielle Deley. After creating a bocce team called the Meatballs (I’m the team coach), they both wanted to do more to celebrate the fun and love of being Italian. After their first meeting, they brought me into the fold. Together, the three of us sat down at Villa Nova Ristorante, in suburban Columbus, with a notebook and some serious passion. 

We meet every other week to continue sharing the vision and make our dream club a reality. We’re all very active members of the Columbus community and have a passion for spreading positivity, building camaraderie, and having a good time. And frankly, 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 wanted to have a place where women could build that same magic and tradition.

How has the club grown since it began?

Right now we have 60 members. We’ve only been accepting members since September 2023, so we feel good about where we are so far. We would like to have 100 members by the end of 2024. It’s a big goal, but we have a few big events this fall, so we hope that closes the gap a bit. 

What does the Chicchi Club mean to you?

It’s fun to reflect on the traditions of growing up in an Italian family. Building this club meant we could not only continue some of those traditions, but also make sure that everyone feels welcome and accepted. We all grew up in families where the women were in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning, but we’re also fully aware that times have changed, and that’s not only okay, but it’s the way it should be for generations of women moving forward. I jokingly tell Danielle and Sarah that this is what I’ll be doing once I retire — hanging at the Club! It’s not every day you can build something from the ground up with some of your favorite people. It’s been really fun and special. 

What are the Club’s goals? Are you looking to expand, host public events, something else?

We were founded on the principles of community (being a place of belonging and friendship), learning (providing opportunities to explore new experiences), tradition (upholding and updating cultural traditions), and fun (bringing joy, passion, and energy to everything we do). So we work to align our goals with these sentiments. 

We host events for members (and some that are open to the public) roughly seven or eight times a year. Activities include things like pasta making, wine and cheese pairings, learning about genealogy, playing in bocce leagues, and hosting happy hours. Ultimately we’ll have a physical space — it’s a big goal of ours — but that’s a few years down the road. Another goal is to get more involved in giving back to our community. We’re still getting our sea legs under us, but once we do, we’ll be unstoppable!