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Anne Iasella's Bio
written by John SanGiovanni
Who, you might ask, is this amazing woman we keep hearing about?
Please read on to learn details about Anne's background, academic adventures,
and personal/professional interests...
Family Background
Anne Iasella (pronounced "i-SELL-ah" or "yeh-SELL-ah"
in Italian) is an adorable 28-year-old from Yakima, Washington. Yakima
is a small town about 3 hours east of Seattle, just over the Cascade mountain
range. Known for its production of excellent wines and a bountiful
harvest of apples and pears, Yakima is often called America's Fruit Basket,
producing enough annual produce to feed the world for a day (more Yakima
trivia available by request). Anne is the daughter of Dr. Mike and
Mrs. Linda Iasella, who together have started and grown the region's only
Periodontal practice. Mrs. Iasella is a registered nurse, but today
spends most of her time on various art projects, including award-winning
photography, quilts, and clothing. A devout Catholic, she is also
the organizer of Yakima's annual Day of Prayer. In his spare time,
Dr. I. has flawlessly restored five Corvettes, and enjoys fishing &
hunting throughout the beautiful northwest. In recent years, the
Iasella dental practice has been further cultivated by Anne's brother
John, also a Periodontist, specializing in implants. John's wife
Andrea is also a practicing dentist in town. I truly enjoy visiting
Anne's family, and as you can imagine, I make certain to floss before
my arrival.
Education, Travel, Adventures
Throughout her life, Anne as excelled in academics and athletics.
From youth through high school, Anne achieved excellent grades (insert
joke about her fiancé's relative GPA here), and she filled her
free time with tennis and various styles of dance. After high school,
she double-majored in English and Spanish at Notre Dame University, where
she graduated with honors. Multi-lingual and widely-cultured, Anne
has traveled throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, and parts of
Africa, and has lived in Chile and Puerto Rico while she studied abroad
and performed social work, respectively.
Writing & Design
Returning back to the states at the age of 23, Anne started working as
a staff writer for the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame.
Taking design courses in the evening, Anne discovered her love for information
design, typography, and mapping. To pursue these interests more
deeply, Anne attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a
Masters in Communication Planning and Information Design. Presently,
she does freelance design work for Notre Dame University, and for several
Seattle-based technology & design firms. A portfolio of Anne's
current work can be found at www.anneiasella.com, among which you'll find
an excerpt from her interactive timeline/map of Pittsburgh Graffiti, as
well as an AIGA-award-winning piece which relates human society to processes
in nature.
Diversions
My fiancé has a wide variety of interests and passions. A
gourmet chef, she often gets lost in an issue of Fine Cooking, or an episode
of Caprile & John's Kitchen, a popular cooking show on northwest public
television. Anne's taste in music varies widely, with particular
affection for the Motown classics of the 60s and 70s... clearly a girl
after my own heart. Whenever at her family home in Yakima, Anne
enjoys spending time with her two family dogs, Ginger (golden retriever)
and Princess (miniature poodle), the latter of which Anne affectionately
(and descriptively) calls "The Weed." Both Anne and John
enjoy foreign films, and also share a passion for the great museums of
New York and Europe. Before you start thinking that such interests
are too cerebral for our own good, I'll also mention our tendency to waste
countless hours playing video games together on the Xbox.
. . .
Hopefully, the only remaining question in your mind is, "How did
SanGiovanni land such a great catch?" Excellent question, one
that I ask myself daily. Seriously, I can't begin to describe how
excited I am for you to all meet her in person this October, and how fortunate
and proud I am to have Anne in my life.
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John SanGiovanni's Bio
written by Anne Iasella
Family Background:
With a last name like SanGiovanni, there is no doubt that John’s
family lineage intersects with Ellis Island and a world famous marinara
recipe. John’s, grandmother, “Nani”, came to the United
States from Italy when she was a girl. Eventually, she and her family
moved to Miami, where the entire extended family lived together in a house
that the SanGiovannis affectionaly call “The Big House”. It
was there that John’s mother, Peggy, met her soon-to-be husband,
Dick, a boarder in the house. Peggy and Dick worked together for more
than 40 years, he as a church architect and she as the office manager.
Together they have four children: Paul, Steve, Carla and John. The SanGiovanni
children are generally known for their outgoing nature, good humor, wit
and comedic antics. They are also known for their steadfast adherence
to Catholic family traditions bearing 7 SanGiovanni grandchildren: Julia,
Mark, Matt, Christopher, Barbara, Angela and Luke.
Education
John SanGiovanni's education is marked by a determined spirit and ability
to win over the masses. At the beginning of his sophomore year in high
school, John’s family moved to Orlando from West Palm Beach, Florida,
John’s childhood home. A week at his new school and John determined
that, despite not knowing a single classmate, he would run for class president.
In what will go down as the largest coup in Lake Mary High School history,
John won the election by a landslide with one witty and well-crafted campaign
speech. With that, John learned he had a knack for rhetoric, a skill that
would come in handy later as he persuaded an unwitting young graduate
student to succumb to his charms. After holding various leadership positions
throughout high school, John left for the big pond known as the University
of Florida. There, once again, my fiance used his persuasive arts to convince
computer science and advertising faculty to grant him a one-of-a-kind
hybrid degree. John now sits on the department’s advisory board
to oversee the curriculum for a major similar to the one that he created.
Technology
John possesses an innate love for anything small and digital. Professionally,
John creates user interfaces for small digital devices. Personally, John
possesses the largest collection of small digital devices this side of
the Mississippi. His collection spans the two cell phone/camera/pda devices
he carries at all times in his pant pockets to the Sony PSP* device that
is never far away. In his spare time, John enjoys his other technology
passion: evangelizing these small digital devices to unwitting bystanders.
In fact, he is so convincing that he has persuaded many to heed to his
advice and make “informed” small digital purchases. His fiancé
would like to thank John who, since she made his acquaintance, has come
into the possession of a small digital camera, small digital speakers,
a small digital phone/camera/pda and an enormous wealth of knowledge about
the small digital world.
* For those not familiar the PSP is a small gaming device
usually geared at those of a “younger generation”.
Diversion
When John is not creating, buying or evangelizing small digital devices,
he enjoys a wealth of other hobbies and interests. John, who wooed his
fiancée with his “all by ear” piano talents, has now
taken up a new hobby: Jazz. John, began his lessons in early January,
and has now mastered the circle of fifths. This series of notes is rehearsed
to the tic, tic, tic of the metronome. Metronome.exe, of course, software
that can be downloaded to a small digital device. John also enjoys a wide
variety of music and movies. John’s collection spans the Chemical
Brothers to Mozart to Ella Fitzgerald. John is also not afraid to admit
his love of showtunes, a fact that came up on John and Anne’s first
date, much to her surprise. If plied, John will voice his lyrical mastery
of “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and various songs from
“Westside Story”.
These and countless other attributes make John a unique,
fun, energetic person with whom I can't wait to spend my life.
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