As the city prepares to celebrate the inaugural Multicultural Parade & Festival, I have had the honor and duty of providing details of the event to the public on behalf of Mayor Tony George. In doing so, I began to think about my cultural background and how it has affected me personally.

Like most American millennials, my heritage is a melting pot. Growing up, I identified with my Italian lineage mostly because of my close relationship with my grandmother, Aggie Cuscela Hummel. As the daughter of Italian immigrants, she beamed every time I would announce “I’m Italian.”