Raffaelamarie Rizzo

RAFFAELA MARIE RIZZO is an award-winning author who was born in Southern Italy and raised in Connecticut. She learned English at school. She turns her passion for people, history, family stories, genealogy, and travel into compelling stories based on real people, facts, and locales, brought to life through her imagination and creativity. A former senior executive, she earned numerous awards in business and marketing communications. She earned an MBA from Jacksonville University and a BA in media studies from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. She has been a lifelong volunteer, helping those in need.

She recently published THANK YOU FOR THE SHOES, Anniversary Edition, which won a Gold Medal Florida Authors & Publishers (FAPA) 2026 President's Book Awards and the book was chosen as a winner in the 2026 International Firebird Book Awards, and in the NYC Big Book Awards as a distinguished favorite, and received an honorable mention in Readers favorites book awards.

She's currently working on her next book, a World War II historical saga of women navigating the upheaval in, Italy and in the USA. with the working title, "The Godfrey St. Girls" coming in May 2027.