By Rick Hynum | Photos courtesy of Christy Alia
A man taught Christy Alia how to make pizza when she was a little girl. Her grandfather, specifically. But she knows she could have just as easily learned it from a woman. Despite the well-worn maxim that the world’s best cooks are all men—no doubt some dude made it up—women have been feeding the world delicious food since time immemorial.
Somehow, though, pizza evolved into a business that was perceived as almost exclusively for men. Not anymore. And Alia deserves a huge amount of credit for the shift. She founded Women’s Pizza Month in March 2021 and has powered the movement forward with her popular Instagram account (@realcleverfood), her unique recipes (she invented the Pincho-style pizza in 2024), and her dynamic voice and presence industrywide, from trade show and podcast appearances to teaching classes at Pizza University.
Two years ago Alia took Women’s Pizza Month to a new level in a partnership with Corto Olive Co., Stanislaus and Pizza University. In the annual “For the Love of Pizza” contest, five aspiring pizzaiolas will receive scholarships to attend the master class of their choice at Pizza University. According to Corto’s website, it’s all about “celebrating the next generation of women pizza pioneers” who are “dedicated to mastering the art and craft of pizza.”
Scholarship applications will open on March 1 and can be submitted through April 15. Click here to apply.
Additionally, pizza chefs can purchase the Chef’s Essentials Kit, which includes four 16-ounce jars of Piccolo Datterini Baby Plum Tomatoes from Stanislaus and one 500ml bottle of TRULY 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Corto.
As Women’s Pizza Month kicks off on March 1, we sat down with Alia to learn more about how it started and how it has changed the pizza community. (This Q&A has been lightly edited for conciseness and clarity.)
PMQ: So how would you describe the impact that Women’s Pizza Month has had on the pizza community over the past six years?
Alia: It keeps evolving. I was one of the newbies in the pizza community in that first year, and it allowed me to meet other people, bring people together and build our own community. It encouraged more women to reach out and say, “Here I am, a woman making pizza.” And every year that community has been growing. And it’s both men and women. The men are an important part of it—sometimes I don’t think people realize that. Between men knowing and supporting other women in the pizza community or wanting more women—their daughters, wives and others—to join the pizza community, Women’s Pizza Month has become really important to men, too.
And now with the scholarship and the involvement of Corto and Stanislaus, it’s become life-changing. Women who have won the scholarships are now in managerial roles or they’ve taken the leap to brick-and-mortars. Natalie Disabato (pictured below with Alia) opened up Traze as a brick-and-mortar in Long Island City. I was lucky enough to be able to work with her there. Another winner is managing a new pizza business in Austin, Texas.
I feel like it’s empowered these women. They feel like they have built a community and a network. It makes women feel braver to know that someone has their back. I personally feel lucky to have really good connections in the community, and I love to use those connections to help other new pizza community members, both men and women. But, of course, my passion is to help women.
PMQ: Yeah, of course. So what is your background? Tell me about that.
Alia: It began when I was a little girl when my grandfather taught me how to make pizza. Professionally, I have worked in real estate for most of my life. Then, during COVID, I was just like everyone else—looking for a sense of community. I started posting my pizzas on Instagram, and people were asking me questions about them. I started to do tutorials, and it just kind of snowballed from that.
So now I’ve been doing catering, teaching a lot of private classes. I’ve taught at Pizza University. I’ve worked at pizzerias. I wear a lot of different hats lately, but I’d say pizza is now my profession. I’ll probably never move entirely out of real estate, but I like to think of myself as being more in the pizza industry now than in real estate.
PMQ: When you started Women’s Pizza Month, what were your expectations? Did you expect it to become this big?
Alia: No, it was about having fun and celebrating women during Women’s History Month. The way I looked at it, we have Women’s History Month and there’s one International Women’s Day, and people would acknowledge that a little bit. But I felt like it wasn’t enough, and I didn’t see it connected to pizza too much. So, why not use Women’s History Month to also celebrate pizza?
But I had no expectations at all. It’s actually blown my mind how big it’s gotten and how much it means to the community. For so many people, it’s what they look forward to all year. We have people who never go on Instagram anymore except during Women’s Pizza Month. They come back just for that. A number of people only post during Women’s Pizza Month.
PMQ: I’ll admit that PMQ didn’t feature women nearly as much as we should have on our covers until Women’s Pizza Month started. And that wasn’t because we didn’t think women deserved to be covered. It was mostly men who came to us about being featured. But with this movement, we started finding more and more women pizza makers and owners on Instagram, and now I feel like we have a good mix of women and men on our covers every year.
Alia: Yeah, I’ve noticed that with your magazine, and I absolutely see more representation on your pages. [That representation] is absolutely necessary. It’s important for women to see themselves represented and to feel like they’re a part of this community. I don’t think it was ever anyone’s intention to make people feel excluded. But I do think it’s important for those of us who have a bigger network to open doors for the people who might not feel part of that community.
What’s really nice about the pizza community is that everyone is always looking for more people to join it. It’s one of the best communities in the world. But I don’t think a lot of people realize how friendly and accepting it is. So I think Women’s Pizza Month is like an invitation to join us.
PMQ: I agree totally. So tell me about the scholarship. What’s happening with that?
Alia: Just like years past, we’re going to have five winners who will have the opportunity to go to Pizza University, where they can pick any class they want. These are world-class teachers. Whether you’re interested in taking a class with women instructors or starting a brick-and-mortar or learning specific styles of pizza, you can figure out what you want. It’s also a great way to become a part of a strong network of women because people pay attention to these scholarship winners. Corto and Stanislaus are obviously paying attention and want to meet these women. But leaders from other industries do, too. Gozney always wants to know who the winners are and has done some great things for the winners.
PMQ: Do the winners tend to already work in the pizza profession, or do they want to get into the profession?
Alia: We have a mix of people. We’ve had winners who were running pop-ups, women who were running the behind-the-scenes at restaurants, women from other food industries. Probably the most common are people who do pop-ups and are looking to take that next step. We do exclude people who already own a brick-and-mortar because they probably already have access to education and networks that some other women don’t. The judges look at the different scholarship applicants and try to see who would benefit the most from it. And I think the judges have done a really good job every year.
PMQ: I know that every year during Women’s Pizza Month, you’ve asked pizza makers to create a specialty pizza in honor of a woman who has influenced their lives or inspired them in some way. How has that caught on?
Alia: Every year it grows. It’s funny because each year, I’m, like, “Is anyone going to do this?” And then everyone is so excited to do it, including people I didn’t expect to get involved. There have been some really heartwarming dedications—women to other women in the industry, men to their wives or other industry women that inspire them, people who memorialize a loved one they’ve lost. People really pour their hearts into it. Some people dedicate pizzas just to women’s rights in general. It’s pretty incredible.
PMQ: OK, one last question: I know women are reaching out to you now and telling you their stories. Does any one story that you’ve heard in past years stand out? Have certain stories touched you?
Alia: I think it was during the second or third Women’s Pizza Month that I did a dedication to a certain woman pizza maker. She was going through a really, really tough time in her business and personally. She was really down, almost thinking she was going to quit the business. Sometimes, when you’re in a really bad place, you feel isolated, alone and not seen. For her, I think just being seen and acknowledged gave her that energy and motivation to feel like things were going to get better. And that’s what Women’s Pizza Month is about: making women feel seen—acknowledging them, uplifting them and empowering them.
It’s important to practice gratitude. A lof of people might think this [female pizza maker] is great, but we don’t always tell that person how great they are. So I feel like this is a great opportunity to do that.
Rick Hynum is PMQ’s editor in chief.
