Eleanor Imperato ’68

About

is a freelance writer, poet, and photographer. A member of the Dance Advisory Board since 2006, Eleanor (Ellie) served as its first president for the last six years. She is also an active member of the Queensborough Community College Fund Board and of the National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW).

Ellie is the author of Purple Sins, her second poetry collection which will be published this year. Richly illustrated with her original photographs, it will accompany an exhibit of these photographs at the QCC Art Gallery in Bayside, New York City. Her first collection of poems was titled Woman’s Work. Other books include Doors of Memory/Porte della Memoria, a bilingual memoir of her early years in Avella, Italy, in prose, poetry and photography. It was published in conjunction with a photographic essay by the same name that was exhibited in two New York City galleries. In Carving Life. Walrus Ivory Carvings from the Bering Sea, she shares her appreciation for the Alaska Inuit history and art, and her encounters with many of the carvers whose work was also exhibited at the QCC Art Gallery. In 2019, Ellie’s photographs of Tuscan landscapes were featured in a group exhibition sponsored by NOIAW, also in New York City.

Her professional life has included positions in sales, publicity, public relations and fundraising. As a Manhasset, NY community leader, she held positions as President of the Friends of the Manhasset Public Library and Executive President of the Manhasset School Community Association.

A graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a BA in English, Ellie received an MA in Liberal Studies from New York University, and a certificate in fundraising from the School of Professional Studies at New York University. It was at Marymount that a class taught by Janet Collins, the first African-American prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera, sparked her lifelong love of dance.