About Us

An Inter-generational Conversation
Stilettos & Sneakers

Stilettos & Sneakers assists women to develop the resilience to deal with failures of their personal and professional lives through the lenses of two powerful generations-millennials and baby boomers!

Stilettos & Sneakers purpose is to provide new insights, tips, and tools to women of all ages to understand better how to facilitate better communication and team building skills. This is timely as the millennial generation is now poised to exercise their influence over societal and economic trends, just as previously was done by the baby boomer generation.

Nicole Spiotta, a relatable female millennial, and her great aunt Janice Zarro, a baby boomer, share personal stories on failing. Failure-that thing women feel deeply but rarely discuss.

Failure is viewed through their essays, focusing on personal and public failures, self-confidence, the influence of an extended Italian-American family, relationships, life choices and consequences, non-traditional women, and hard and soft skills.

This millennial and baby boomer, though decades apart, discovered they share similar values and experiences. As products of their generation, they are activists but with different leadership styles, priorities, and approaches. Nevertheless, the challenges and desire for gender equality are the same.

Through the lens of a sneaker sports-focused millennial and high heeled legally trained baby boomer, failure is dissected with intimacy and humor.

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Nicole Spiotta, Great Niece, and Janice Zarro, Great Aunt

Who We Are

A millennial and a baby boomer sharing similar values and experiences

Janice Zarro

Janice Zarro

Nicole M. Spiotta

Nicole M. Spiotta

Janice Zarro is a lawyer, consultant and a former corporate and nonprofit executive. Her expertise includes leadership and women, government affairs and governance. She was the executive director of the Women’s Resource Center of Sarasota County, working with women seeking employment, education and entrepreneurial assistance.

Nicole M. Spiotta’s background is in student-athlete programs. She was an athletics graduate assistant at Millersville University and an assistant director of athletics and assistant director of summer and auxiliary programs at Gill St. Bernard’s School, where she created, scheduled and led all athletic programs for 23 varsity and sub-varsity teams. Zarro is her great aunt.