Bio
Yvonne Marchese is the Founder and President of The Lita Project®, a 501-c3 non-profit dedicated to serving at-risk people through safe employment.
Marchese, born and raised in New Jersey, retired at the end of March 2021, after a 44-year career in the marketing and advertising industries in New York City, Atlanta and Phoenix. For 21 years, she ran Marchese Enterprises, a highly successful, award winning secular advertising agency in Phoenix. During the company’s tenure, Marchese was honored with numerous business and civic awards including Phoenix Media Director of the Year (twice), Nationwide Vision Partner of the Year, Domino’s Pizza President’s Award, and other business, creative and innovation awards. Her work has been featured nationally on Oprah and three episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Feeling the call to work more routed in her Catholic faith, Marchese closed her company and accepted the positions of Executive Director and Director of Marketing of Catholics Come Home and Virtue Media, both faith-based apostolates based in Atlanta. She was recruited to these growing non-profits to elevate the organizations from an entrepreneurial model to internationally known and respected organizations.
Three years later, having met the goals and expectations of the Boards, Marchese joined a start-up Catholics consulting firm in Atlanta called Carmel Communications. The company specializes in promoting a faith and family culture, particularly those which bridge the gap between the sacred and the secular. Her role was to lead and grow the advertising division of the company. Over the years, Carmel has successfully marketed and promoted films like Unplanned, I Can Only Imagine, Paul Apostle of Christ, Fatima, Breakthrough, I Still Believe, The Star, and many others. Additionally, Carmel is responsible for the marketing of books and films published and distributed by Ignatius Press.
Having achieved all she hoped for in her career, Marchese has now turned to the passion of her life: to work with communities at risk – those living in the fringes of our society.
THE LITA PROJECT® is a transition point of employment re-entry for those graduating recovery programs, and others, in preparation for full immersion back into the general work force. The mission of THE LITA PROJECT® is to employ at-risk people allowing them to survive and thrive in a safe work environment, take care of their children and restore dignity to their lives while empowering them to be the best version of themselves and launching them to productive and successful lives.