By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart
It’s common for SUNY Broome students to supplement their studies with full and part-time jobs. Most students, however, aren’t employed by a third-generation family-owned business – much less, one that’s been a Binghamton staple for eight decades. When Business Administration: A.S. student Alexandra (Alex) Lisio isn’t busy earning her degree at her community’s college, she’s working alongside her close-knit family in one of the area’s most beloved eateries, Little Venice Restaurant. How does she balance it all? Excellent time-management skills, a supportive family, and an appreciation for the region that raised her.
Lisio is as Parlor City as they come. A proud product of the Binghamton City School District, she flourished both in the classroom, and on the soccer and lacrosse fields. When she wasn’t shining as a Patriot, she could undoubtedly be found downtown at her second home, Little Venice. There, surrounded by fellow Lisios, she learned the art of the family business: to feed generations of friends and neighbors, and feed them well!
“I officially started working at Little Venice when I was 14, but I basically grew up at the restaurant,” Lisio laughed. “My great uncles opened the restaurant in 1946. Since then, my grandparents, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and now my brothers and I, have all worked together. It’s definitely special to have three generations of family working towards something we all love and believe in.”
With entrepreneurial spirit in her blood, Lisio devoted her senior year at Binghamton High School (BHS) to Broome-Tioga BOCES’ New Visions Business Academy. After completing rotations at five very different local employers (including SUNY Broome’s Office of Marketing & Communications), she was pleased to discover the wide range of opportunities in the Southern Tier for young professionals.
Between her New Visions placements, and regular shifts as a server in the restaurant’s main dining room, Lisio managed to tour several SUNY campuses. But at each visit, she left asking the same question: “Could I transfer from SUNY Broome?”
For Lisio, SUNY Broome checked all of her boxes. She could explore her academic options freely, and not worry about the ramifications of changing her program. She could study affordably, thanks to the more than 300 internal scholarships available to students. Most importantly, she could spend two more years in the region she loved, building connections with peers from all throughout the community.
“I think a lot of people assume that students study at SUNY Broome because it’s their only option, but that’s not the reality,” Lisio explained. “I was accepted to five other SUNY schools, but none of them called my name like SUNY Broome did.”
Not only did SUNY Broome call her name, it also warmly welcomed her as a Presidential Honors Scholar. The combination of her academic excellence (ranked #4 in BHS’s Class of 2025) and extracurricular engagement, made her a well-deserving beneficiary of a full-tuition scholarship.
Lisio arrived at SUNY Broome with a cautious plan to focus her first semester purely on her studies… that, and clock 30 hours a week at Little Venice and a new, related endeavor, the Little Venice Sauce Plant. Interestingly, as the semester progressed, Lisio realized that her classroom theory and real-world practice consistently aligned.
“I really enjoyed finding the connections between what I learned in class, and what I experienced at the restaurant and the sauce plant,” Lisio said. “My Financial Accounting I class reminded me that quality accounting is at the core of every business, and I definitely learned as much as I could about the importance of contracts from my Business Law I class. Contracts are a huge component of our work in the sauce plant.”
Lisio can often be found studying in the library or in the Math Lab in between classes. Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
A typical day for Lisio during the fall semester consisted of classes from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., with breaks in between lectures to study in the library and seek support at the Math Lab. From there, she’d zip downtown to serve mouthwatering dishes of pizza, pasta, and chicken cutlets to masses of hungry locals. Thursday, her lightest academic day, brought her to campus for one class, after which she’d devote hours to cooking, bottling, and packaging Little Venice’s signature sweet, chunky marinara, and tomato basil sauces. The result? A nearly perfect first semester GPA, a spot on the President’s List, and a community well-fed.
Though technically just in her first year, Lisio knows that it’s never too early to develop a transfer plan. Thanks to the Business Administration: A.S. program’s extensive articulation agreements, she has her pick of guaranteed transfer admission to top business schools across the state.
“I have a really great academic advisor, Jessica Pionteck, who knew from our first meeting that my goal was to transfer to earn my bachelor’s degree,” Lisio explained. “She’s kept that in mind during all of our subsequent meetings, and that’s shaped how we’ve picked my classes for future semesters. She also helped me to make the most of all of my transfer credits that I earned in high school.”
Lisio doesn’t know what her academic and professional future will hold, but for now, she’s excited to build a foundation at the college in her beloved backyard.
“You could give me 100 options of what my future would look like, and I would believe you,” Lisio said. “I’m just thankful for these two extra years in Binghamton at SUNY Broome to help me find my way.”
Alex’s Advice for Future Broome Students: “All students should definitely apply for scholarships through the SUNY Broome Foundation! Not all of them are based on academic performance, so there’s something available for everyone. Every penny counts when it comes to paying for college!”
Alex’s Favorite Campus Resource: “Math is not my strong suit, but I had to take a math course during my first semester. I spent a lot of time in the Math Lab before and after class, and it made the semester so much more successful!”
Lear more about SUNY Broome’s Business Administration A.S. degree!
Lisio works alongside her close-knit family at Little Venice Restaurant in downtown Binghamton. Photo Credit: Matt Ebbers
Tags: Business and Professional Studies Division, Business: Business Administration AS, MarCom, Presidential Honors, Profile, Student Profile, SUNY Broome Foundation, Women's History Month
