The past 6 years of my life have been a whirlwind of immense growth and humbling failure within the pizza industry. What may seem like an entertaining pastime to some, pizza making and running a restaurant has become my career and livelihood.
My first competition at 16 sparked an ember within me, full of curiosity and wonder at this new world outside the confines of our family restaurant. Being exposed to new flavors, new pizza styles, new ingredients – everything was eye-opening. I became more invested after my first win, a year later in 2020 at 17 years old in Columbus, Ohio. I continued to be drawn back to the adrenaline rush of competition – no matter how many times I told myself I was done. And with each time I dropped lower and lower on the scoreboard, I rallied myself through disappointment and shifted it into a learning opportunity to become a better pizzaiola.
(Submitted by Carmela Williams)
This lands us in March of 2026, earlier this year, as I was preparing with Paul to venture to Las Vegas for another competition. The 4 months prior, I had been trying to craft a Detroit-style pizza. I had to change plans so many times: longer mix time, oil versus lard, preferment versus no preferment, different flour ratios, different rising techniques, to parbake or not to parbake. It was exhausting, but I had put so much time and effort into this, surely it would pay off. I ended up placing 19th – good enough to say “I did well” but not good enough to podium or even reach the top 10. Defeat. Failure. Frustration.
Fast forward a few months – my husband, Jack, and I are leaving for Naples, Italy, to compete again, but this time at the Caputo Cup. We had such a hectic two months leading up to this trip, everything felt last minute. I did not have an opportunity to experiment like I did for Vegas, and as the departure date drew closer – I resolved I was just going to figure it out when we landed in Italy.
(Submitted by Carmela Williams)
Pivot #1 of the trip: our low-moisture mozzarella and pepperoni were thrown out at security. Both of those items do not exist in Italy. We spent the next 24 hours drafting and plotting in the airport and debating what we would want to use.
Pivot #2 of the trip: we got a hotel instead of an AirBnB – there was no refrigeration at all. Graciously, friends of ours let us use their space, but it created a new set of challenges by not having our ingredients near us.
Pivot #3 of the trip: we had to source every single ingredient abroad; this included everything from food items, to bowls, to storage containers. The only “food” we brought with us was our flour and oil to make our dough.
Pivot #4 of the trip: on the day of the competition, the electricity to the building we were cooking at was not strong enough to consistently power the ovens. Temperatures were fluctuating between 600 degrees and 350 degrees – and everything in between. It took incredible focus to manipulate the temperature, oven, and pizza to avoid undercooking and overcooking my pizza.
I never even tasted it. I had never tried it at the store. I executed it for the first time the day I competed – praying that it all worked and that I wouldn’t have off-balance texture or flavors.
We found out later the next night that I had won first place in the Americana Division in Naples, Italy. Surprise. Joy. Redemption.
Somehow, everything had worked out just as it had been meant to be. I consider all my previous failures as opportunities where I chose to become more refined and intuitive. It trained me to pivot, to adjust, to adapt, and to overcome the fear of failure.
(Submitted by Carmela Williams)
Antonio’s now obtains three World Championship titles: Paul Cataldo in 2019 – Traditional Division, Gemma Cataldo in 2023 – Traditional Division, and Carmela (Cataldo) Williams in 2026 – Americana Division.
I am absolutely jazzed to introduce my new pizza, The Miss Americana, to you all in the coming weeks! I am so proud to bring this title back to my home, my family, Antonio’s, and Elkhart. My greatest dream is to keep creating and growing; I cannot wait to see where we go from here. This is just the beginning!
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