Bernadette Giacomazzo (born Benedetta Rosalia Giuseppina Giacomazzo, 29 November 1977) is a journalist, photographer, publicist, author and television producer. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and The Daily Mail. She is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real-World, How-To Guide To Success (And Failure) in the Business of Music (In The 21st Century), and the author of The Uprising series of books, including The Gathering and the forthcoming Kings and Queens. In 2023, she contributed to Rowman & Littlefield's The Cultural History of Television Series, writing critically acclaimed books on In Living Color and The Golden Girls. Giacomazzo has also worked in various roles in the film and television industry and owns a marketing and publicity company, G-Force Marketing & Publicity.

Early life and education

Giacomazzo is the oldest of two children, born in Far Rockaway, New York.

Her father, Giuseppe Giacomazzo (1936–2009), was part of the Marseilles Mafia.^[1][2][3]

Her mother, the former Anna Maria Natalucci, is the daughter of Chef Paolo Natalucci, who had a number of restaurants in New York City in the 1960s and 1970s.

Giacomazzo graduated from Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset, New York. In 1999, she received a dual bachelor's degree in biology and classics from Duquesne University. She received a master's degree in humanities from Hofstra University in 2002.

Journalism

During her college years at Duquesne, Giacomazzo wrote for several online publications including In Music We Trust,^[4] autoREVERSE, StormBringer, The Indie Journal, Radio Stethoscope and RockZone. After graduating from Duquesne University in 1999, Giacomazzo returned to New York and began writing for The Island Ear, a Long Island-based music magazine.

When The Island Ear shuttered, Giacomazzo began interning at Astralwerks Records, where she worked on radio campaigns for such artists as Basement Jaxx and The Chemical Brothers.

In 2001, Giacomazzo became the assistant editor at another Long Island-based music magazine, The Inside Connection, becoming the youngest person to serve in the role. That same year, she began working at WLIR-FM — first as an intern in the promotions department, then as an assistant producer for the Higher Minds radio show hosted by psychic Jeffrey Wands.

In 2005, Giacomazzo became an instructor at Nassau Community College, then a guest lecturer at Hofstra University. She also was a featured panelist at several prominent music industry conferences, including the Dewey Beach Music Conference,^[5] the Functioning Band Series, and the MEISA/MEIEA Conference. That same year, Giacomazzo became the news editor for GO Magazine.^[6] She would serve in that role until 2013; she contributed to the magazine again in 2016.

In 2006, Giacomazzo signed to Splash News as a photographer. She has shot a variety of red carpet, concert, and promotional events, and has had her work featured on television, in newspapers, in print magazines, and on over 100 websites including Teen Vogue,^[7] Vibe,^[8] & CafeMom^[9]. In 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Giacomazzo left Splash News.

In 2009, Giacomazzo became the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine, a role she held for five years. Under Giacomazzo's tutelage, LatinTRENDS procured high-profile celebrities, including Mario Lopez, John Leguizamo, Victoria Justice, and Zoe Saldana for its covers.^[10]

In 2012, Giacomazzo became the first woman — and to date, the only woman — to serve as eye candy editor of XXL.^[11] During her time as the eye candy editor, she envisioned and executed a series of high-profile shoots, including with the cast members of Black Ink Crew,^[12] Mob Wives,^[13] and Love and Hip Hop: New York.^[14] It was the latter shoot — which featured Tahiry, Joe Budden, and Olivia — that solidified Giacomazzo's position in hip hop, as it was syndicated to a variety of blogs including Baller Alert,^[15] Hello Beautiful,^[16] and Rolling Out Magazine.^[17]

Giacomazzo subsequently contributed to a variety of mainstream publications, including YourTango^[18], BET.com^[19], FanSided^[20], Yahoo!^[21], Alternative Press^[22], and BuzzFeed.

In 2018, Giacomazzo joined HipHopDX as a staff writer, where she stayed until 2020. In 2020, Giacomazzo joined Blavity as a staff writer, becoming the only writer to contribute trending articles to all six publications under the company umbrella,^[23] and eventually becoming the Senior SEO Manager.

In 2023, Giacomazzo left Blavity and rejoined HipHopDX as a staff journalist and editor. She also joined the American hub of the Daily Express as a senior news writer.

G-Force Marketing & Publicity

Giacomazzo formed her first public relations and marketing company, Akasha Multimedia, in 2004. After successfully working with a number of rock'n'roll artists, Giacomazzo rebranded her company as G-Force Marketing & Publicity. The rebranded company's clientele features a who's who of hip hop artists, including Kool G Rap, and artists on the G-Unit Records roster including Lloyd Banks, Kidd Kidd, and Mobb Deep.

In 2019, The Hollywood Reporter announced that G-Force Marketing & Publicity was hired to do public relations^[24] and marketing for the SopranosCon fan convention.^[25] Giacomazzo told News12 New Jersey that her company chose to work with the event founders due to the co-founders' passion for The Sopranos. "This was done out of love for the product; not for profit, not for fame, but because they love 'The Sopranos' and wanted to share that love with other people," she said^[26] at the time. G-Force's work with the convention resulted in placements in such outlets as Vogue,^[27] Variety,^[28] Gothamist^[29] and The Washington Post.^[30]

In 2020, shortly after announcing MobMovieCon,^[31] G-Force Marketing & Publicity severed ties with the convention and its founders. Giacomazzo kept silent about the split until 2023, when Amanda Milkovits of The Boston Globe conducted an extensive investigation into the inner workings of Michael Mota, Daniel Trader, and Joseph Fama, the co-founders of the original SopranosCon fan convention. Milkovits's research revealed that the co-founders engaged in fraudulent business practices, resulting in more than $500,000 in lawsuits and a potential jail sentence for Mota.

Giacomazzo told The Boston Globe^[32] that Mota, Trader, and Fama "tend to think 'The Sopranos' is a documentary and not a drama. They like to pretend that they're tough guys." Giacomazzo also told the outlet that the convention "blew up too quickly" and that Mota, Trader, and Fama "didn't have the wherewithal to deal with a supernova," and that it was Mota, Trader, and Fama's defrauding of the First Responders Children's Foundation — a charity that helps children of first responders including police, firemen, and EMTs — that ultimately caused her to sever ties with the founders.

"Defrauding charities that help the children of fallen cops — I don't know, my mind is literally unable to comprehend," she said. "How has it gone on for so long that no one has ever held this man accountable, no one has ever said, 'Enough is enough?'"

G-Force Marketing & Publicity continues to work with a variety of celebrity clientele, including Albie Manzo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Manzo'd with Children and Hot97 radio personality Gerard "HipHopGamer" Williams.

Film and television work

In 2009, Giacomazzo served as the music supervisor for the film Winter of Frozen Dreams, starring Thora Birch and Dean Winters. That same year, she served as the music supervisor for Rivers Wash Over Me.

In 2012, Giacomazzo had a starring role as a police officer in the video for "OJ" by 50 Cent featuring Kidd Kidd^[33]

n 2019, Giacomazzo served as the head of unit publicity for the independent feature Stakeout (formerly known as Sargasso) starring Graham McTavish and Tom Berenger.

Books

In 2005, Giacomazzo teamed up with fantasy novelist MJ Deskovic^[34] to write Swimming with Sharks: A Real-World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music. Repeat Fanzine in the United Kingdom praised the book, calling it "a guide to the "business" side of rock'n'roll" and praising Giacomazzo & Deskovic's "nuts-and-bolts" approach to the music business.^[35] A tenth-anniversary edition of the book was released in 2015 and was updated to include new chapters and "tales from the tape.^[36]"

In 2018, Giacomazzo released her first dystopian novel, The Gathering: Book One of The Uprising Series, which featured artwork by Jessica Benoist-Young, sister of Supergirl star Melissa Benoist. The book was very favorably received by critics. Kirkus Reviews said that the book "adeptly tackles topical issues" and that there was a "notable theme of family" throughout the book.^[37] Oddsocks and Lollipops said that the book was an "enjoyable read.^[38]"

Initially, Giacomazzo said that the second book in The Uprising series, Kings and Queens, would be released on May 16, 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and other projects shifted the release date; as of 2023, she has not announced a new publication date. She promises that there will be six books, in total, in The Uprising series, and all artworks will be done by Benoist-Young.

In December 2022, Giacomazzo released her first poetry chapbook, Aquarius Rising, on Nightingale & Sparrow Press.^[39]

In February 2023, Giacomazzo released In Living Color: A Cultural History, which is part of Rowman & Littlefield's "Cultural History of Television" book series. The book became an instant bestseller and received critical acclaim. The Library Journal gave it a starred review,^[40] calling it a "must-read book on the history of a show that molded Black comedy sketches and brings together different threads of social awareness, race, entrepreneurship, comedy, resilience, and bravery in the face of a world not used to seeing "in living color."" Booklist also gave the book a starred review,^[41] calling it an "incisive and rigorously researched look at how television is created and consumed, particularly a show by Black creators for Black audiences, this is a worthy addition to any library's media-studies collections."

In August 2023, Giacomazzo released The Golden Girls: A Cultural History on Rowman & Littlefield.^[42] The book has already received advanced critical acclaim, with author Vincent Terrace remarking that the book "will refresh your memory and provide a glimpse into what could never be replicated," and with Publisher's Weekly remarking that "pop culture fans will rejoice" at "Giacomazzo's careful cultural analysis" of "issues that are still salient today.^[43]" Giacomazzo was also featured in Newsday^[44] and Graydon Carter's Air Mail^[45] for the book.

On October 19, 2023, Publisher's Marketplace^[46] announced that Giacomazzo would be writing No Heart: The State of Florida vs. Jamell Maurice Demons & The YNW Melly Saga, set to be published on Fayetteville Mafia Press. That same day, it was announced that Giacomazzo would be editing Hail To The Queen Bey: A Collection of Essays Celebrating Beyoncé, which is billed as "a collection of essays exclusively from Black and Latine women and nonbinary writers, all dedicated to celebrating Beyonce and her contributions to pop culture at large." Hail to the Queen Bey will be released on Fayetteville Mafia Press on July 29, 2025, the third anniversary of the release of Renaissance.

On November 2, 2023, Publisher's Marketplace announced that Giacomazzo would again be contributing to Rowman & Littlefield's "Cultural History of Television" book series with Law & Order: A Cultural History. The book will be released on February 15, 2025.

Personal life

Giacomazzo is fluent in English, Italian, and Spanish. She can also read French, German, and Arabic.

Giacomazzo is a vegetarian and has been since she was 16 years old. She is also an advocate for human and animal rights and has had her research on human trafficking cited by CNBC.^[47]

In 2017, she bought a home in Atlantic Beach, New York.

References

External links

• Official website