Catherina Gioino is a multimedia journalist and urbanist based in New York City who has covered breaking news for the New York Daily News and MSNBC, and previously worked in transportation policy. She covered the Trump hush money trial for Rolling Stone and ran for New York City Council in 2021 on the slogan “Public Space for the Public Good” to regain pedestrian usage of the public realm. She began in journalism interviewing celebrities like Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep for several entertainment publications. Her first interview, at age 13, was of actor Rob Corddry, who advised her follow-up questions were better suited for another journalism beat. She has since switched to cover restaurant and hospitality news for that same publication today.
She’s spent four years traveling across the five boroughs interviewing eyewitnesses and chasing electeds while covering breaking news as a reporter for the News, and also reported for NY1, TransitCenter, The Sun, PBS POV, SparkNotes, Mic, and the Giornale Italo Americano. Her first bylines in print came while interviewing local Astoria characters for the Queens Gazette and Queens Scene, and celebrities for The Source, The Young Folks, Nerdly, and The Knockturnal.
Born and raised in Queens, Cat loves the city and her hometown. She led growth and community engagement while working in transportation policy for the two micromobility startups Veo and Oonee; helped disseminate critical Covid-19-related information to non-English-speaking immigrant groups at the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, led tours of the Statue of Liberty as a National Park Ranger, and scoured New York for areas that can double as nature as a film scout for several movies and TV shows.
Cat holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University, earning a dual BA/MPA from Columbia College and the School of International and Public Affairs. Her capstone while working towards a Master of Public Administration in Urban and Social Policy led to newly enacted legislation in Peru that offers indigenous communities increased land use rights when facing foreign mining companies, and her team was awarded a $10,000 grant when selected as a Dean’s Challenge semifinalist for their carbon scrubbing offsetting app.
Cat’s first language is Italian; she is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, and is also fluent in Spanish. She is a huge cyclist and regularly participates in ultra-distance cycling events. A lover of all things New York City, she is one of fewer than 3,000 people to hold a New York City Sightseeing License. And, having bartended her way through college thanks to the Columbia Bartending Agency, she would love to make you a stiff Manhattan.