Q+A Gianna Perani
By Ballard Ackaway
Everyone loves visiting the beach for vacation. Imagine, instead of just visiting the beach once a year, visiting the beach every day once school lets out.
Welcome to the life of Gianna Perani. Gianna is a third-year journalism student from Savannah, Georgia and West Palm Beach, Florida. Her love and passion for anything oceanic stems from her childhood spent on the beaches of the Florida coast. “We used to go to the beach like every single day, I mean like my summer was literally just the beach,” said Perani. She explains her summer camp days consisted of surfing and learning about marine biology.
While the University of Georgia is over 200 miles away from the nearest beach, Perani still finds time for another one of her passions: sports journalism. Gianna is currently enrolled in the sports media certificate at UGA and models her future success after Erin Andrews. “My dream job would be on like football sidelines,” said Perani.
When Gianna isn’t busy interviewing Olympic track stars and scoring basketball games, she is in the kitchen cooking her favorite meals for her and her friends. “Cooking is such a big part of my life though like I seriously cook every day,” Perani said. She says her favorite recipe so far has been “balsamic seared tuna. It was amazing.”
Whether she is holding a microphone or a frying pan, Gianna is always doing something she loves. Look for her on the sidelines on the sidelines of a Georgia football game, or serving a five-course meal at her own restaurant.
Ballard Ackaway
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done in the sports media certificate so far.
Gianna Perani:
I guess while you know we just started so I guess I just say I did a profile on how to interview, an Olympic trial runner that’s going to be running the Atlanta marathon. This month, and I didn’t interview her coach, it was like a 45 minute interview, and how to write the whole profile so
Ackaway
So what’s probably the best thing that you’ve made so far in college.
Gianna:
I made this like pesto basil cream cheese chicken, it was really good. Once, last week I made balsamic seared tuna tuna. That was amazing.
Ballard:
To go into the sports journalism thing, did you do anything in high school, aside from the the basketball highlights, like sports reporting, or,
Gianna:
Yeah so I did that, I played some volleyball. I waited tables, which took up a big chunk of my time obviously and I babysat for my whole neighborhood. I was living the life.
Ballard:
Was it cool to go to school right next to the beach? Like, when you get out of school, you can just go.
Gianna:
Yes. But, do you remember in 2008 gas prices? My mom had this giant SUV, and she didn’t want to drive us anywhere, even though we were five minutes away so for the longest time I remember she wouldn’t drive us anywhere, but, when we got we got older, like when I was, 10, or something. We used to go to the beach like every single day, I mean like my summer was literally just the beach. summer camp was, I went to like marine life camp beach surfer camps.
Ballard:
What in sports journalism, are you most interested in doing in the future
Gianna:
For the longest time, I’ve been like, I want to do sports reporting and my dream job would be football sidelines like Erin Andrews. I mean, that’s where I’m also like I’m optimistic. That’s where I’m glad I’m in Grady because they force you to do a little bit of everything. So, I’m glad I can just kind of test the waters.
