Media, Messages, Content and Code
For over 20 years, I’ve worked at the intersection of content, creativity, and technology — leading newsrooms and content studios, building content operations, and shaping stories that connect with international audiences.
I’ve managed newsrooms at major media companies, directed branded content inside corporations, and helped international teams scale through smarter workflows and advanced technology.
I build systems, guide creators, and roll up my sleeves when needed. Strategy and operations are my focus, but I stay hands-on — writing, scripting, and shaping stories alongside the creators I lead and support.
Work
I spent half of my career inside media companies and publishers—the other half within brands and corporations.
At heart, I’ll always be a media professional. That legacy shapes every communication and content initiative I lead.
My digital media journey began in 2001 with the launch of Tgcom, Italy’s first omnichannel news outlet, at Mediaset (now MediaForEurope).
At DeAgostini, I developed video-led revenue streams, before joining Red Bull Media House to lead its digital newsroom during its transformation from branded content unit to global media powerhouse. Since then, I’ve shaped brand and content strategies for venture capital firms, B2B publishers and major international clients.
Today, I focus on content operations and how AI can enhance every stage of the content value chain — automating what should be faster, and humanizing what truly matters.
Media & Publishing
- RED BULL MEDIA HOUSE
Global Head .com
Led Red Bull Media House’s HQ newsroom, shaping redbull.com and redbull.tv into global brands. Took audience from 100K to 10 Mio UU monthly.
- DE AGOSTINI PUBLISHING
EU Head of Digital
Led digital shift from print to video, building new revenue streams and a 15-person creative team.
- MEDIASET (NOW: MFE)
Product Manager
Part of Mediaset’s early digital transformation—helping build the editorial systems and multimedia formats that shaped its online news era.
Brands & Corporates
- SONOVA GROUP
Head of Content & Design
Directed a 7-person studio, integrating AI to double campaign output across eight European markets.
- FOUNDAMENTAL.VC
Brand & Content Director
Created a new VC brand — from identity to thought leadership in the ConstructTech space.
- INDUSTRY DIVE
Content Strategy Director
Developed brand storytelling frameworks and guided clients through implementation.
By the Numbers
- TEAM LEADERSHIP
Led international content teams of up to 21 FTEs and 100+ freelancers across editorial, creative, and production functions.
- BUDGET MANAGEMENT
Managed annual budgets of up to €7M for content commissioning, licensing, and content tech infrastructure.
- GLOBAL REACH
Oversaw operations across 50 countries and 4 languages, including full responsibility for localization teams and workflows.
Areas of Expertise
- CONTENT
OPERATIONS
I build and lead content studios and workflows.
I create the conditions for teams to deliver great content, at scale and on time.
I’m not the producer on-site, but the coach on the field. When needed, however, I can still wear the player’s suit and step onto the field to write, coordinate, and create.
- CONTENT STRATEGY &
GOVERNANCE
I define how content supports business and brand goals — from messaging frameworks to channel architecture.
I create the vision and the guardrails. This includes QA, rights clearance, and corporate policies.
- PRODUCT &
EXPERIENCE
I work at the intersection of content and product, ensuring content supports UX, and UX enables content to reach and serve the right audiences.
I speak the language of product and dev—I’m their best possible partner and stakeholder.
- MARKETING
CONTENT
I bring an editorial lens to performance goals — helping teams grow audiences and convert customers without losing their voice or standards.
Not a content marketer in the strict sense. I shape the messaging and the formats, but not run campaigns.
Content operations and Creative Technology
Content Operations is the backbone of modern content creation.
It’s the strategic orchestration of people, processes, and tools to plan, produce, manage, and deliver content—efficiently, consistently, and at scale.
It means building the systems behind the storytelling: aligning workflows, managing vendors, selecting the right tech stack.
SEE ALSO: A Primer on Content Operations
Building the systems behind the storytelling also means mastering the tools that make them work.
I bring hands-on expertise with the complete content technology stack—CMS, DAM, newsroom and editorial workflows, DRM, newsletter management and digital analytics—from initial setup to ongoing optimization, serving both as product/business owner and super-user.
My approach is flexible and tool-agnostic, bridging enterprise platforms with creator-economy, prosumer tools.
Today, AI is an integral and transformative part of the content equation.
With both content and product management experience, complemented by a history of navigating tech shifts, I bring both rigor and empathy to content operations.
I never forget that behind every tool are creators, audiences, and stories deserving respect.
SEE ALSO: CURATED RESOURCES AI creative Tech + My Content Stack
Open to new opportunities.
CV available upon request.
Available to relocate across Europe,
with preference for the DACH region and central Europe.
Contact → berlin@valentinagiannella.eu
Education, Training, Languages
Education
- M.Sc. Business Administration
Bocconi University, Milan 110/110 - Post-grad Digital Economy
Wirtschaftsuniversität Vienna
Training
- Agile Product Owner
Scrum Alliance, Vienna, 2014 - Design Thinking
Hasso Plattner Institute, 2016
Languages
- English C2
- German C1/2
- Italian MT
Media
Stories big and small that start in Berlin and look eastward, where the heart of the continent beats and its future is shaped.
✍️ Digital Essays 📷 Photo Stories 🎙️ Podcast
From Berlin, Europe looks clearer—its history, its contradictions, its possible future.
Beyond Berlin dives into the stories that define this continent: memory, culture, politics, and the arts. It’s about how the past still breathes in the present, and how the line between East and West can finally blur.
It’s an evolving project—a mix of essays, photo stories, and podcasts that follow Europe’s pulse beyond its old borders.
This is also a personal statement. I am a social liberal European who refuses to accept decline as fate.
I believe Europe must rediscover pride—without forgetting its tragedies, but without being trapped by them.
“Make Europe Great Again” shouldn’t be taboo—it should be a challenge. Less guilt. Less moral posturing. Less dependency. Less empty cosmopolitanism. Less “global South-ism”. More identity. More confidence. More Europe.
Subscribe for free on beyondberlin @ Substack
Valentina
Giannella
Content
Operations
Executive
Strategist
Newsroom
Leader
2025 Copyright
© Valentina Giannella
Made in Berlin & Vienna
🇪🇺 Part of one Europe,
going from Lisbon to Luhansk