Lady Gaga’s father, Joe Germanotta, sat down and chatted with #Powerjournalist Markos Papadatos about his New Year’s resolutions for 2026 and future goals with Second Wind Media and Joanne Trattoria.
Byron Pulsifer once said: “Imagine, dream, and believe in yourself. With determination and belief, you will be surprised at what you accomplish.” This quote applies to Joe Germanotta.
New Year’s resolutions for 2026
On his New Year’s resolutions for 2026, Germanotta shared, “To keep sober. I focus on prayer to keep me going and meditation. I go to church every day. I get up early at 6:30 a.m. every morning and I get my coffee and I sit in church and I hear a story. That’s the way I listen to it.”
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Germanotta revealed, “No Secrets!” “Everything is an uphill battle,” he explained.
Germanotta on the success of both of his daughters
He shared that he is proud of his daughter, Natali, on the success of her fashion businesses, which include On Stage Essentials and Natali Alexander, as well as Stefani’s (Lady Gaga’s) success with her “Mayhem” album, tour, and sold-out Madison Square Garden shows.
“I am so proud of both of my daughters. They have taken after our footsteps,” he excaleimed. “My wife is very, very successful with the Born this Way Foundation. Stefani is obviously successful, and now Natali has really kicked into gear with On Stage Essentials and Natali Alexander.”
“Natali sold out of the scarves,” he exclaimed.
Germanotta on what he envisioned the high school version of himself doing at this stage of his life
When asked what he envisioned the high school version of himself doing at this stage of his life, Germanotta responded, “I couldn’t wait to start studying in college and going after my vision and my career. I went to school for Hotel Restaurant Management, and I ended up studying a lot of Computer Science, Business Law, and Marketing, but not a lot of cooking.”
“There were cooking labs, where it was more scientific about the chemistry of foods but after that, I couldn’t wait to get to work. The first company I worked for was a public accounting firm in the hotel restaurant space and I worked on feasibility studies for hotels and restaurants, and back one of the feasibility studies I worked on was the Grand Hyatt with Donald Trump,” Germanotta elaborated.
Superpowers of choice
His superpowers of choice would be flight and invisibility. “I would love to fly since that would help me get around much faster, or I would be invisible. That would be great,” he admitted.
Second Wind Media
Germanotta is thrilled with the success of Second Wind Media, his social media, advertising, and marketing company. “It is going spectacular,” he exclaimed. “When Gabby Gabriel first approached me to do it, she wanted to initially help me with my social media and rebranding. She was doing that gratis. Then, she asked me if I would consider working with her and starting a business, so we founded Second Wind Media, and we are almost equal partners. She is more of a partner than I am because she does most of the work.”
“I told her that I think there is a really good business model here for social media,” he noted. “Social media takes a lot of time, and everybody is doing it. When you are in the performance space, it’s an absolute 100 percent necessity. It can gobble up a lot of time.”
“If you are a singer-songwriter, why would you want to spend your time doing social media when you could be singing,” he indicated. “We let the singer-songwriters sing, write songs and perform, and they let us do their social media for them.”
“We have five artists clients, an influencer, and a cannabis company (Cannatella). Now, we are picking up two clients out in Las Vegas. So, Second Wind Media has been growing quite exponentially. Gabby is a genius at what she does,” he elaborated.
“Now, we are getting ready to do the relaunch of Joanne Trattoria, which will be just before Valentine’s Day,” Germanotta added.
Success
Germanotta defined the word success as “surviving.” “The business environment in the years prior to 2023 was horrible. Business really slowed down. Now, with the economy starting to pick back up again, people have disposable income.”
“I believe that with the policies that are coming down the pike with the tariffs, the ‘no tax on tips,’ the no tax on Social Security, I believe that everybody is going to get a gigantic refund. This year, they changed the laws, but they didn’t change the whole taxes.”
“So, there is going to be a lot of disposable income this year,” Germanotta said. “The week before Valentine’s Day, people always find money for love.”
To learn more about Joe Germanotta, follow him on Instagram.
For more information on Joanne Trattoria, follow its Instagram page.
