Your tour starts now: senior Matteo Giansanti shares his Gallaudet highlights

On Monday and Friday mornings, you can find Matteo Giansanti either behind the desk at the Maguire Welcome Center or guiding visitors around campus. Being a Bison Ambassador suits him well as a history buff: “It’s very similar to the kind of work my father does–making connections with people and giving tours. I really love this job,” he says. 

Now a senior, Giansanti has made the most of Gallaudet. He’s studying business and accounting, building community with the Business Student Council and soccer team, and preparing for a profession by working on campus and interning in Los Angeles. Tag along as he shows us around!

Family ties

Giansanti grew up in Rome, Italy, and moved to the US at 14 to attend Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD). The COVID-19 pandemic sent him back home during his sophomore year, and he spent months joining classes at night due to the time difference. He was relieved to be able to enjoy his senior year in person and walk across the stage for graduation.

Giansanti has several university connections. His younger sister, Sofia, is a junior at Gallaudet, and his grandparents are Charles Giansanti, ’64 and Susan Giansanti, ’64, both of whom taught here. His mother, Vanessa Faraone, studied on campus for a year, and his father, Terry Giansanti, ’97, is the founder of Hands On Travel, a business that offers travel experiences in sign language. Matteo’s father moved to Rome to work on the 2001 Deaflympics and stayed there ever since, while Matteo’s mother was born and raised in Italy.

Embracing the ups and downs of business

Giansanti grew up watching his father build and run his own business, which inspired him. “I chose to major in business way before I even came to Gallaudet,” he says. Good with numbers, he added a minor in accounting along the way and is drawn to the flexibility and independence that come with owning your own business. “You can decide who you want to be. I can be my own boss–no one’s telling me what to do. I can make my own schedule and my own decisions,” he says.

Giansanti sees business as a high-risk proposition, but also as a fun endeavor. “It provides the motivation and excitement to stay on track, pursue your goals, and find ways to get different customers. I like the challenge of competition–the business major is a great fit for me.” 

Rolling out the dough to roll it in

Giansanti recently had a perfect opportunity to apply his business skills through an internship at pi00a, a Deaf and CODA family-owned frozen pizza startup in Los Angeles. Founded by alum Melody Stein, E-’96, and her two adult children, it was the company’s first time hosting an intern. Pi00a offers Neapolitan pizza with bold, globally inspired flavors, and operates in both American Sign Language (ASL) and English.

Collaborating with the Business program, Giansanti applied and interviewed for the internship offered through Gallaudet’s Office for Career Success, and was thrilled to accept the offer. After a twelve-hour flight from Rome, he was rewarded with the beautiful weather and palm tree-lined streets of L.A. 

Working with the founders on projects in sales, marketing, operations, and e-commerce, he also lent a hand in the kitchen and was thrilled to work with the fully Deaf and CODA team. His supervisor, Stein, quickly became someone he looked up to. “I understand why she is so successful because she’s so persistent. She doesn’t take breaks, she just keeps going and is relentless,” he says. He learned a lot from Stein and admires how her high expectations bring out the best in her employees.

Stein says Giansanti’s Italian background connected him to pi00a’s Neapolitan-style pizzas from the get-go. She says, “Matteo has a genuine passion for understanding how a start-up business operates. During his internship, he demonstrated impressive analytical skills, especially with spreadsheets, and played a key role in developing our inventory management system as we ramped up pizza production for retailers.”

Since pi00a sells some of its products in Whole Foods stores in the western region of the United States, Giansanti gained firsthand experience with Consumer Packaged Goods, or CPGs. He says, “I haven’t seen a Deaf-owned business with CPGs in big retail stores–it’s a big deal and it demonstrates that the Deaf community can do it–we can do anything but hear.”

Learning hard lessons on the field

Growing up in Italy, Giananti’s obsession with soccer was no exception, and he jumped at the chance to join Gallaudet’s soccer team as a freshman. 

An avid soccer fan and player, communication access at Gallaudet has been critical to Giansanti’s success as an athlete. “I played with a lot of hearing people in the past and I would just miss so much information. Teammates would be joking, and I’d miss out on what they were saying. But with the whole team signing, I see everything, I’m part of everything, and I’m grateful for that experience,” he says.

But his experience on the team also gave him more than he bargained for. “My attitude was pretty shaky,” he recalls. During his first year, he admits to being egotistical and lacking discipline and focus, even talking back to his coach and expressing negative views about the game and other players. As a result, Jay Shaw, Gallaudet’s head soccer coach, took him off the team.

After some time and self-reflection, Giansanti and Shaw, also known as Coach Jay, sat down for a serious discussion. Shaw was willing to give Giansanti a second chance and join the team for his sophomore year. “After that, I became more focused. I understand the importance of respecting people’s time: If the coach invests in our team and in me…I have to match that investment,” he says. The humbling experience changed Giansanti for the better, and he is grateful to his coach for that second chance.

Shaw says he’ll miss Giansani’s free spirit, confidence, and ability to instill those qualities in his teammates, saying, “I had the privilege to see him develop over the years from a first year as a student athlete to maturing into the role model he is to our student body and to the next bison generation.”

Reeling in prospective students with a personal touch

If Giansanti brought his Italian roots to his internship at pi00a and to the field, he brings a family talent for making people feel comfortable and welcome in his role as Bison Ambassador.

Giansanti’s supervisor, Welcome Center Manager Roberta Gage, ’92, has seen him grow in both confidence and leadership, evolving in his role from his first year to his second. “He knows International Sign and Lingua Italiana dei Segni (LIS). We often welcome international visitors, and it’s such a plus to have his support and connection with them,” she says.

As he discusses the responsibility he feels in the role, his motivation for business is also evident, as he frames his work in terms of recruiting students to attend the university. “Bison Ambassadors are the face of Gallaudet. Last year was good, and hopefully this year is going to be another one of increased enrollment,” he says.

And it’s not difficult for Giansanti to pitch Gallaudet to prospective students; he deeply appreciates several aspects of Gallaudet life and, like many before him, considers it his second home. “I love that deaf people are everywhere and signing surrounds us.” He thrives on its diversity, saying that students, staff, and faculty hail from all over the world. “The one thing in common is that we’re all using ASL, but other than that, everyone’s backgrounds are totally different.”

Giansanti has solid career options on both sides of the Atlantic, and he may stay in the US to gain more experience before returning to Italy to join his father’s business. Luckily, he has time to enjoy the rest of his senior year, lay some plans, and enthusiastically share his second home with future students.

Gallaudet’s Business Program equips students through a range of courses and works with the Office for Career Success to offer hands-on internships. Discover our active Athletics Program and take your first steps on campus at the Maguire Welcome Center.