Photo by Fred Brathwaite
ZACK O’MALLEY GREENBURG has been writing professionally since the age of 14, when he landed a gig reviewing video games for Boys’ Life magazine. A former child actor, he played the title role in the film Lorenzo’s Oil alongside Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon. He retired early to pursue his dream of winning a middle school intramural basketball championship before starting his writing career.
Zack graduated from Yale College with a degree in American Studies and a concentration Urban Studies, and started writing for Forbes magazine in 2005. He has written over 250 articles for Forbes, Forbes Asia and Forbes.com; his stories on music, business, travel and sports have taken him from the back rooms of New York’s Apollo Theater to the rail yards of Omaha to the diamond mines of Sierra Leone–and, most terrifying of all, the bleachers of Fenway Park.
Along the way, Zack has interviewed luminaries from all walks of life — including 50 Cent, Bruno Mars, Akon, Russell Simmons, Steve Wozniak, Afrika Bambaataa, Natasha Bedingfield, Justin Bieber (accidentally), Swizz Beatz, Lil Jon, Fab 5 Freddy, Dr. Ruth and Mr. T, as well as a host of non-famous mutual fund managers, musicians, CEOs, billionaires and a convicted murderer (though nobody who could be described as all of the above).
Zack’s first book, a business-focused biography of Jay-Z titled Empire State of Mind, was published by Penguin/Portfolio in March 2011 (more info on the book here). Aside from the book and Forbes, Zack has written for The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, AOL/Huffington Post, Dan’s Papers and others. He has also served as an expert source for BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, MTV, Entertainment Tonight, Good Day New York (see below) and other print, web, radio and video outlets. Zack has appeared as a guest speaker at Harvard Business School, Berklee College of Music, Year Up Boston and Howard University.
To inquire about Zack’s availability, see the contact page.
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His “come-up” story kind compares to his Jay-Z book but without all the dramatics. But Zack is definitely someone I have my eye on. His articles for Forbes has made me actually sign up to the website. Any accolades this young man gets is well deserved. He has so much potential and is on his way to being well renowned. I will definitely be in line to get that Jay-Z book. I enjoy his intellectual views and opinions. They are very similar to mine & I appreciate when he writes for people like myself. Keep it up Zack!