Bio
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, 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, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, 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 Yale College, Harvard Business School, Howard University, Berklee College of Music, Year Up Boston and Georgetown University.
To inquire about Zack’s availability, see the contact page.
Zack discusses his Jay-Z book on Good Day New York in March 2011:
