Valentina Gioia Biography – Wiki
Valentina Gioia, a senior production executive at Endemol Shine Australia, was on her way to Leichhardt stores, in the inner west of Sydney, when she was suddenly struck by the vehicle.
A mother of two and television executive who worked on hit shows like Married, At First Sight, was identified as the woman who was fatally hit by a truck while crossing the street.
She was born in Italy and moved to Australia with her family, where she later worked as a television executive for Endemol Shine, working on popular shows such as MAFS and Lego Masters.
Age
Valentina Gioia has died at the age of 43-years-old.
Married to Her Husband
She married her husband in 2011 and the couple was due to celebrate a decade of marriage later this year.
Accident Happened
The accident occurred at the intersection of Marion Street and Flood Street in Leichhardt around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.
About a dozen witnesses and merchants desperately tried to give Ms. Gioia first aid and CPR after she was hit by the truck reportedly driven by a young father.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service confirmed in a statement late Tuesday that the woman died at the scene.
“ She had a phone and she thought she could get past the man’s red light, ” a witness told the Daily Telegraph.
‘The poor driver was in shock. He is very sad and disturbing, she was a young woman who wore sports clothes. ”
Witness
Witnesses claimed that the young woman had tragically been staring at her phone with her headphones on and did not know she had entered any danger.
The male driver was seen leaning against the wall of a busy roadside shop in shock as police spoke to him.
The man, also 43, was not injured and was taken to the hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol tests.
Paramedics and police arrived quickly, but the woman had suffered a head injury and sadly, she could not be resuscitated.
In the wake of Gioia’s shocking death, her sister-in-law Lisa Tripodi said she has been supporting her two young children, Luca, 9, and Alessio, 7, and her heartbroken husband Anthony Tripodi.
Anthony is simply devastated. You never imagine that something like this could happen to you, your family, or someone you love, ” Tripodi told The Daily Telegraph.
Tributes
Her childhood friend Debbie Colacicco paid tribute to Ms. Gioia in a tribute on Facebook, remembering her as a special human, a ray of sunshine, one of a kind of her’.
Ms. Colacicco, who runs the Ristretto & Co cafe, said her daily presence at the store would be “very much missed” and that angels prayed to take care of her children.
Her post was inundated with comments from others who knew Ms. Gioia and many described her as a ‘wonderful woman’.
“Beautiful girl, beautiful family, this is devastating,” wrote one.
“This is shocking, the world has lost a beautiful person too soon,” said another.
Some witnesses claimed that Ms. Gioai had crossed while she was changing the pedestrian signal.
“It was a very bleak scene for our paramedics and bystanders here this morning,” said New South Wales ambulance inspector Karl Cronan.
“The viewers who tried to help the patient before we arrived on the scene are to be highly commended, it was a heartbreaking scene.”
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
