Vito Rago: family, food, and technology

Vito Rago is the Executive Producer and CEO of Cooking with Nonna, an online cooking show and recipe sharing site that invites guest “Nonnas” (grandmothers) from all over Italy to share dishes from their native regions. The host of Cooking with Nonna is Vito’s daughter, Rossella Rago.
Vito is a telecom executive who was instrumental in the expansion of broadband. I asked him how he decided to launch Cooking with Nonna:
My wife and daughter have always been involved in entertainment. Two and a half years ago, my daughter Rossella started college at St. John’s. It was impractical to commute to school from New Jersey, so she moved in with her Nonna in Brooklyn. One day while we were having dinner, we were brainstorming about the future, and I asked Rossella “What do you want to do when you grow up?” I had just returned from the CES in Las Vegas, and I told my family about the advances I saw in the convergence of video and the internet. We wanted to do something in this field. What kind of content could we create that will generate interest? Rossella said, “Grandma is teaching me how to cook – how about a cooking show?!”
There are countless cooking shows and recipe sites out there, including those focused on Italian food. But the angle of a grandmother teaching the young generation to cook is unexplored. We also wanted to also celebrate the role of Italian grandmothers in the family and trace back to the area of Italy that they came from.
Family and friends provided enough nonnas – and recipes – initially, but we quickly decided to open it up to grandmas from different regions. We did a casting call in New York last June, and girls volunteered their grandmothers. Each of our Guest Nonnas on our show teaches my daughter one of their recipes.
I’ve always had a passion for food, and I saw this project as an opportunity to bring together food and tech, while showcasing my daughter’s talent. My advice to entrepreneurs starting out is to have a strong passion for what you’re doing, and don’t let anything else distract you. What’s next? The story of a grandmother teaching grandchildren to cook is a universal, not just an Italian, story. We plan to expand to other countries and cultures!