Before she was Gaga: The unseen photos
April.9,2012
(CNN) — We’ve come to know her as Lady Gaga, but before the world tours, “The Fame” or even the dress made of meat, photographer Malgorzata Saniewska knew her simply as her restaurant co-worker, Stefani Germanotta.
In the summer of 2005, Saniewska, who goes by Maggie, happened to be tending bar at the same West Village restaurant where the 19-year-old soon-to-be star worked as a waitress.
Just 24 at the time, Saniewska had moved from her native Poland to the United States two years prior with dreams of becoming a photographer.
But to support herself, “I started working as a bartender,” she recalled. “It was definitely a money thing. I did want to go to school, but I didn’t do research on photography, my focus was to make better money.”
