Dorinda Medley ( Cinkala; born December 13, 1964) is an American television personality. She is best known as a cast member on the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

reality television series ''

The Real Housewives of New York City ''The Real Housewives of New York City'', abbreviated ''RHONY'', is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on March 4, 2008. Developed as the second installment of ''The Real Housewives'' franchise, it has aired fifteen s ...

'', in which she starred from 2015 to 2020.

Early life

Medley was born in

Great Barrington, Massachusetts Great Barrington is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,172 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bot ...

, to John and Diane Cinkala. She graduated from

Berkshire School Berkshire School is a private, co-educational boarding school located in Sheffield, Massachusetts, USA. People About 87% of Berkshire's 430 students are boarders, while 13% are day students. The U.S. students hail from 30 states. The 77 inte ...

in 1983 and

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1787 as Franklin College and later merged with Marshall College in 1853, it is one of the oldest colleges in the United St ...

in 1986.

Career

After college, Medley began working at

Liz Claiborne Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Her success was built upon stylish yet affordable apparel for career women featuring colorfully tailored separates that cou ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. She later moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and launched a cashmere brand, DCL Cashmere. In 2015, she joined the American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show ''The Real Housewives of New York City''. She remained on the show for six seasons, from 2015 to 2020. In 2021, she published a memoir titled ''Make It Nice''. In 2022 and 2023, she starred in the second and fourth season of ''

The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip ''The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip'', abbreviated as ''RHUGT'', is an American reality television series that premiered on Peacock on November 16, 2021. The series follows several women from ''The Real Housewives'' franchise as they vacat ...

''. In 2024, it was announced that she would compete in the third season of ''

The Traitors ''The Traitors'' is a reality game show franchise created by the All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group cons ...

''. She was the first person to be "murdered" by the Traitors and therefore the first candidate eliminated from the competition. In June 2025, she was revealed to be returning for the series' fourth season.

Personal life

While working in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Medley met her first husband, Ralph Lynch. They had one child, a daughter named Hannah. Medley married Richard Medley, a hedge fund advisor, in 2005; he died in 2011 at the age of 60. She dated entrepreneur John Mahdessian for seven years, separating in September 2019.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medley, Dorinda Living people 1964 births 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen American people of Italian descent American people of Polish descent American socialites American textile industry businesspeople American women company founders American women memoirists Franklin & Marshall College alumni People from Great Barrington, Massachusetts Socialites from New York City Television personalities from New York City