Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriella Butieri.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Where do I start? LOL
Well, my name is Gabriella Butieri, I’m 25yo and I’m from Brazil.
I graduated in Journalism in January 2019 and worked in a magazine for almost 4 years. Before that, I also worked as a press officer at a local tv show. Meanwhile, I was taking care of a blog and YouTube channel, where I used to post bunch of lifestyles, fashion trends, and other teenager things. Even though my career started early and seemed promising, I wasn’t completely happy.
Now, let’s travel back in time – but keep it short: I’ve been dreaming about living in the US since I was 10yo. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because of all the movies I watched, such as High School Musical, Mean Girls, Camp Rock, and Freaky Friday. Or all the romance books I’ve read – they were always mentioning that big Thanksgiving dinner with your boyfriend or the rival vibes between cheerleaders. I just knew I want to be there and live all that culture.
My first time in the country was back in 2012. I came for a Disney vacation with my family and when I went back to Brazil, I told my mom “I will live in the United States one day”. She laughed… not because it was funny, but she would never allow her daughter to move almost 5 thousands miles away from her. In 2013, my brother went to Canada for an exchange program for about 1 month. He almost didn’t make it cuz of the distance. When he came back, I told my mom once again, “Can’t wait till my turn, but it isn’t going to be just for a month.”
Fast forward to 2018, I was about to finish college, so I decided to search for exchange programs. Found the Au Pair Program – cultural exchange where you work and live with an American family for 2 years. I studied hard to learn English, I saved money, and I left to my new life in February 2020!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all!
It’s 2020, I left my country to start a new life, I stepped back from my career to take care of other people’s kids. I’m now living with people I don’t know, struggling with language barrier – I barely spoke any English – and Covid-19 hit a week after I moved. Crazy, right? But somehow, this adventure feeling was still there!
I first started in Virginia, taking care of one little boy. Family was awesome in the beginning, till they started controlling me as I was their 15yo rebel daughter. But I was a 22yo worker that wants to explore the world. We had some trouble and fights together; I ended up being kicked out of their house 9 months after. My best friend – who I met here and was also an au pair – got at the same time for the same reason, which very selfishly saying was awesome for me. Now I’m not an alone homeless 23yo in another country, I have my bestie with me LMAO. That was actually the BEST thing that had ever happened to us. For the next 2 weeks, we lived with a friend of us while we tried to find a new host family. The 3rd week was thanksgiving, he traveled to Colorado and me and my best friend, Jaine, moved to a hotel. We ended up finding families in NY, almost 3 hours away from each other, but still the same state, so we were fine with that – not that we have much choice LOL.
November 2020, after Thanksgiving Day, I was heading to Long Island – NY by train with 3 big suitcases, a carry-on, my backpack, and all my dreams. From one kid in the first family, I was now taking care of 4. It was scary to be honest, but I had to handle it. Which ended up being the best choice of my life. I still live and work with them, they became my sponsors here. We are a legit family, those kids are my little siblings, and the parents are my friends/parents/bosses.
It’s hard to live where you work. It’s hard to express yourself in a different language. It’s hard to be in lockdown with a people that you just met. It’s hard to not see your real family for almost 2 years because of the pandemic. It’s hard making new friends. It’s hard being kicked out when you are a 23-year-old immigrant. But it made me grow so much. I never stopped dreaming. In almost 3 years living here, I also accomplished a lot: I traveled 20 states – including Hawaii; I finally found my style and feel free to wear what my fashion taste tells me; my social media has been growing with my love of fashion and my immigrant life, I found the love of my life a year ago, and his family is amazing – they don’t judge me for being foreign. I brought my parents here to visit recently and made my dad’s dream come true (visiting Graceland in Memphis). And I went from 0.1% of English to fluent, which is pretty hard, and I take proud of it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Besides babysitting – LMAO. I work with social media. Since I moved here, I finished 3 different courses: English for Journalism, Influencer Marketing, and How to optimize your Instagram. Right now, I’m taking “Viral Marketing,” and in the future, I want to do something related to Fashion and social media.
I have an Instagram account where I talk about life of an immigrant in the US. I like making jokes about it and showing all the sides of the American dream. It goes since tours through Friends Studio to waxing my boyfriend’s eyebrows with my host family. All my daily routine and lifestyle there are real, including the struggle of being in charge of 4 kids. I even went to the VMAs and could watch the red carpet, which was pretty cool. Besides English tips to foreign learners like me.
My second account is all about fashion; I had to slipt it because different content = different public. I love editing videos and playing around with digital art; I’m always studying what’s trending now (fashion, songs, topics). Last but not least, I have a YouTube channel with my boyfriend. We love showing people how our relationship works; trust me: dating someone from another country/culture can be tough, but it’s worthy. A channel dedicated to embracing the adventures of life. Follow the Brazilian social media star and full-time au pair along with her aspiring producer/rapper boyfriend in their day-to-day life. Full of love, Hijinx, and adventure. That’s our description!
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think I am determined to accomplish whatever I dream about. I won’t let some falls stop me. If I want, I will try hard and not just wait till when happiness knows at my door, because it will not happen!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: gabibuti (immigrant life)/ @gabibutieri (fashion) / @nallytheson (my boyfriend)
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabi.butieri
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MattandGabi26
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabibutieri
