Arrivederci, Italia!

Well, earthlings, Italy is as gorgeous and lively as I imagined it would be. During my short trip, I took in the sites, ate incredible pasta, and spent some quality time with my mama, who I brought along for a little girls' trip. But the main purpose of my visit was to speak to brands and marketers about how people are not just loving TikTok, they are loving LEARNING through TikTok. We started on day one with blocking the stage - which basically means they showed me and the other speakers (shout out to Zainab and Jonas!) where we would enter and where each of us would stand, sit and answer questions. Then we did a rehearsal where we answered questions off the cuff and also went through our slides, and headed to a delicious dinner and back to the hotel. This also happened to be my birthday weekend, so the next morning, my mom surprised me with a birthday muffin and an egg for breakfast in bed! (Thank you, Mummie!) 🥰💖🎁🥳 and the incredibly kind and thoughtful event organizers sent me the prettiest, tastiest cake EVER!!! Then we were off to the main event — with marketing, advertising, publicity, and brand stakeholders from Italy and Europe — all invested in learning about what kinds of content people are searching for and how they can play a part in supporting that. Such a fabulous time! Great questions, too! And I was completely surprised and thrilled to meet a member of the European Space Agency who was there for the occasion! Grazie mille, TikTok Italia, for an unforgettable trip! I hope my participation helped highlight the importance of the work that TikTok and its education creators are doing together. Lots of photos below. To protect her privacy, I have covered my mom's face with a delicious cannoli. She will like that when she sees it. Enjoy!

Also, yes, I am aware of the number of my photos that are either of food, or of me eating food., but DON'T JUDGE ME!!! You do not get to judge me until you've been there and eaten their food while it's all hot and melty and delicious, vero???