Georgette Jupe: Connecting Florence with the World
By Allyson Volpe
Writers will always have an important role in our daily lives. By their very nature, writers are the community builders who serve others. They connect us to other worlds, giving us fresh perspectives and insights into lifestyles, people and places that were previously unknown to us. Recently, we had the privilege to speak to Georgette Jupe, a long-time blogger and writer who is known to many in the social media world as the “Girl in Florence’’.
“When I first started the Girl in Florence blog in 2011, I think perhaps only my father and some friends read it,” Jupe admits. “I wasn’t in it for the recognition.”
For Georgette, her long-game approach and her commitment to persistent effort and hard work is what has garnered the attention of today’s audience of tens of thousands who follow her daily posts and articles on social and digital media. She has helped people. She has given people clarity and a realistic approach to actually what it is to live in Italy. She also recognizes that a large part of the creative process of writing is about being curious, approaching a new subject with a different vision. “Florence is a gem because there are so many people who are passionate about the city and about living here,” states Jupe. “I am lucky to be a part of it and don’t want to ever take it for granted.”
Whether it is generally acknowledged or not, celebrated cities such as Florence depend on English speaking writers to disseminate information and to share their stories, talents, characteristics and lifestyle with both the international and expat audiences. This is an important service for any city. “We need writers to mirror back to us new perspectives of the world in which we live,” Jupe explains. “That in turn ripples out to give the readers renewed appreciation in the process.”
Since her arrival to Italy in 2006 from San Antonio, Texas, Jupe has been exploring and expounding upon her life abroad in Florence and its community, detailing and reporting on all which makes the city magical, contradictory, frustrating and hair-splitting at times, beyond beautiful, but above all, real. Originally coming to Europe to try her hand at politics and communications in London, both the city of Florence and Italy captivated her enough to decide to stay. “There is something about being passionate about a place you choose to settle, especially when you approach it with fresh eyes,” Jupe recalls. “I came to Italy without opinions and pre-judged expectations of what I thought it was going to be like which turned out to be helpful for me to not perpetuate the many stereotypes and superficialities that can so often happen and cloud the real experience.” It is those very same honest, humble and authentic qualities to Jupe’s storytelling that her readers have come to understand and appreciate. “I like the idea of being a connector between people who might not have met otherwise.”
Giving it her all to live as a creative writer in Italy, Jupe’s career has been an ongoing profile, where one talent has overlapped into another career move, as her voice and audience continues to grow. “I didn’t come here as an expat, but more as an immigrant who wanted to find her path and make life in Italy work,” Jupe admits. “It wasn’t easy.” Trying to find her way out of a newcomer’s loneliness and seeking some sort of community, Jupe turned to blogging. “I started a blog mainly out of trying to connect with a community of like-minded people and as a way to make friends. Both in Italy and elsewhere in the world, I found that the blogger community at this time was keen to tell their stories,” she recounts. “The emphasis was less upon the photographs, the marketing of oneself and contriving some sort of dream life, and more focused on the writing, the sharing of experiences and focusing upon the story-telling aspect.” Anyone who reads Jupe’s content immediately notices a personal and honest tone to her voice, giving an authentic and transparent approach to what life in Italy is really like, not some high-flying fairy tale and disconnect from reality. Her long-time readers have a window into a real person living a real life. “I don’t want people to relocate here based on how I have portrayed Florence, and then they come here to live and find they don’t have the very same type of social network that I have spent 13 years creating,” Jupe explains. “Creating a community in Florence doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be patient and put yourself out there.”
Jupe began her serious engagement with the city when she got her first taste of true journalism when writing for The Florentine in 2012. Journalism taught her to adhere to a different approach, with guidelines and deadlines to follow and less opinions to share. She was required to connect with the community, attend events and report upon it all. “I discovered that I have this duty where I have to support our local community,” Jupe recounts. “I have to feel as if I am a part of the greater good of Florence and can be helpful.” She then went on to do a few stints with tech start-ups in Florence which opened her eyes to people who had new visions they needed to communicate. Afterwards, it was when she went on to establish her own social media consultancy that she caught the eye of the owner of the digital publication Italy Magazine in 2014, and was offered a job that has continued these several years towards her role today as its editor.
Through her blog, editorial articles, consultancy and on-going social media posts, Jupe lends her clear eye of what she observes in front of her, detailing and reporting upon what it is like to live here. “For me, I love to tell stories,” Jupe admits. “Not only about my experiences of living in Italy -- both the highs and the lows -- but I am also passionate about telling stories and promoting artists, artisans and small business owners. I want to know from every perspective how people live, feel, work.”
In light of the ongoing pandemic lockdowns that have compromised so many businesses and lives in Italy, her role as a digital nomad has become ever more relevant. “This is the time where my influence matters and can make a difference,” Jupe explains. “I don’t understand why everyone who is in my realm is not doing this: this is the time where it counts. If you have the power to really help someone who needs it right now, this is the time to do it.” This very same attitude and committed hard work has not gone unnoticed and Jupe was recently awarded the Lonely Planet Community Award, in recognition of the important role she has played as an ‘influencer’ in Florence and her unyielding support given during this crisis. “I am proud to give value to people and community through my writing. I love building people up. I feel that if the more we can connect and really build each other up, and actually share and celebrate one another, then that is evolution.”
Jupe embodies a very relevant spirit of humanism of what it is to ripple together within our communities to try and help each other prosper. “I’ve always sought connection with other humans, to have truly deep relationships of value and hopefully give something back in return through my platform,” she explains. “The ‘pay it forward’ concept has always been an important part of my life. The ripple effect is something that costs me nothing but instead can greatly help people or businesses we love. My hope is to serve as a figurative bridge to connect those who love Italy with things of value (that aren’t always easy to find) to better help serve my community.”