YouTube opened my eyes to the Italian Diaspora

In my early college years, I fell into the rabbit hole I still find myself in nearly a decade later - learning, researching, and consuming content about Italian communities around the world.

How did I get here? A few experiences in Brazil and Argentina showed me the Italian diaspora reached far further than I'd ever imagined. And being a curious person, I sought out every way I could to learn more about something that had always been part of my identity.

How did I learn more and become obsessed?

YouTube.

Over the past 5-7 years, there's been a massive uptick in local content and vlogs putting historic Italian communities on the map - places like the Serra Gaúcha in Brazil, Chipilo in Mexico, Toronto's Woodbridge, and beyond.

The timing lined up almost perfectly with the period I was diving deeper into this world.

So, thank you YouTube - for the platform, and for turning a passing curiosity into my life's work.