A woman from Massachusetts, who has made a name for herself as an American social media influencer living in Paris, was a special guest at events with U.S. dignitaries for the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. She says the journey to get there wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
Amanda Rollins moved from Boston to Paris seven years ago.
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"Going to work everyday I was like, can I do this same thing every day? It's so boring. And I just always felt like there’s another exciting thing coming for me," she said.
Rollins says she was inspired by a book called "The Alchemist" to take a leap with just $1,500 in the bank.
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"The main message is if there is something that you know you want to do like a dream you have if you don’t do it you are going to spend the rest of your life regretting it so just do it," she said. "So I finished that book and I made my appointment with the embassy the next day and I quit my job, sold everything I owned and moved here with my cat at the age of 28 to become an au pair which is like a live-in nanny."
Rollins says unlike the popular Netflix show "Emily in Paris," things didn't all just fall into place for her. She struggled financially but eventually got a corporate job, and on the side she shared her experience on social media as an American living in Paris.
"I call myself your Paris big sister because also I get it, I know the struggles, I know how confusing it is, how scary it can be, how expensive it can be. I’ve lived it so I always want to help people out because I don’t know I wish I had someone like that when I was moving here you know."
When Rollins was laid off two years ago, she decided to take another risk and create content full time.
"The first one of my videos that ever went viral was one where I was talking about French healthcare," she said. "The difference in French healthcare and U.S. healthcare, that video got pretty quickly about a million views"
The videos she shares under the name "American Fille" about French culture and scams targeting tourists got her noticed by agencies like the U.S. Embassy that have since invited her to several high-profile events, including the Olympics Opening Ceremony and a reception with the First Lady of the United States.
"It kind of gave me the validity that a job doesn’t have to feel like a job. You can literally do something that you love and make a career out of that," she said. "It just makes me believe that literally anything is possible and if you don’t like anything in your life, you can change it and find happiness. It's so cheesy but that’s truly how I feel."
