Meet the woman who watched ‘Emily in Paris’ and moved there: Mimi Fry
Watching Emily in Paris usually ends the same way for most people. You binge it, close Netflix, think about Paris for a minute, then get on with life. But that wasn’t the case for Mimi Fry. For her, the show landed at a moment where life already felt undecided. So, instead of treating it like escapism, she treated it like proof that moving cities did not have to stay hypothetical.
This is the story of Mimi Fry, a social media marketer from Wolverhampton, England, who watched Emily in Paris at a moment when her own life felt undecided. Instead of leaving the fantasy on screen, she let it push her toward action. Paris stopped being a general idea and became a real goal. What followed was her intent. Mimi did not chase the show’s version of the city. Instead, she built her own version of it, step by step.
Mimi grew up in Wolverhampton and was finishing school when she first watched the series. University plans felt uncertain. The future felt vague. France, though, had always been on her mind. Seeing Emily Cooper move to Paris did not hand her answers, but it made risk feel approachable. Paris stopped feeling like a place meant only for people with perfect timing.
Then came a rejected university application, which forced a rethink. In a moment that still feels bold in hindsight, Mimi called a Paris-based institution directly and asked if she could study there. They said yes. That answer did not solve everything, but it gave her something solid to move toward.
Arriving in Paris removed any illusion the show might have created. She didn’t have a stylish apartment like Emily or a corporate cushion. Just a tiny basement near the Eiffel Tower, babysitting for rent, and making do because leaving was never an option.
From watching Emily in Paris to making Paris home
Language was the first real hurdle. Mimi assumed she was fluent until she had to reply. Understanding French did not mean speaking it with confidence. Working at a wine bar made that gap impossible to ignore. She did not know wine. She did not know cheese. Conversations moved faster than she could keep up with. Kind of like Emily in season one.
That discomfort lasted weeks. Then months. Embarrassment slowly lost its grip, mostly because it had to. Staying meant adapting. Learning happened on the job, in public, without a safety net.
Finding an expat friend helped. Both shared the confusion, which turned into comfort. Social media became a tool to connect, not perform. The city started to feel less like a test and more like a place that could be figured out.
How Paris became home
Over time, Mimi found her footing. She studied French, then marketing, and learnt that working in another country comes with invisible rules. The challenge was not grammar. It was tone. But she shifted her humour and adjusted her personality. A different version of herself formed in a different language.
Today, Mimi works with a French marketing firm while building her own social media business on the side. What began as documenting life abroad has turned into something sustainable. Paris is no longer a temporary stop. It is where she sees herself staying.
Her story works because it does not sell a fantasy. Watching Emily in Paris did not make the move easy, but it sure made it possible.