A mum from Wales who started making TikTok videos to document her daughter growing up is now giving her followers a realistic insight into family life in New York.
She’s on a mission to show people in other parts of the world what it's really like living in the Big Apple, and it’s proven to be quite a culture shock compared with rural Cwmbran where she hails from originally. The family identify as working class, but have been living the life of their dreams in one of the most sought-after parts of the city- Manhattan.
Nicole Petito, 31, met her husband, Frank, 36 who is from Brooklyn, when she was visiting her sister in New York before the pandemic. After some time going back and forth between Wales and New York, she decided it was time to take a leap of faith and move there permanently in 2018. She then became pregnant with their daughter Aurora who is three-years-old and, feeling inspired, she decided to set up a TikTok account during lockdown to log what family life was like for them.
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“I used to be a hairdresser when I lived in Wales but my heart was never really in it”, said Nicole. "But I’m also quite a shy, quiet person so I don’t think anyone ever really expected me to do TikTok. But I love doing it. And what’s great is it doesn’t take me any time to edit, I just take my phone out for a second I film little clips throughout the day.
"I think with TikTok the best way to get started is just to get on with it. And I've heard it said before that the only way to go viral is to talk like you already have a lot of followers, so that's what we've done and I'm open to seeing where it goes in the future." You can get more local news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
The Petito family now have 11,500 followers after seeing their popularity shoot up with some recent videos which gathered hundred of thousands of views.
Their most-watched TikToks, which have racked up over 200,000 views each, feature Nicole discussing how they afford to live in the sought-after area of Manhattan. Other videos which have also done well for them on the TikTok algorithm have been ones where they have filmed a "realistic" day in the life of a family living in New York, how the healthcare system works in the USA, and Nicole's daily routine as a mum.
Nicole is also working her way up to pursue a career in real estate, which she has also mentioned on the platform. But moving to the big city has also shown her what she misses about home. She said: "Other than my family, I miss the food the most I think. The chocolate - and the pubs because pubs aren't really a thing here.
"I also miss the outdoors. It's weird seeing mums who make sure they arrange playground trips after school to get their kids to play outside because not everyone has a back garden, but obviously that's something that was just normal for us in Wales. I feel like you have to kind of force that outdoor time in New York but it's just part of life back home. I also get nostalgic when visiting places outside of New York that are similar to Wales like Pennsylvania, or the towns that sort of originated from Welsh communities.
"But I do enjoy that there's always something to do here - and I think I do more kinds of different activities rather than being at home all the time. There are a lot more opportunities but it is harder to live in because of the expense. We're quite an open family and I could see us living in somewhere like Florida next. I would always move back to the UK but it might be a bit of an adjustment for my husband, but you never know!"
You can find out more about the family on TikTok here.
