Attending the Season 5 premiere of Emily in Paris, Mimi Fry couldn’t help but feel like she had come full circle. In the four years since she moved to France, the 23-year-old social media marketer who hails from Wolverhampton, England, has made Emily’s ambitions her own reality. She still recalls watching Emily Cooper’s relocation from Chicago to Paris in 2020 and loving the character’s determination to succeed in the beautiful but challenging city. Watching Emily make Paris her new home, Fry thought, “This is possible.” “It was really inspiring to see her go for it, say yes to every opportunity, and just launch herself in,” Fry tells Tudum. “There wasn’t another character like her on TV.” 

When the first season premiered, Emily Cooper was not the only one at a crossroads. Fry was in the process of finishing secondary school and was unsure what would come next. “I didn't know if I wanted to go to university, but I’ve been obsessed with France my entire life,” she says. “When I started watching Emily in Paris it sparked my desire to go to Paris.” Fry’s initial plan was to apply to a university in the UK and spend a year abroad as part of her degree, but when her application was rejected, she took a chance. “In the sadness of the moment, I called up my dream school, which was the University of London Institute in Paris, and I just asked them if I could come,” she says. “They said yes.”

Her arrival in the City of Light, however, wasn’t quite as smooth as Emily’s. While it is impossible to forget the character’s introduction to the iconic views of Parisian rooftops from her chambre de bonne in the 5th Arrondissement, the reality of a young woman arriving from the UK without corporate support looked a little less picturesque. “I was living in this tiny basement by the Eiffel Tower,” Fry recalls. “I was babysitting for the people who lived above me, but I was also paying them rent. Thankfully, that didn’t last long, but I was always going to take what I was going to get to get me here.”

Then, of course, there was the language barrier. “I thought I was fully fluent in French. I even watched Emily in Paris the first time in French because I wanted to learn so badly, but I got to France and just didn’t know how to speak,” she says with a laugh. “I could listen, but I couldn’t reply.” Fry’s integration into French society would have made for a great episode of the series. To support herself during her studies, she applied for a job in a wine bar, and despite her lack of French-language skills (or any kind of affinity for wine or cheese), she was hired. “I turned up on the first day, and one of the girls who worked there just did not like me at all. I can’t blame her. I didn’t know anything,” she says. “Nobody spoke English, and for about two months working in this wine bar, I would have heart palpitations. But, because I had no other option, the embarrassment gradually went away.” 

It was finding her own Mindy in the city — although, ironically, Fry’s best friend is named Mandy — that made the bumpy transition into a new culture less solitary. “It’s so important to have an expat friend,” says Fry. “Because you’ve been through all the same struggles, it feels like you already know each other.” Her advice to those wanting to follow in her and Emily’s footsteps is to be realistic and proactive. “I’ve had to really put myself out there to make friends,” says Fry. “Before I got to Paris, I was super shy, so it wasn’t really my nature to do that. Now I’m very outgoing. Most of my friends now have come through social media — and making like-minded friends is a lifesaver, honestly.” 

It’s also important to do your due diligence about some of the realities that Emily likely dealt with off-screen. “Bureaucracy is so hard. I have to renew my visa every year and every time there’s something wrong with it. I’ll have to reload the exact same document, and suddenly it’s OK,” says Fry. “The other big challenge is the apartment situation, because you need a French guarantor. And opening a bank account is super hard. I have only recently gotten my first French bank account.” 

But much like the character that inspired her move, Fry has managed to land on her feet through persistence, hard work, and an ability to go with the flow. “When I started working, the problem wasn’t so much the language — it was not being able to do small talk or translate my personality into a different language. The humor is so different,” she says. “I started to grow a different personality in French. British me is a lot more self-deprecating, because that’s our style of humor. And French me, she’s far more bubbly.”

After completing her undergraduate degree in French studies and a master’s degree in marketing, Fry is currently doing an apprenticeship for a French marketing firm while building a social media content business on the side. What started as a side hustle to document the romance of Paris is now about to turn into a full-time gig. “I’m launching my agency in January, and I would love to see where that goes,” she says. “My dream is to have my own little curated space. That’s where I see this going, which would be amazing.”

In fact, there’s nowhere else Fry can see herself living and thriving. “I picture myself being a little old French lady in the 16th arrondissement with a little Chihuahua,” she says. “I see myself here forever.” Until those golden years, she intends to embrace the best of French culture, which — as the show suggests — is all about prioritizing the simple pleasures of life. “I now love a long lunch break, and I love eating at the restaurant with my co-workers. It’s super fun, especially if it’s somebody’s birthday — we’ll be there for two or three hours, have a three-course meal and a little glass of wine,” she says. “Before, I was chained to my desk — I thought that was what I had to do at the workplace. But when the show said the French people work to live, I thought, ‘That is so true.’ Now, every day I’m like, ‘How is this life?’ ”

Watch Emily in Paris on Netflix.