Q&A With Naudia and Serena

Tell us a little bit about each of you, your relationship, and your story.

Serena is from Naples, Italy although she grew up in Milan. I, Naudia, am from San Diego, California but have lived in 5 different countries throughout my life. We met in London in 2017. I was studying for my Masters degree and Serena was there on vacation. After knowing each other for a while, Serena invited me to Italy and I spent all of August exploring Italy with her! After the summer ended, I went back to London. We did long distance for some months and that December, Serena proposed to me!

We got married in Denmark in February 2018 and decided to live in Milan. After being married for only a few months, we found out I had a tumor. It was a tough journey for us both but it brought us closer together. It also gave us a better appreciation for life. Being LGBTQ in Italy definitely has its challenges but we are just thankful to be together and navigate the world together.

What is one of your favorite places that you have traveled to?

Together, we would have to say Amsterdam! We both loved how open Amsterdam is. It’s one of our favorite cities and we’ve home back to visit a few times! We also loved Malta, which is a very LGBTQ friendly place. It’s hard to pick just one place! Here in Italy we are in awe of the Cinque Terre, if you’ve ever seen pictures, it’s such a cute place.

Explain your relationship with nature and sustainability.

Serena has always been an outdoors type of person. She loves going for a walk in the park or a stroll in the woods. I prefer being indoors but I’ve always had a respect for nature. I think nature is so beautiful! I used to live in New Zealand and it made me appreciate the outdoors.

Italians are very sustainable by culture, recycling is the norm here. They pay a trash tax which makes sure plastics, glass and paper are always recycled. Serena has always known the importance of protecting our planet for future generations and I have learned a lot from her. In America, we aren’t as mindful as we should be.

Do you believe in climate change? Tell us your views.

Yes, we absolutely believe in climate change, the science speaks for itself. We see the changes on a yearly basis even here in Milan. My first year living here in 2018 it was snowing in March! Every year since then it hasn’t snowed during spring. Even in California, we often face periods of droughts. We truly have to do more to protect our planet. I worry about this a lot. Especially because whenever I see kids running around; I want to make sure we are leaving them a healthy Earth so to speak.

What is your favorite natural environment to be in? Forrest? Ocean?

We both prefer the ocean! We love the smell of the beach and just the beauty of it too. There’s something special about being by the ocean. We took a trip to Malta before one of my big surgeries. I find the ocean to be a healing place, it truly puts my mind at ease. It’s a very peaceful place. If Serena could live by the ocean or even in the ocean she definitely would.

What are some ways that people can show that they love the Earth?

We like to think any steps you take are big steps. People often feel that if they aren’t perfect when it comes to sustainability then why bother? We think that’s what stops people. You don’t have to be perfect! Recycle, buy a reusable water bottle, buy reusable products, sign up for beach clean ups, there’s so many ways to make a difference and help our Earth.

How do you try and make the world a better place?

We try to show others that it’s okay to be who you are. Being LGBTQ we face many challenges in every day life as well as on social media. We try to show people that being kind and spreading kindness truly makes a difference! We never imagined when we started sharing our story that people would feel inspired. What most people don’t realize is that the people who support us, who write to us, they’re truly the ones who inspire us.

Whenever we get messages from LGBTQ youth about how we made them feel empowered, it honestly makes this journey worth it. There’s so much love to spread! We always have our DM’s open because we want to communicate with our followers.

Why is your account “our unpredictable life”? What does that mean for you?

So when we began our journey we had different ideas of what that would look like. We originally wanted to share about our life in Italy being LGBTQ. Then life happened. I was diagnosed with a tumor in August 2018 and we put off starting our social media journey. Once I felt better we started posting on social media and we decided on Our Unpredictable Life because our life has always been so unpredictable!

You wouldn’t believe the obstacles and hoops we’ve had to jump through just to be together. It sometimes felt like whenever we solved one issue, another five showed up. Instead of getting sad or mad about it, we made it the theme of our story. Our followers know we were meant to move to the USA next year and then life happened and that can’t happen anymore. Life is truly unpredictable and we are embracing it!

If you could speak with nature, what would you ask it or what would you talk about?

We would want to talk about what nature needs from us! We always take it for granted and how cool would it be to be able to ask nature exactly what we could do to be better at taking care of it.

What are your favorite animals?

I love dolphins they’re just so beautiful and smart. I’ve always wanted to be able to speak to them to be honest. Serena loves horses! She loves that horses don’t trust right away, they build relationships with humans in a symbiotic way. She thinks it’s beautiful the way they interact with each other too.