Hi! We’re Tiffany and Katy, an expat and a repat, respectively, and the hosts and creators of The Bittersweet Life Podcast. Katy and Tiffany both grew up just outside Seattle, USA (Katy by way of Minnesota), but they had vastly different paths that led them to the expat life. Tiffany always knew she was destined to roam, and after spending four years in Boston, she moved to Montreal, Canada for her first expat experience. That wasn’t quite far enough away, and after a few years back in Boston, she finally fulfilled her dream of moving to Rome where she’s been ever since. Katy, on the other hand, stayed in Washington State until five years ago, when her husband won a fellowship to study in Rome for a year. This unexpected move to Rome reunited these childhood friends, and since Katy was a seasoned NPR producer, they decided to launch a podcast.
The Bittersweet Life began as a podcast about what it means to live abroad—the joys and frustrations of the expat experience—and has since become a dynamic exploration of what it means to LIVE. Every week, the two long-time friends parse life’s loftiest questions, about place, home, art, beauty, and identity, alongside interviews with famous authors and scholars.
Katy has since moved back to Seattle, with stints in New Orleans and San Francisco along the way. She continues to produce for radio, and is also currently working on a memoir and a picture book. Tiffany is now thoroughly entrenched in Italian life with a Roman husband and son. She’s the author of middle grade art mystery Midnight in the Piazza(HarperCollins, 2018) and currently working on her next book, Saving Caravaggio. She is also a travel writer and a tour leader in Rome.