Share your roots

Putting an Italian spin on Parisian ice cream

Gorick Ng
January 06, 2026 • Read Time:8 minutes

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I hope you are all having a happy and healthy start to 2026!

Planning any travel in the new year? Maybe this week’s story will lend some inspiration for your next big idea.

Enjoy!

TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Your heritage isn't baggage. It's your competitive advantage.

THE STORY

Two Italians who couldn't find home in Paris

It was 2002. Cristiano Sereni and Paolo Benassi, two childhood friends from Reggio Emilia, Italy, had recently moved to Paris.

The pair began to adjust to the new city but found themselves homesick for one thing in particular: ice cream.

Not just any ice cream—but the artisanal gelato that they had grown up with in Northern Italy.

It was then that Sereni and Benassi had a realization: What they were missing from Italy could have a new home in Paris.

So the two friends made a decision. They would "offer the best tastes of Italy to customers around the world"—starting in Paris.

Cristiano Sereni (left) and Paolo Benassi (right)

Within months, they opened their first Italian gelato location and called it “Amorino.” Over the next 10 years, the friends…

(4 years later) Launched Amorino’s first franchises across France
(7 years later) Expanded into London, UK, and back home to Milan, Italy
(9 years later) Expanded into New York City

Fast forward to 2025 (23 years since that first Paris location), and Amorino now has more than 250 stores across Europe, Asia, the United States, and Mexico. It is also considered one of the world's leading gelato brands.

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THE UNSPOKEN RULE

What I learned from Sereni and Benassi is that your background, upbringing, culture, and experience aren’t just memories—they’re lenses you’ve been given to see opportunity where others see none.

How can you see the world like the founders of Amorino?

If something is common sense to you at work, but not to those around you…

If you remember a useful practice from the past, but it has since been lost…

If your background offers a unique way to solve a problem that your peers don’t see…

…then you’ve identified an advantage!

Next…

Ask yourself, “Who’d be most excited about this idea?”

Then, approach them and say, “I’ve always seen you as someone who’s [positive trait] and wanted to get your advice. Can I run an idea by you?”

Who knows: your idea could become the “unlock” that helps your team reach new heights or inspires that prospective employer to create a new role for you. It might even become the next Amorino!

An Amorino ice cream filled cone in front of an Amorino store.

See you next Tuesday for our next story and unspoken rule,

Gorick

WHAT I’M READING

Here are 3 articles that I found interesting recently (no paywalls, although it may depend on your cookies):

“So long, 9-to-5. Hello, 996” (Fast Company)
“The Human Network behind a Digital Time Capsule” (Scientific American)
“The End Of College-For-All And The Rise Of The Skills Economy” (Forbes)

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Gorick Ng
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Harvard career advisor | WSJ bestselling author | Fortune 500 keynote speaker | First-gen

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