MEET EMILY BOOKEY

I’m Dalton—Midwesterner by birth, first-generation Italian-American by blood, and someone who’s somehow made Minneapolis feel like both a launching pad and a place to land. Travel has always been my way in—the way into new perspectives, new people, new versions of myself. In 2017, I stepped onto Italian soil for the first time, and it was like something in me finally slotted into place. Everything clicked.

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Since then, I haven’t stopped answering the call back. Italy pulls me in year after year—sometimes more than once. I go for the family, for the friends, for the sun-drenched mornings that turn into long dinners that stretch into the night.

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Back home, I’ve found this rare and wildly fulfilling intersection of passions in my work. Since 2023, I’ve been working full-time with Emily’s Travel as her executive assistant—and one of her advisors. It’s a role that lets me blend the things I love most: travel, people, storytelling, photography. The camera is always with me, because you never know when a moment will ask to be captured.

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It’s been a remarkable ride. I’ve learned a lot, seen even more, and I’m grateful every day to be part of something that’s not just a job—but a way of life.