Meet Giulia Dugo of Palm Trees & Pellegrino in La Jolla

Today we’d like to introduce you to Giulia Dugo.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Giulia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in San Diego and grew up in a pretty typical Italian family. Sundays were family dinner day, and my grandparents were my daily babysitters while my parents went to work. As immigrants with no more than middle school educations, my grandparents raised me to believe that education and hard work were vital to success. I remember thinking as a child that I wanted to be successful even though I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get there or what I was going to be when I grew up. As entrepreneurs in the restaurant and real-estate business, I saw how hard they worked. And I knew one thing for sure. I never wanted to own my own business. As a very much type A Capricorn, I felt that me + having my own business would equal a recipe for never stopping working. (As of two months ago, I am now a business owner).

After many a dream career change (we started with a princess, went on to writer, then lawyer, then newspaper editor), I settled on a double major in International Business and Marketing, and a double minor in French and Spanish from the University of San Diego. I found a way to mix my love of travel, speaking different languages, and marketing into one little package. My dream since I was 12 years old was to work at Adobe, as that’s when I developed my love of design with InDesign. Between being on the board of various clubs at USD, internships, and studying, one summer, I had a little bit of free time and decided that I wanted to start a blog. I didn’t share it with anyone for about two years; it was more of an online diary that I would update when I had time.

Eventually, when I went on to get a job at Adobe as an International Program Manager out of their Seattle office, I finally had weekends and evenings that had been monopolized with school work for so many years back to myself. I threw myself into writing and taking photos. After about three months, I learned that Seattle had quite a large blogging community. I not only found inspiration but friendship in so many people. I also realized that there was so much more to a blog than writing and hitting publish.

Fast forward a few years, I moved to San Jose to be at the Adobe Headquarters and had to start my journey of no friends and no family in a new place all over again. I’ll admit it was a little easier the second time around since I knew what I was doing. I fell into a rhythm with blogging and eventually realized that it was time to make it an official business. So as of March 2020, it’s officially an LLC. While I now spend most of my time in San Jose, I make it home to La Jolla about once a month to explore the new spots and catch up with my family and friends.

Has it been a smooth road?
In a creative path, I’m not sure what I would consider a “smooth road.” Would it be obtaining fame quickly? Or really knowing who your brand is from the very beginning?

I wouldn’t say that it’s been a smooth path per se. If I had to go back and do it all over again, I’d sit down and think through my brand, figure out who my target audience was, make a mission statement, etc. All the things that a company should do before they start. Because I started P&P as an online diary of sorts, nothing was mapped out. The only thing I spent a decent amount of time on was figuring out a blog name.

Once I started gaining a following and realizing that there’s a lot more to blogging than just writing, snapping a photo and hitting publish, things drastically changed. Overnight I had to become a marketer, web designer, content creator, schedule manager, editor and more. I remember, at one point, I needed to migrate my website to self-hosted. I had no clue what I was doing! For two weeks, I worked with a software engineer friend to migrate everything. You wear a lot of hats, having your own business, especially as a blogger.

I think the biggest struggle has been realizing that while I’d love to just do the fun stuff (like travel or take photos), there are so many things that my followers don’t see that are required to run the business. A page on the site might break for no reason and I have to figure out why. I have to manage my calendar and make sure that there is content to release every week. I have to make sure that there isn’t too much-sponsored content in a month. There’s research regarding SEO, and making sure that my other social media platforms are updated. There’s engaging with your community and ensuring that you’re providing useful content. You get the gist. Right now, in this very second, I feel like I’ve finally hit the smooth part of the road where I’ve “figured it out.” But that constantly changes. There are ebbs and flows and that’s all part of the creative process.

Please tell us about Palm Trees & Pellegrino.
I started the travel and style website Palm Trees & Pellegrino back while I was attending the University of San Diego, pursuing a degree in Marketing and International Business. I loved documenting my travels and outfits. People often ask where the name comes from. “Palm Trees” was a nod to my Southern California upbringing, and “Pellegrino” was due to my Italian roots. There’s a misconception that Pellegrino is from the sparkling water company. Actually, I chose the name because near the town where I’m from in Sicily there is a Mountain named Pellegrino, which seemed perfect for a website title!

It wasn’t until 2016 when I graduated and took on a role with Adobe Inc. in Seattle as an International Program Manager that I really dived into my favorite hobby. After being born and raised in San Diego, I was suddenly thrown into a new city with no family and no friends nearby. I literally signed my contract before visiting the city and moved without knowing anyone at all. Blogging filled that hole and became my best friend. I didn’t really know what “blogging” truly meant. I didn’t realize what a big impact it would have on my life – opening doors, making friends, and continuing to document my journeys.

Over the years, the brand has taken shape. My mantra is “building a style & travel community for millennials.” It’s less all over the place and more deliberate. People know me as being the go-to for Instagrammable spots and unique travel guides. I won’t just write about “Things to do in San Diego” (I mean I do that too) but I will also tell you about that hidden little day trip in the town you thought wasn’t all that interesting. I love finding the hidden gems and coming back to rave about it to my friends and followers.

A couple of months ago, P&P officially became an LLC! I think that’s when I truly realized that my fun passion project was actually a job (that eats up all of my free time when I’m not at Adobe). That has been one of my proudest moments.

I think what sets me apart from others is that I keep it consistent and I really consider what my readers are going through. I always ask myself, “what would be most helpful to my community?” For example, when the pandemic escalated back in early March, I quickly realized I needed to pivot. I couldn’t keep coming out with travel guides (despite that being 90% of my content). Some people might have said, “You write travel guides, that’s your brand. You need to stick with that.” But I disagree, you have to be in tune with your readers. I released a COVID-19 letter to the editor within a week and started generating articles around things to do in quarantine, recipe ideas, and other activities that were relevant to people at the moment. Now that things are started to open back up, I’m shifting to local activities. I’ve always put my readers first, even if it means going against my brand message.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
From a travel and style website perspective, San Diego is the perfect place to have a business. Every day it feels like there are hidden gems (restaurants, neighborhoods, shops) popping up. I always find myself being a tourist in my own city and I love that! P&P isn’t your traditional business, so I can’t speak too much to the rest of the questions.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.palmtreesandpellegrino.com
• Email: info@palmtreesandpellegrino.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/palmtreesandpellegrino
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/palmtreesandpellegrino

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