Name: Michele Genzano, The Beauty Snitch, Barkley’s Mom, Pee … it just depends on who’s asking!
Occupation: I have worked in Aesthetics Digital Marketing Content Creation and Management for the last 7 years, and I recently doubled down on my passion for Pilates by taking a Membership Sales position at Club Pilates. I’d love to teach one day!
Current city: I currently live in Chester Springs and have been here for just over a year, but I am originally from Philadelphia.
Born and raised there or imported? I grew up in West Mt. Airy, went to Penn State University Park, and then moved to Malvern in 2006, where I lived up until my move to Chester Springs at the end of 2024.
What is your connection to your current city? I’ve lived in this area for about 25 years. While I don’t have a deep connection to Chester Springs itself, it’s where I moved into my first home on my own, and my mom is just about 15 minutes away, so for now, everything I need is right here. But the City of Sisterly Love will always have my heart. I went to Masterman, and Center City will always feel like home to me.
What’s your favorite restaurant? Del Frisco’s or Villa di Roma (though I’m most commonly spotted at Davio’s). At Del Frisco’s, the beauty is in the details — the architecture, the plating, the ambiance. At Villa di Roma, when you settle into one of the simple tables amid the bustle of servers that feels a bit like a New York deli, beauty isn’t something you see — it’s something you feel.
Favorite place for Michele Genzano to shop? The best place to shop?! Obviously, the King of Prussia Mall! I’ve worked numerous jobs at the mall, and I’m so glad to see new life being breathed back into the ol’ girl.
What is your one favorite “best kept secret” about your city? Philadelphia’s best-kept secret is the way the city shapes the people who grow up here. I moved to West Mt. Airy when I was in 3rd grade. By 5th grade, I was taking the R8 into Suburban Station, walking to 17th and Spring Garden every morning (because the 2 bus was inevitably full) to go to Masterman. At the time, it just felt like normal life. Looking back, I realize it was an education in independence long before I understood that word.
Philadelphia teaches you how to move through the world. You learn awareness. You learn confidence. You learn how to stand on your own two feet. People love to describe Philly with the usual headlines: gritty, loud, even dangerous. And yes, parts of that are true. But the real story is what the city creates in the people who stay.
There’s a quiet loyalty here, not to be confused with the loud reputation. Philadelphians defend this place the way people defend family. They stay because the culture, the history, and the sense of community run deep. The best-kept secret about Philadelphia isn’t a hidden restaurant or a secret street. It’s that this city doesn’t just exist. Philadelphia builds the people who live here.
What makes your city, Michele Genzano’s city? What do you absolutely love about it? Philadelphia feels personal to me because I grew up learning the city block by block. I moved to West Mt. Airy when I was young. By 5th grade, at the age of 9, I was taking the R8 to Suburban Station and walking up to 17th and Spring Garden alone every morning to go to Masterman. At the time, it just felt like normal life. Looking back, I realize it was the beginning of learning how to navigate the world on my own. Those years taught me independence, but they also taught me how to see this city.
Philadelphia doesn’t try to be perfect. It’s layered with history, culture, architecture, and creativity that reveal themselves slowly if you’re paying attention. The beauty here often lives just below the surface.
That’s part of what I love most about it now. Over time, I found myself collecting love stories of women in this city, highlighting the people, places, and moments that remind me how much life and creativity exist here.
I think I do that because I see Philadelphia clearly. The grit and the beauty often living side by side.
In a lot of ways, the city raised me. Now I feel like I get to show people the beauty that’s been here all along.
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