Life & Work with Au Pair Tea

Today we’d like to introduce you to Au Pair Tea.

Hello Au Pair Tea, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We are a British duo currently au pairing in The United States of America and we document our time and share everything about Au Pair Life through an Instagram page and podcast called ‘Au Pair Tea’. Tamar lives with her host family in Raleigh, NC and Steph live with her host family in Long Island, NY.

Our story begins on May 23rd when Tamar (who goes by T) messaged Steph on Instagram after discovering that we were both from England and applying to become Au Pairs in the States. We formed an instant connection from both being part of the small minority of Au Pairs from England as well as having our journey’s tampered by the pandemic.

At the time we connected, we both had individual blogs where we talked about our experiences applying and how we were coping with the delays caused by covid. Due to this we discussed joining forces and creating a platform together. We were inspired by Au Pair, Oh Paris aka APOP (an American and British duo who were Au Pairs in Paris and predominantly offered support to Au Pairs in Paris).

A lot of their information was helpful and we wanted to provide a similar platform for Au Pairs in the USA. We realized that a lot of Au Pairs sharing their experiences online had already completed their journey and were back in their home countries but there weren’t any sharing the experience in real-time. After a lot of deliberation on the name of our brand, we settled on Au Pair Tea.

On May 27th, 2020 we created the Au Pair Tea Instagram page. We would post a variety of information on the agency we are Au Pairing with (Cultural Care Au Pair) and provide advice and support for soon-to-be Au Pairs who were also being delayed due to covid. When we began this page, we were still based in the UK, unsure of exactly when we would be flying out to the States.

Our content during this time was specifically regarding the process of applying, packing lists, preparing to leave your home country, and covid related advice. In July 2020 Steph approached Tamar with the idea of making Au Pair Tea a podcast as this would give us the flexibility to give much more information and details on every aspect of this experience.

T: “I admit, I was a little hesitant at first at the thought of doing a podcast. Au Pairing is a niche topic and one that not a lot of people have heard about, so I wasn’t sure that anyone would even listen to it”

Tamar was skeptical of this idea at first as we didn’t have a massive amount of followers and at this point, we were unsure of how things would plan out with the pandemic and our arrivals into the USA. However, after some research and convincing, the first episode of Au Pair Tea: The Podcast aired on July 17th, 2020.

Since then our podcast has grown successfully. We currently have over 20,000 listens and downloads and we are streaming on multiple mainstream services such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In December 2021 Au Pair Tea was ranked number one on “The Top 10 Au Pair Podcasts To Listen To In 2021”.

Au Pair Tea is currently on Season 3 and we have recorded 60 episodes in total. In these episodes, you can find a whole range of information on Au Pairing in America. Our most popular episode to date is ‘Operation: Find The Perfect Host Family’ which is all about matching and how to decide which family is perfect for you.

We also cover topics from our own experience such as how we celebrated different holidays in a new country and how we found adapting to American life. As well as this we have covered the sides of Au Pair life that aren’t as widely discussed, such as homesickness and Au Pair guilt.

One of our favorite parts of our podcast is our ‘in-tea-view’ series where we have conducted 10 interviews so far with au pairs who share their unique stories. We have also been lucky enough to have members of the Cultural Care Au Pair team join us for interviews as well, where we have talked to professionals in the fields of matching, extending and the training school that Au Pairs attend at the beginning of their experience.

Au Pair Tea is approaching its second birthday this year and every day we are filled with so much gratitude for the support and love we get from our listeners. We are constantly inspired by our fellow Au Pairs’ journeys and hope we can continue to support and build the Au Pair community.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like everything in life, nothing is ever a smooth road.

Au Pairing is a very niche topic so it can become a struggle to create content that is going to be helpful to our listeners. With this topic, there are only so many things you can discuss. The job itself is limited to a maximum of 2 years at a time. It means that we generally are only able to connect with those who have an interest in Au Pairing, which can limit the growth of our audience.

We never set out to be famous or super successful podcast hosts, we just want to help. We knew it was a risk making all this content without a guaranteed audience. We just wanted to give au pairs the support that we felt wasn’t readily available when we were applying to become au pairs. However, with over 20,000 listens and counting, we are incredibly proud of what we do.

We have had messages from host parents and au pairs thanking us for our podcast and for offering our perspectives. Our agency has also sent our podcast to their staff and we’ve been invited to be guests during information sessions for Cultural Care, to give our insight as experienced au pairs.

Even though the content was very specialized when we began, we found that as we have progressed in our journeys some of our content is relatable to just being a young person finding their way in the world. We have discussed our hopes and fears for the future; at this time, we are both unsure what we want to pursue once our terms are over.

We have also discussed mental health and how the pandemic has impacted us. In that sense, we feel that some of our content is relatable to a wider audience outside of au pairing.

*T’s dad is arguably one of our biggest fans! Even though he clearly isn’t an au pair and never has been, listening to our podcast gives him a unique insight into our lives as au pairs and allows him to stay in touch in another way.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Au Pair Tea is a brand and podcast run by two British Au Pairs in America. We share tips and tricks on how to survive Au Pair life and be the best Au Pair you can be, advice on the struggles that come with being an Au Pair such as homesickness and share our real-time experiences on this program.

We specialize in Au Pairing as a form of child care and are known for “spilling the tea” on everything to do with being an Au Pair, the good, the bad, and, more often than not, the downright messy!

We are most proud of the community we have built on social media and how many people we have helped through the advice we have shared. When someone reaches out to us and tells us that we have made an impact on their experience in a positive way, it makes what we do worth it.

The difference between Au Pair Tea and other accounts related to au pairing is that we are sharing our journey in real-time, which as we previously mentioned is not so common. Moreover, the majority of au pair journeys are shared by a single person but we managed to create this bond and create something special together.

We also don’t hold back on the negative sides of being an Au Pair because nothing is always perfect!

Contact Info:

• Email: stephandtamar@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aupairtea/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/1s0X5y8ZLMPwiCsGdpfaEo?si=e1fe95bc1c0c485e