Daniella and Jesse met at work. They first crossed paths when the young music and comedy assistants at WME gathered to celebrate Passover together in the New York office. Daniella doesn’t actually remember meeting Jesse that day, but the photo evidence exists. Later, when the company rearranged desks, Jesse ended up sitting directly across from Daniella in an open floor plan—and their friendship began to grow. At first, Daniella thought Jesse was a buttoned-down type of guy. He wore crisp shirts every day, was always working super hard, while she was over there singing random songs and being generally loud and chaotic. It wasn’t until Jesse invited her to a Thanksgiving party he was hosting that she realized he was actually really fun and cool. He loved hosting, was incredibly down-to-earth, and he happened to be really good at his job, too. Get yourself a guy who can do it all, you know? And in that moment, she was like, “Ohhhh. I have a crush on him…” One day at work, Jesse was telling a story about how he was ending things with an Italian girl he’d been seeing, and Daniella immediately jumped in: “WAIT, WHY?! Because she’s ITALIAN?! Would you date an Italian EVER?!” She wasn’t being discreet. At all. Jesse definitely picked up on her crush vibes. Later that day, Daniella texted her group chat—called “Power Clap on Three,” named after a weird applause thing their middle school principal used to make everyone do—and told the girls: “I have a crush on this cute Jewish boy from work and I’m finally going to go after something I want. If he says no, he says no.” She asked Jesse if he wanted to come over and watch Friends. He said yes. Except—her roommate had other plans, and they all ended up going out to House of YES nightclub instead. Which honestly made Daniella's crush intensify even more. Jesse was down to have fun, go with the flow, and had the good sense to make sure they didn’t drink too much and end up hungover for work the next morning. Crush: confirmed. Another day at work, Daniella insisted on helping Jesse solve a problem with transferring his out-of-state license to New York. She got way too involved. Daniella called the DMV herself—speaking to the woman on the phone, trying out different strategies, even pretending to be Jesse. At one point, the DMV lady said, “You’re supposed to be a man,” and Daniella dropped her voice and said, “Why yes I am.” She also pretended to be Jesse’s assistant—had Jesse join the call to “authorize” her, like this was some formal operation. Jesse started to realize… he was starting to feel a crush toward Daniella as well. In the end, none of this worked. But Daniella still went with Jesse to take his actual New York City driving test. She made him so nervous he kept forgetting to stop at stop signs. But…. he passed! And the next day… the whole world shut down. From there, they kept dating—and things got serious fast when the pandemic hit. Rather than move back in with their parents, they decided to move in together… at Daniella’s brother’s college apartment. The primary décor? Posters of women with very large breasts. It was art. It was hilarious. They both jumped into living together—and then quickly thought, “Wait… what have I done?” Getting to know someone a few months into dating while living together in lockdown was a lot. They were both secretly looking up escape routes and wondering how to get out of it. Like… did we just make the most chaotic decision of our lives? It’s something they admitted to each other years later, while planning their future—laughing about how it all began. Eventually, they moved on up to Jesse’s grandparents’ house in New Jersey. Fewer boobs on the walls, but equally memorable art—including a giant painting of Italian chefs in the kitchen that made Daniella feel seen. Her culture was being celebrated and honored by Jesse’s family. And the rest? Well, you're here. So you know how this part turns out.