Marc D\u2019Amelio \u201991 (CLAS)\u00a0describes himself as a man without a lot of hobbies. But he has helped his daughters, Dixie, 21, and Charli, 18, rise to TikTok stardom, moved cross-country, partnered with Abercrombie & Fitch on a new line of branded apparel, become a reality TV star, and won Best New Unscripted TV Series at the MTV Movie Awards for \u201cThe D\u2019Amelio Show,\u201d all in just three years during a pandemic. And while he may have moved to Hollywood, D\u2019Amelio still has hometown and Husky pride.<\/p>\n
The native Norwalker\u2019s next project, branded D\u2019Amelio Huskies Collective, was created to help UConn student-athletes develop and control their own name, image, and likeness. We checked in with him while he was back home in Norwalk in July.<\/p>\n
You are known as a true-blue Husky.<\/strong><\/p>\n When I went there, UConn was an underdog \u2014 it was a school that was affordable. I transferred from community college and it\u2019s almost as if I grew with the school. I remember telling my grandmother I was going to UConn, and she thought I was going to Canada! And now when you say UConn, there\u2019s not a person who follows colleges who doesn\u2019t know where it is.<\/p>\n And my love of the City of Norwalk is so important to me, for similar reasons. We\u2019re surrounded by all these affluent towns, and sometimes the schools get a bad rap. When we had the opportunity to move to Westport or Darien, we came back here to Norwalk. I\u2019m loyal in that way. And that\u2019s the same way I feel about UConn. If I can create a buzz about the University of Connecticut, if I can use my platform to do that, I\u2019ll do it. I do think sometimes people who follow me for Dixie and Charli information go, \u201cAw, he\u2019s talking about the University of Connecticut again!\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what it is. It\u2019s just that time of your life when you\u2019re figuring things out and learning how to be on your own and navigating through life, and UConn helped me do that. I didn\u2019t meet my wife at UConn, but my roommate from college ended up running World Gyms in NYC, and my wife was a personal trainer there. If I didn\u2019t go to UConn, I would never have met my wife!<\/p>\n