Boyfriend Surprises Girlfriend with Custom Billboard of Book (Exclusive)

Food has always been at the heart of Pamella Dutra’s life.

Growing up in Brazil, her fondest memories revolved around her family’s lively weekend gatherings centered around home-cooked meals. Now based in Boston, Mass., the 31-year-old still finds joy in the kitchen — even helping her mom run a bakery in Rio from afar.

“I’ve always been happiest when I’m cooking or baking for other people,” Dutra, who works full-time in advertising and, on the side, creates food content, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

That passion recently inspired Dutra to write her first cookbook — a project that took months of dedication and late nights to bring to life. This Calls For Dinner, a hosting-focused cookbook is filled with thoughtfully curated menus designed for moments that call for gathering around the table, is now available.

Each chapter is built around a theme and includes appetizer, main course and dessert options that readers can mix and match to suit the occasion.

For example, the “Coastal Calling” chapter is all about summer entertaining — think mini lobster rolls, stuffed crab shells, and homemade Caesar dressing. “Dimmed Lights,” on the other hand, leans more intimate and cozy, ideal for date nights or holiday dinners, with dishes like sticky toffee pudding, dinner rolls and braised lamb shanks.

“I wanted something that made hosting feel exciting and doable,” Dutra, 29, says. “There aren’t many cookbooks out there that focus on curated menus, and I saw a real opportunity to fill that gap.”

Of course, pushing a book into the world comes with plenty of pressure — especially for a smaller creator — but Dutra found strength in the support of her boyfriend, Jack Marsico.

The couple has been together for two years, and as Dutra puts it, “We’ve been inseparable since we met.”

“He’s my best friend and also has this incredibly thoughtful side,” she says. “He’s ambitious, caring, and my number one supporter.”

Knowing how overwhelmed she’d been — juggling a full-time job, recipe testing every night, growing her social media, helping with her mom’s bakery and prepping for the launch — Marsico decided to surprise Dutra in a way she’d never forget.

The surprise came one morning when Dutra and Marsico had plans to go to brunch with her sister. During the meal, she noticed him glancing out the window repeatedly, but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until they got downstairs in her building that she saw it — a massive, glowing pink LED billboard on a truck featuring an advertisement her cookbook.

“When we walked outside, some of our friends were there too. I hadn’t even noticed right away,” Dutra says. “He even included a QR code that linked directly to the pre-order page. The whole design matched my book — it was bright pink — and funny enough, I happened to be wearing colors that matched it perfectly.”

For Dutra, the gesture meant everything. “It feels incredible to be seen,” she says. “That surprise made it feel real. It made everything I’d been working on feel worth it.”

She explains that Marsico handled the entire surprise himself. He found a vendor for the LED truck and coordinated the plan with her sister and their friends, who kept it a secret. He even hired a photographer to capture the truck making its way around Boston.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, later that day his parents threw a citizenship party for my sister and me,” she says. “We had just become citizens earlier this month, so it was a full day of celebration, and it made me feel so grateful.”

Later, Dutra posted about the surprise on TikTok to share the moment with her friends and family. She didn’t expect much of it, but to her surprise, it went viral, amassing nearly 340,000 views and hundreds of comments.

“To be seen is to be loved 🥰 congratulations on your book girly! 🥳🥹,”

“I hope it turns into the ‘little cookbook’ that made it to The NY Times bestseller list. Congrats 💕,” someone else wrote.

Another person replied, “I’m actually crying for you💞.”

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She says reading through people’s messages to her has made her emotional. “It’s been amazing to read such supportive comments and hear strangers say they are proud of me!” she says.

“This whole experience reminded me you don’t have to be ‘big enough’ to make something meaningful, and to always take a chance and follow your dreams,” she says. “Most importantly, surround yourself with people who believe in you and want to see you succeed. I couldn’t have done this without the support of Jack, my family and friends.”

As for the future, Dutra can’t wait for people to get their hands on the cookbook and start cooking from it.

“I hope they feel confident hosting their friends or family for moments that call for sharing a meal,” she says. “I also want them to be introduced to a lot of the flavors I grew up eating and love. I grew up in São Paulo, a very diverse city with huge Japanese, Italian, Lebanese and Portuguese influences. There are a lot of Brazilian twists to recipes and Brazilian recipes in the book, and it’s fun to introduce people to these flavors.”