Nevermind, I guessed correctly and it WORKED!!! Can’t believe I figured this out on a whim.
Anyway, for future users who are trying to format very specific words in their menu list. just create a custom menu, add all of the pages you want up there, then add the actual HTML formatting code in the Navigation Label blank. For instance, for this problem, I solved it by calling the page name “About < e m > Seeing, Knowing, Being< / e m >” which then formatted correctly when it was rendered on the site. Note: I had to space those letters out so that they would display correctly here in this followup.
Still can’t believe that worked.