Leaders Archives - Lettre de Paris

International Women’s Day: Bérangère de Pontac’s Servigny D-Day Fund

8th March 201720th October 2019 admin 0 Comments Château de Servigny, Comtesse Bérangère de Pontac, Servigny D-Day Fund – Young Peacemakers

On this 2017 International Women’s Day, my thoughts are with women of the world, and most particularly mothers.. who throughout their lives must balance their most important responsibility – that of nurturing and supporting their children – with achieving in the outer world, in order to reach their full potential and realise their dreams. Not an easy feat…

One such mother I met recently is Bérangère de Pontac.. wife of “Comte” Arnaud de Pontac, the owner of the historic 17th century Château de Servigny in Normandy. The fact that she’s a Countess did not seem to deter her from wanting to leave a mark by starting the “Servigny D-Day Fund, Jeunes artisans de paix”, or Young Peacemakers, a charity supporting efforts in educating children for the promotion and fostering of peace. It’s goal: providing Peace Education for all children, whose mission statement is to “spread peace, develop global citizenship, to remember to build better”…

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Lettre de Paris Interview: Michael Hewett…

27th December 201629th December 2016 admin 0 Comments Indian Yoga, Le Tigre Yoga Club, Meditation, Michael Hewett, Sarva Yoga Academy, Yoga Teachers in Paris

I first encountered Michael Hewett on a warm Sunday in October at Le Tigre Yoga Club in Paris.. he was the instructor leading the two-hour “Shamatha Meditation Atelier” I had signed up for.

I was looking forward to starting my formal initiation into Meditation, a discipline which I had long yearned to start practising. The workshop promised to take us “step by step through the Buddha’s stages of meditation”. Having long been fascinated by everything spiritual and read extensively about the subject over the years, I knew that I finally needed to put the theoretical into practice. Meditation seemed to be the natural next step into a brave new world and a practical, more attainable entry into a sublime state of being that I had so far touched for only brief moments.. I wanted to access that state far more frequently. I knew it was the right path to follow, long ago convinced that we are indeed all spiritual beings having a human experience…

Changemakers Healthy Living Leaders Wellbeing

Elodie Garamond’s Le Tigre Yoga Club…

19th July 2016 admin 0 Comments Elodie Garamond, Le Mini Tigre, Le Tigre Yoga Club, Meditation, Mindfulness, Wellbeing, Yoga Clubs in Paris

As someone who’s experienced a major professional life change – in my case from the rigid but secure banking, to the more fulfilling yet hazardous terrain of creative entrepreneurship – I was fully cognisant of the path that Elodie Garamond has tread, from high-flying communications executive to founder and director of Le Tigre Yoga Clubs, in tandem with juggling the joys and pressures of marriage and motherhood…

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Sarah Gogel.. Changemaker…

25th May 20167th November 2016 admin 0 Comments Corinne Thouvenin, French NGO's, Project 18, Sarah Gogel, YES Akademia, Youth charities

I recently read an interesting article whose author was making an argument for why he thinks the world is undergoing a “paradigm shift”.. i.e. the early stages of a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions, one of several monumental shifts in history that have uprooted our society’s very foundation, such as the Industrial Revolution, taking it off its current path and putting it on a new one.

One of the signs the writer cites to support his argument of a paradigm shift is his belief that a global consciousness shift is underway in which…

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Celebrating with Irina Bokova at UNESCO…

31st March 201629th May 2016 admin 0 Comments International Women’s Day 2016, Irina Bokova, U.N. Secretary-General 2017, UNESCO, United Nations

I was invited to attend an art exhibition recently.. not any ordinary art exhibition.. it was one held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Having lived many years in Paris, the presence of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the City of Light did not impact our everyday Parisian lives… its myriad annual conferences and exhibitions were not listed in the usual weekly or monthly event calendars of the city.

So it was with slight awe and trepidation that I navigated my way through the large and imposing boulevards of this formal side of the 7e arrondissement of Paris, to reach the Place de Fontenoy.. where the sprawling site, with its central modern building, is considered international territory and belongs to the Organization’s 195 Member States.

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2016 International Women’s Day.. at the OECD

11th March 201631st March 2020 Lettre de Paris 0 Comments 2016 International Women’s Day, Angel Gurria, Conferences in Paris, OECD

Speaking recently to the American Ambassador in Paris’ office regarding a request for her support to our local charity, I was told by her assistant that the “protocol” department will not be able to treat our correspondence in the coming week, as Her Excellency will be extremely busy attending International Women’s Day events taking place in Paris. That was an excellent reminder for me to arrange to cover this poignant day, which brings to light globally the importance of celebrating women, and related issues such as gender parity, equality, equal opportunity, etc… bref, all the things that affect me as a professional woman in the 21st century.

On the 8th of March, I found myself entering the impressive halls of the OECD Conference Centre close to Porte de la Muette… The halls were full of people there to attend the myriad conferences and plenary sessions that the OECD hosts every year. I was transported back to a time when I was a member of the hallowed young professionals set, all well-dressed in suits, conference delegate identification tags around their necks, impressive C.V.’s, and the confidence to go with it…

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“Women’s Forum Brazil 2013” – A Case of Empowerment…

9th June 201331st March 2020 Lettre de Paris 0 Comments Publicis Group, Véronique Morali, Women’s Forum Brazil 2013, Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society

I recently asked a wise, enlightened acquaintance a topical question: “How, in your opinion, is women’s role changing in the ‘5th Dimension’, from a spiritual point of view?” The answer came quickly and clearly: “Because of women’s increased empowerment, they now have a stronger platform to show that their way can work in a more beneficial way…”.

Since the discussion moved on, I was left to wonder about this simple yet startling reply later, in the privacy of my thoughts. “Their way”… I presume meant women’s naturally more diplomatic, nurturing, consensus-driven method of operating, versus the more power-driven, competitive, authoritative, sometimes confrontational approach of men. Given the current unstable, chaotic, and down-right dangerous state of the world, I mused, we need every bit of help, every useful suggestion, to move us through this turbulent period in human history, and on to a more peaceful, balanced, harmonious place in our collective state of existence.

Charitable Organisations Culture & History Leaders Modern Personalities

Madonna and Angelina… A Worthy Cause…

7th April 201328th May 2016 Lettre de Paris 0 Comments Angelina Jolie, Charities, Madonna, Malala Fund, Malala Yousafzai, The Ray of Light Foundation

S-o-o-o… impressed by…

Madonna…and… Angelina Jolie…

Patching up… their differences…

For a… worthy cause…

Angelina Jolie, 37… who criticised Madonna on the manner of adoption of her two children from Malawi… David Banda and Mercy James… showed an elegance and generosity of spirit by phoning the “Material Girl” to praise her efforts in helping Third World young women get an education.

Changemakers Entrepreneurship | Workplace Events Forums Leaders

What Hope – Women Entrepreneurs in France?

7th April 201329th May 2016 Lettre de Paris 0 Comments Agnès Audier, Cécile Philippe, Deauville Global Meeting Conference, Women Entrepreneurs in France, Women’s Forum

I was looking through the Women’s Forum’s “The Book” recently and a quote from one of the sessions at the 2012 Deauville “Global Meeting” conference, entitled “Can economic austerity be an opportunity for women?” caught my eye :

“In France, the dialogue between the government and the private sector is very poor. At the end of the day, it’s not surprising that the decisions taken by government are far from what the private sector expects.”

Given that this quote was uttered by Agnès Audier, Partner and Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group, and a highly respected professional who’s previously held senior advisory positions in both the private and public sector… she must know what she’s talking about. The next headline, further down the page, made me gulp even more: “In France, 90% of women entrepreneurs do not draw a salary”.

Changemakers Entrepreneurship | Workplace Leaders

Women and the Workplace: a Personal Perspective

17th March 201331st March 2020 Lettre de Paris 0 Comments Chrystia Freeland, Hanna Rosin, Lean In, Sheryl K. Sandberg, Simone de Beauvoir, Women and the Workplace

In this weekend’s edition of the International Herald Tribune, I was drawn to read an article entitled “In Sandberg, Echoes of De Beauvoir” by Chrystia Freeland, where the author makes the correlation between some of De Beauvoir’s thoughts on women and their perception within society and Sheryl K. Sandberg’s recent book “Lean In”, which argues that some of those misperceptions of women described long ago, still hold true today. I was riveted.

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