If you spend any amount of time on social media, chances are good you’ve come across the very viral videos of today’s guest. Cécilia Jourdan is a language teacher, content creator and entrepreneur who started Hello French in 2020 with an Instagram account that has since become a full blown business. She joins me today to talk about her trajectory from Paris to New York and in between, building a linguistic career, and what words and ideas seem to cut through the noise most on social media. Menti...
Oct 24, 2023•40 min•Season 7Ep. 122
In the previous episode, you heard from four incredibly smart people invested in both raising awareness and pushing for change when it comes to the fashion industry as a whole. But what practical steps are needed? In this episode, I'm joined again by Aja Barber, Khémäis Ben Lakhdar, and Esha Chhabra to talk about accountability, transparency, decolonization, brands that are doing things right, and slowing down our own consumption as a means to extract ourselves from the performative cycle of fas...
Sep 27, 2023•40 min•Season 7Ep. 121
(Special two-part episode!) Every season, all eyes are on the Parisian runways as onlookers try to get a peak at what big and disruptive trends await for the following year. But few know about the history of how this industry came to be, the role of colonialism in its development, and how the industry upholds many of the same ideas and practices today. As you will discover, the legacy of colonialism lives on within the fashion industry, and not only in France. You’re going to hear from a fashion...
Sep 25, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 119
It’s la rentrée! I’m back to my usual home studio and routine which means I’m ready to kick off the fall, and the end of season 7, with some fresh conversations. Let’s kick off September with a friend, entrepreneur and previous guest of this show, Jay Swanson. We’re going to talk about his new project, Paris in My Pocket , Paris news, and what you really need to know if you’re coming to the city this fall. Mentioned in this episode: Jay Swanson on YouTube Jay Swanson on Instagram Paris in My Poc...
Sep 05, 2023•42 min
Of all the cuisines that have had a presence in Paris but always deserved to be more prominent, Lebanese cooking ranks high among them. France is home to the largest Lebanese diaspora in Europe so it’s no surprise that key dishes and ingredients are familiar to many diners. But most establishments hew to classics— that is until the opening of Kubri on the rue Amelot at the end of last year that has lent a creative, contemporary twist. That’s thanks to today’s guest and tremendously talented chef...
Jul 22, 2023•51 min•Season 7Ep. 118
We are quickly approaching three years since my second book The New Parisienne was released. The year 2020, as you may remember, was not an ideal time to release art into the world. Later that year, we would see that the best thing you could have offered people sheltering at home was food and cookbooks, home decor books, or any kind of guide to DIY-ing your existence. A book about women, including women of colour, should have resonated strongly given its release in the middle of a period of raci...
Jun 26, 2023•7 min•Season 7Ep. 117
Aside from the last episode of last season, which was more about the President than the World Cup, I’ve almost never talked about sports on this show. And that’s strange given the role it plays in local culture. When I learned about the work of today’s guest, I knew it was time to record a special episode. Lindsay Krasnoff is a historian and sports diplomacy expert who teaches at NYU and wrote a book called Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA that will be released i...
Jun 08, 2023•33 min•Season 7Ep. 116
Of all the cooking essentials we buy and consume, few are as taken for granted or even misrepresented as extra virgin olive oil. Imagine you’re in France scanning the shelves in your local market for a new bottle. The labels might lead you to believe the oil is 100% French, Italian or Greek but inspect the fine print and a fuller picture emerges: Pressed in Italy, Produced Outside of the European Union. And that’s if the bottles specify that distinction at all. But if I learned anything from rep...
May 25, 2023•39 min•Season 7Ep. 115
If you like art or are even mildly interested in art, Paris has both an abundant and intimidating level of choice. The exact number of museums varies according to how you might define a museum but it’s been estimated that there are over 130 museums in Paris, including marquee destinations and smaller museums that showcase a wide range of art, history, science, and culture. And if you like or are curious about contemporary art, there are countless galleries and private foundations. Navigating it ...
May 11, 2023•39 min•Season 7Ep. 114
The work to live vs live to work ideology was among the earliest characteristics of French life that appealed to me as a student. I didn’t know the extent to which that would bear out until I had lived in Paris for a number of years and discovered it firsthand. For Ajiri Aki, the Nigerian-American founder of the online linens and antiques brand Madame de la Maison, her decade in Paris has similarly crystallised a number of life lessons which she has now put on paper in her new book: Joie, a Pari...
Apr 26, 2023•37 min•Season 7Ep. 113
Much like fashion, Paris is a global reference for design. There are the iconic interiors one might imagine when thinking of Paris but then there are the more sceney or concepty places that seem to have big design firms and big investors behind them. In the last 8 or so years, it feels like every new spot has a resident interior designer or architect or a theme that they’re going for. In some ways, it feels more like London with its developed restaurant groups and their sharp designs. What might...
Apr 12, 2023•51 min•Season 7Ep. 112
The music you’ve just been listening to was performed by today’s guest, Bonnie Brown, a concert pianist and piano instructor who works out of her home in Paris. She joins me to talk about her connection to France, working as a musician, and the places she loves most to listen to music in Paris. PS. If you’re a fan of the show, please share it with a friend and leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you stream your podcasts! It helps ensure the show gets discovered by new listeners...
Mar 30, 2023•34 min•Season 7Ep. 111
If you were to walk the streets of Paris today, you’d see about 7,000 tons of garbage piling up on sidewalks. The stench after a week of no garbage collection is, you might say, ungodly. Some residents have seen an uptick in rat socialising. And according to reports, this could go on until at least next Monday March 20th. This trash assault is the result of strikes in response to the Macron government’s pension reform plans which lawmakers are debating and voting on this very week. In this short...
Mar 16, 2023•7 min•Season 7Ep. 110
If I think about some of the women that have defined Parisian and French history, I instantly think of Marie Antoinette. The long maligned figure of French royalty and one of many unfortunate symbols of the French Revolution, the former queen has rarely been painted in a positive light. But what if that is an incomplete story? What if new scholarship points to a more nuanced picture of Marie Antoinette and the empresses that followed in her footsteps? That’s part of what today’s guest uncovered ...
Feb 28, 2023•35 min•Season 7Ep. 109
If you were to scan a Parisian city block, you’ll land on at least one caviste or wine seller. But while there are a lot of them, they’re not all created equal. Alison Eastaway , an Australian who has lived in Paris for 12 years and today’s guest, saw an opportunity to offer something different. She left her last career in tech to start Cavewoman Wines , a wine store and tasting room in the 11th arrondissement which opened last July. On today’s show, We talk about nonlinear career paths, the imp...
Feb 11, 2023•41 min•Season 7Ep. 108
I wasn’t going to publish another episode this year but then the World Cup Final happened, and President Macron went cringe and inspired a whole new conversation I simply had to have before the new year. There’s no better person to discuss Macron with than Rym Momtaz , the former France Correspondent for Politico who spent years reporting on the Macron administration and currently a consulting research fellow on European Foreign Policy and Security with the IISS. We dig into what happened, wheth...
Dec 31, 2022•34 min•Season 6Ep. 107
Of all the incredible foods in Paris, which do you think gets consumed the most? If your instincts led you to say pizza you’d be correct. By some estimates, the French as a whole are the world’s second biggest consumers of pizza after the United States . As the capital, Paris is understandably swarming with pizza joints, some enjoyable and well done, but most of them forgettable. That is, until Dan Pearson, an American sourdough baker, came along and showed pizza lovers how good it really can be...
Dec 27, 2022•34 min•Season 6Ep. 106
It started with gâteau and continues with, well, more cake. And pastry, and Chocolate! For part two of my focus on sweets, I’m joined once again but an old friend of the show whose first book, Sweet Paris , was released earlier this year. My conversation with Frank Adrian Barron took place in my apartment so you’ll have to excuse any wood-floor echos and cat meows. Mentioned in this episode: Cakeboy Paris Instagram Cakeboy Paris website "Sweet Paris" the book Maxime Frédéric at Cheval Blanc Pari...
Nov 30, 2022•40 min•Season 6Ep. 105
t’s that time of year: gift giving, baking, holiday planning. Which means it couldn’t hurt to draw your attention to France for some inspiration. This will be a two-part episode all about sweets featuring two authors whose books you absolutely should be picking up for yourself or offering as gifts. To start, I’m joined today by Aleksandra Crapanzano a James Beard–winning writer and longtime dessert columnist for The Wall Street Journal and most recently the author of Gâteau, The Surprising Simpl...
Nov 25, 2022•39 min•Season 6Ep. 104
Turn on the nightly news, listen to the radio, or speak with most Europeans these days and the topic on heavy rotation is the energy crisis. This is partly an outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war as Moscow has suspended natural gas supplies in response to economic sanctions imposed by the West. As reported by Fortune magazine recently, the invasion of Ukraine started just after European nations decided to rapidly shift to clean energy and shutter nuclear power plants, which left them vulnerable to ...
Nov 08, 2022•36 min•Season 6Ep. 103
One of the incredible aspects of living in Europe is the access to rich bread and baking traditions. They may vary between France, Poland, Germany, and Portugal, let’s say, but what they share is the ongoing movement to protect them. It’s also the theme of the new cookbook by my fellow American friend based in Berlin, Laurel Krotochvila, owner of Fine Bagels . The book, New European Baking , was the subject of our conversation that took place at The Red Wheelbarrow bookstore on October 6th. This...
Oct 25, 2022•26 min•Season 6Ep. 102
2022 will be forever be etched in my mind as the year travel and tourism rebounded from the pandemic in a massive way. Essentially, since June 1 or whenever the remaining travel restrictions lifted, visitors haven’t stopped trickling into the city. I also know this from experiencing a major uptick in requests for my own tour . Now that we’re into the fall and peak travel season is behind us, I wanted to sit down with someone who has spent the last decade of his career in tourism and has built so...
Oct 13, 2022•40 min•Season 5Ep. 101
Since the last episode of this show, I can report two positive things: First, I did indeed spend less time doom scrolling and therefore alleviate much of the anxiety and stress I had been feeling for months. And second, I finished a number of excellent books, many of which you can find on my Bookshop.org page which I’ve listed in the show notes, and also returned to review a few other books I’ve enjoyed in the past few years, including the excellent work by today’s guest. Jess McHugh is an Ameri...
Aug 29, 2022•32 min•Season 6Ep. 100
There’s no guest for today’s episode. Instead, I wanted to talk about a topic I was recently asked to write about for Elle magazine in France. And that’s the subject of tipping and tip culture. Given that tourism across France is back in a big way and the French themselves are back to traveling beyond their borders, the question of if and how much to tip has resurfaced. Because my story was in French, I had some requests to discuss the theme in English. So here we go! I hope it helps as you trav...
Jul 29, 2022•10 min•Season 5Ep. 99
I was reared on stand up comedians. Growing up, I was exposed to the greats: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. My near religious weeknight ritual with my father was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and being permitted to watch The Chapelle Show even though the subject matter was Arguably a bit inappropriate for a young teen. But when I first moved to Paris, I all but lost that connection. The bonding power of comedy. The most beloved french comics...
Jun 23, 2022•45 min•Season 5Ep. 98
I’m back after a little break to visit family in the states and return to Paris just in time to get knocked out with covid for a week. I’m sounding more like myself and ready to record new interviews for the remainder of season 5! So thanks for your patience. To kick things back off, I’m joined today by someone with a mission to fill in the gaps where French authorities fall alarmingly short. Kryssandra Heslop is the co-founder of the non-profit called Soul Food , an organization she launched in...
Jun 13, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 97
This episode was recorded April 25, the day after the conclusion of the 2022 French presidential election. That means, the first day of knowing Macron will continue to govern France after his first term officially ends on May 13. To some, this feels like a bandaid on a gaping wound. To others, a sign that reason has won. Whatever your perspective, there’s a lot to discuss about this experience and what Macron means for us moving forward. I’m joined today by someone I’ve wanted to invite on the s...
Apr 26, 2022•43 min•Season 5Ep. 96
Understanding life in France and the foundation on which identity is based, requires an understanding of certain words, themes, and ideas. Words like terroir, laïcité, entrepreneur, and travail, among countless others. Grasping their complexity is not only important to cultural integration but to being able to navigate daily life. It’s also the focus of a podcast called Navigating the French , hosted by fellow journalist Emily Monaco . She joins me, the day after the first round vote for Preside...
Apr 20, 2022•51 min•Season 5Ep. 95
One of the first English-language journalists in Paris covering women’s issues both in France and abroad that I first connected with online was today’s guest, Megan Clement. Her reporting has appeared in The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Sydney Morning Herald, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian and many other publications. She is now editing Impact , a bilingual weekly newsletter dispatch by Les Glorieuses, which may be familiar to you if you’ve read my second book , covering feminist movements and wom...
Apr 07, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 94
One of my goals with The New Parisienne was to highlight the richness of talent coming from women in and around the capital. There’s tremendous creativity, knowledge, innovation, and inspiration and it’s these women and so many others who fuel my own work and thinking. Rahaf Harfoush , one of the women in the book and a longtime friend, is one of the women I admire and whose research, writing, and thinking on technology and the culture of work has been endlessly illuminating. She joins me today ...
Mar 14, 2022•42 min•Season 5Ep. 93
