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Cynthia is the owner of the company Delectabulles, which specializes in supporting women in the male-dominated wine industry by:

• only using champagnes made by women
   
• telling the stories about the women behind the bottles
   
• giving more women the tools and confidence they need to buy sparkling wines from around the world

Canadian born, Cynthia has called Paris home for more than 25 years. She is the founder of a company which specializes in sparkling wines made by women and marketed for women. She was recently voted the "Best Wine Experience in Paris" by Travel and Hospitality Awards. Find out more about her virtual classes here https://www.delectabulles.com/en/about

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Julia McWIlliams Child, the woman who brought French cooking to America, fell in love with France as generations have fallen in love with her. Born on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena into a wealthy family that had very very tall children. Julia would attend Smith College and due to her 6” 2 ‘ frame she was perfect for the basketball team but would also play golf, tennis and even act. Graduating with a degree in history in 1934 she wanted to become a writer and moved to New York to chase her dreams but her vision of being the next big novelist wasn’t in the cards. Instead she settled for working in the advertising department for the W & J Sloane furniture firm. 

As World War II broke out she wanted to join the Women’s Army Corp but due to her height she was turned away. Joining the Office of Strategic Services, the OSS that would later become the CIA, she worked directly with the head of the OSS. She would also assist in creating a shark repellent, yes you read that right. Apparently the sharks were getting too curious with the underwater explosives and would set them off so a repellent was needed to keep them away. 

ClaudineHemingway.com 

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Elaine Biss is a professional fashion event illustrator. She specializes in live fashion illustrations, sketching for the fashion, beauty and accessories industry in the New York, Washington D.C. and New Jersey. Elaine has been commissioned to create book illustrations, social media content, expressive calligraphy and live accessory customization that cater to the female buyer. She draws custom art that immortalizes your fashion event with, while making your event uniquely special.

Elaine creates fashion illustrations are quick and fashion brands love them. Her feminine fashion illustrations are high end purchase perks for customers, created while they shop. In addition, she`s been commissioned to create distinctive artwork for major retail companies, fine jewelers and beauty brands. Moreover, her artwork has been used for book art, social media feed content and web sites. Well versed in many different mediums, Elaine prides herself in being able to render bespoke pieces to meet her clients’ needs, in a small amount of time.

Check out her latest work & events in Instagram or her portfolio.

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New podcast out today! French author Colette has been a household name in France for more than a hundred years.  Her father's old friend Henri Gauther-Villars “Willy” would stop by their home in Burgundy and return many times to visit the young Colette. Fourteen years older, he would take her to visit Paris showing her the theater, parties and the glitz and glamour of the city of lights. On May 15, 1893 they would marry and move to Paris. Colette was in a hurry to get away from her overbearing mother but things would not turn out how she hoped. 

After a visit in 1895 to her former school in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye Willy encouraged her to write down some of her stories from her school girl days. Willy was a music critic and writer, or he at least took credit for others writing as his own. Colette wrote the book and Willy tossed it into a drawer for four years. One day he found it and read it again but asked her to spice it up a bit. Colette did just that and in 1900 it would be published under Willy’s name only as Claudine at School. It was an immediate hit and Colette was forced to write another one. She didn’t like the writing process, so Wily would lock her in a room to write each day.  In 1901 Claudine in Paris debuted.  

Colette and Willy would separate in 1906 and the relationships after that were filled with control and drama until she met her third husband Maurice Goudeket. Spending her days happily writing from her window in the Palais Royal she would outlast the war and her husbands capture and return and enjoy lavish meals in Le Grand Véfour.  

Colette would die on August 3 1954 in her beloved home in the Palais Royale. Denied a Catholic funeral due to her multiple divorces she would be the first female writer to be given a state funeral. More than 10,000 people paid their respects and a funeral was held in the courtyard and garden of the Palais Royal. Listen to the newest episode all about her interesting life at La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec A Hemingway. Link in bio 

https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Dreama is a self-taught artist and writer who started an online art business (a little to her own surprise!) a decade ago. With a collective following of over 60,000 painters, thousands of students have taken her online courses and participate in her groups. She is the creator of 4 online courses and is working to grow and expand a community of supportive and talented artists with her online creative membership, Flow. Dreama spends most of her time dreaming up new delights for artists, snuggling with her cat Eddie and husband Ron, and nibbling on all the chocolate in France.

About Her Courses: Dreama Tolle Perry was the first to create online experiences that recreate the magic of a European art retreat from the comfort & safety of your home.

After teaching sold out art workshops in France, she knew there needed to be a way for more people to experience painting abroad without the expense & logistics of travel. So, she packed up a crew of talented people and headed to France & Italy to create the first online painting adventure course. Filled with painting videos, travel videos that take you into villages & show you slices of everyday life, bonus photos for painting, recipes, book/movie recommendations, quiet time videos and so much more, these online courses create an experience unlike any other. 

Site: https://DreamaTollePerry.com

Summer Offering: https://www.flowmembership.com/summerescape

FB: https://facebook.com/DreamaTollePerry

IG: https://instagram.com/DreamaTollePerry

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Long before she was a Hemingway, Hadley Richardson was a smart, quiet and talented young lady. The youngest of five children, her mother had been a singer and musician and would pass the gift onto Hadley as a pianist. Due to financial difficulties her father killed himself when she was just twelve years old leaving her with her very overprotective mother.  

Hadley enrolled in Bryn Mawr where she was finally able to spread her wings a bit, but it would be short-lived. Her sister Dorthea was married and had a child and another on the way and would die after a severe burn and would sadly die a few days later, causing Hadley’s mother to panic and force her home from Bryn Mawr. 

In October 1920, Hadley was finally free to live her life and went to Chicago to visit her friend Kate Smith for three weeks. One night at a party she would meet the young Ernest Hemingway. Instantly attracted to each other they would see each other often before her return to St Louis. After that they would send letters to each other every day, sometimes 2 to 3 a day. Hadley felt her life had finally begun. Less than a year after they met, they would get married in Bay Township Michigan on September 3, 1921. Spending a few short months in a small apartment in Chicago before leaving for Paris on December 8, 1921. 

Much has been written of Hadley’s time in Paris, most of it painting her as the weak woman who went along and was pushed aside. That is far from the truth. Hadley was an amazing, smart, talented and patient woman. Supportive of Hemingway and his writing and travels, but she also had her gift as a wonderful pianist. While Pauline befriended her, locked in her claws and took advantage of Hadley’s sweet disposition, it was Hadley in the end that would put the screws to Pauline. 

Hadley would go on to marry again to Paul Mowrer and live out her life happy and content. Ernest and Hadley would stay in touch and share a close relationship until he died. Writing “Hadley was the only woman in his life that didn’t give me trouble”, I believe she was his one true love but he figured it out much too late.  

Listen to the newest episode of Paris History Avec A Hemingway out today, link in bio. 

https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Janice MacLeod is best known as a Paris artist and writer. She is the artist behind the Paris Letters subscription service and author of a memoir, also called Paris Letters. Before her life in Paris, she was a copywriter and creative director for top advertising agencies in Toronto and Los Angeles. When she saw burn out on the horizon, she devised an escape plan from corporate life. She saved up, pared down, and packed her bags for Europe. In Paris, she unpacked her bags in the Latin quarter after a charming butcher convinced her to stay. Her book chronicles her journey to Paris and the career she carved out for herself by creating a letter writing subscription service. Each month, she creates a watercolor scene of Paris, writes a letter on it and mails out copies to those who love fun mail. Her work has been featured in publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Flare, Business Insider, and the Huffington Post. Her subsequent book is an illustrated travel journal called A Paris Year, which takes the reader through a year of life in Paris. 

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If there is one woman that deserves a monument, parade and her face on a euro it is Rose Valland. She isn’t a name that is widely known and if I can do just one little thing in this life it is for others to know her story.  Rose Valland was born in 1898 in the Auvergne region, an only child that showed promise from a very early age. Her mother would apply for special grants that allowed her daughter to enroll in university, something that was hard for women to do at that time.  Rose would excel in school  from the Fine Arts school in Lyon to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where she would also teach, the University of Paris for Medieval archeology and then the Ecole du Louvre. 

In 1932 she would take on a job that would alter the lives of thousands of people. As a volunteer to the curator of the Jeu de Paume she would write and curate exhibitions. In 1940 Jacques Jaujard, the director of the Musée Nationaux asked Rose to stay at the Jeu de Paume. It was 1940, the Nazis had arrived and occupied France. Gorhing was looting the homes, galleries and museums of Paris and needed a place to store the stolen goods. The Jeu de Paume, the freestanding building in the Jardin des Tuileries, became their personal depot. Transformed into their personal gallery, the paintings stolen from the Jewish gallery owners and homes lined the walls before being shipped off to Germany. 

Rose Valland was quiet & meek, who wore her hair in a bun and glasses and disappeared into the woodwork. She was a brilliant woman, with a photographic memory and also spoke German. All these things combined made her one of the greatest assets France and the lovers of art ever had. Each and every night, Rose would return to her small apartment near the Jardin des Plantes and would write down every single detail of the day. 

Because of Rose Valland more than 60,000 works of art were returned to Jewish families, museums and galleries after the war. Sadly just as many if not more are still missing and many sit in museums across France waiting to be returned to their rightful owners. 

Listen to even more about this amazing woman on this week's episode of the podcast and check my website for more on Rose. 

https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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Audrey Chapuis is a Harvard graduate and has worked in libraries for close to twenty years. As a Texas native she had an obsession with books and all things French from a very early age. She is now the Director of the American Library in Paris and also enjoys many creative passions including painting. We chat about how creativity changed her life and some of her favorite creative authors.

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Her love life after Boy was one horrible decision after another. In 1922 she met the Duke of Westminster Hugh Richard Grosenor or Bender. He was a huge anti-semite that gave her jewels and even a home in London. Their relationship lasted ten years. Then there was Paul Irbe, another anti-semite who started an ultra right wing newsletter against Jews and foreigners in France. Coco paid for the publishing of it.  It was the late 1930’s and Hitler was marching through Europe. One day her employees went on strike because of low pay, Chanel was outraged and when the war started a few years later she closed her atelier putting 3000 employees out of work. Many of the other designers in Paris kept their going as long as they could. 

Read even more about her life and photos at https://www.claudinehemingway.com/paris-history-avec-a-hemingway-podcast-1

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