Lisa Anselmo is the author of My (Part-Time) Paris Life and has spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing, working on such iconic brands as Allure, Mademoiselle, InStyle, and People. She started to head over to Paris more and more and was following the fashion trends she saw there. She would write to her friends about her experiences and created an early form of a blog, pre-social media. It was picked up by Bonjour Paris and she became their fashion editor!  Lisa fell in love with the European lifestyle and especially Paris. Her transition eventually from New York to Paris felt seamless. 

Like me Lisa's best friend was her mother who passed away some years ago. In this chat Lisa and I spoke frankly about our mothers and their impact on the way we live our lives now, especially in relation to France. Lisa spoke about lots of signs that popped up which helped her feel that her mother was with her and guiding her during her move to Paris. I know just how she feels. The little moments when I recognise my mum shining through in French are very precious.  

Tune in for practical tips and insights for moving to Paris or France, how to navigate challenges and some things to be aware of. Lisa actually recommends a shorter stay before taking the leap to move to France as a visa isn't required for stays shorter than 3 months.

Lisa Anselmo shares so much of herself in my chat with her. I actually learned a lot about myself through listening to her. Lisa shares my passion for history, architecture, French culture and connecting to the past, the present and in some ways the future. As she spoke about the lessons she has learned about herself since moving to Paris, sparks of recognition of my own life flashed in my head. Lisa has a refreshing perspective and sees the world in a way I hadn't considered. As she stated her thoughts on happiness, that it is a state of mind and a choice and that she has now learnt to love herself flaws and all, I thought of how hard we all can be on ourselves. Perhaps embracing what we have and who we really are deep inside as Lisa does, is a lesson for us all.

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website