“When you don’t tackle the fears or when you’re not aware of the fears, they really eat you up from inside and sometimes there is a lot of self-sabotage that happens. You’re stopping yourself before you even go”

Jeanette Cefre is a naturally someone who nurtures people and it's probably the reason she has always been in the "support organization" starting off in Customer Service then moving on to Learning & Development. Taking her experience in Learning & Development, she then transitioned to Knowledge and Community Management where she wanted to empower her teams with knowledge and to work together as a team. 

Her last role in corporate was at Amadeus in the VP Office responsible for learning, internal marketing and communications. 

An unexpected event was the catalyst for Jeanette to opt-out of corporate life after 27 years and finally pursue her side-hustle of helping women start their own business. 

Today, she is a business activation coach helping women who are ready to pivot from wherever they are **get started** on their entrepreneurial journey, because let's face it, getting started is the hardest part. 

Her vision is to increase the number of female entrepreneurs in the world. 

Some facts:  Jeanette was born on the island of Guam (in the pacific), has lived in the Cote d'Azur for 17 years, has 3 kids and 3 grandkids.

We talked about :

-         The benefits of corporate life

-         Reasons to leave

-         How to make the big decision

-         How to prepare yourself to leave

-         What to do if you want to leave corporate but don’t have a business idea

-         Employee vs Entrepreneur mindset

References :

Jeanette’s Linkedin

 Jeanette / Conngage Instagram

Book: The tipping point

Chateau de Berne

 Follow our host Serena Benedetti Roy on LinkedIn

Join Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://pwnnice.net/

“There are no passenger on spaceship earth, we are all crew” Marshall McLuhan

 Marianne is passionate about facilitating innovation and engagement to contribute to the transition to a netzero and resilient society in the face of climate change. 

She is the Founder of the Climate Innovation Education Lab (CIEL). The purpose of CIEL is to help the business community and academia engage in climate mitigation and adaptation, building on their leadership and power to innovate. Using her experience in the coordination of sustainable projects, she uses the Sustainable Development Goals to identify co-benefits in climate projects. 

Marianne is also a Lecturer on climate change and sustainability and innovation at Université Côte d’Azur and at The Sustainable Design School.  She is the President of CANIE Europe, the Climate Action Network for International Educators, and a founding member of Alive! Art Creativity & Climate Change. She graduated from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and from Sciences-Po Paris. She also has a Certificate of INSEAD Executive Program on Innovation in the Age of Disruption.

She loves art, music, and nature walks. 

We talked about :

 -How she developed an interest to Climate Change and Sustainable Development

-How to see Climate Change through a lens of positivity 

-How to feel empowered at individual level

-Opportunities for companies


References :

Marianne's LinkedIn

Project Drawdown : https://www.drawdown.org/

 Solar Impulse Foundation https://solarimpulse.com

 Alive, Art Creativity & Climate Change https://aliveartclimate.org

 Rob Hopkin, From What Is to What If 

 Porquerolles Island Hyères Tourist Office official website  

 
 Follow Serena on LinkedIn

Join Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://pwnnice.net/

"Never accept no for an answer.  Never give up.  Never go away ... even when others want you to"

Candace Johnson is a Serial entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist. 

She started her career by co-founding SES ASTRA and SES Global, the world’s pre-eminent satellite company. 

Her mantra is: "Never accept no for an answer.  Never give up.  Never go away..even when others want you to".

We talked about :

-Her key accomplishments

-How she kept motivated in difficult times

-The power of angel investing to make some visions become a reality

-Advice to women to raise money. Where to find the toolkit!

References :

Candace’s LinkedIn

Super Entrepreneurship Decoded 

Sophia business angels  http://sophiabusinessangels.com/

Fondation Maeght  https://www.fondation-maeght.com/

Serena’s LinkedIn 

Serena’s Undergarment concept Akimba 

Serena’s Instagram 

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur  

Professional Women’s Network Global  

“What am I really choosing!?”

 Mary Guerdoux-Harries’s professional background is in engineering. Her career has evolved. She specialized in leading transformation and continuous improvement projects. She loves innovation and change. Where she gets the most satisfaction is in coaching, training and mentoring, in order to implement positive change. 

 She currently works for Thales in the Underwater Systems Business line in Sophia Antipolis. She works in Operations, where she leads a team of 25 people and also leads a transformation project to change ways of working within engineering. 

 She is Franco-British and has been working in France since 2006. She has also worked in Switzerland and in Australia.  

 She is a Mum to a daughter who is three and has three step-children: two boys who are 9 and a girl who is 14. 

 Outside of work she enjoys sports, particularly running, cycling and walking. She also loves reading and can often be found in a café by the beach. 

We talked about :

-The small things companies can do to support working mums and make a difference

-The Mums avatars : the different styles of being a mother

-Parenting role models in film and parenting styles

References : 

 Mary’s Linkedin page  

 Book : Free Range Human by Marianne Cantwell

 Le Club des Simone 

 Restaurant L’Arret au Port 

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur Mentoring Program open until December 15th 2021 : more info here  

Serena’s LinkedIn 

Serena’s Underwear brand Akimba 

Serena’s Instagram 

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur  

Professional Women’s Network Global  

“It’s like a circle. As soon as you start showing your worth, it also gets stronger. You start to get to know yourself a bit better because you get a positive response”

 Lena Beck Roervig specializes in accelerating the performance of professionals being in start-ups or global corporations.

 She is the CEO & founder of Beck Global Consulting LLC and a partner at The Personal Business Plan. Further, she is the creator of the concept and expert model on how to advance women in leadership: ShowYourWorth® and further she is the co-founder of ART-MIND-BODY, a practical approach on how to use and trust your intuition.

 Lately Lena has ventured into Angel Investing and is the president for the company Recruitio.

 Lena holds a Master of Science in Economics from Copenhagen Business School and has completed additional executive leadership education at INSEAD in France and Singapore, and Henley Business School in the UK. She is a global citizen - she says she is where the clients and the parties are! More specific she divides her time between Cannes, and Copenhagen.

 She is active in the non-profit world and is the president of the Vibeke Roervig’s Ballet Foundation, the president of American Friends of the Danish National Gallery and a Global Advisor for the organization WorldPulse.

In this episode we talked about :

 -Personal branding and how to introduce yourself when you have different activities

-What may be holding you professionally for a leadership position

-The most important thing if you want to lead or manage a team

-Knowing and showing your worth

-How important it is to tell people what you want 

-How to feel empowered

-The importance to get an overview of your finances

Book recommendation : Atomic Habits by James Clear

Lena’s Website  

Lena’s Linkedin

Learn more about Intuition Access https://www.artmindbody.net

https://www.instagram.com/intuitionaccess/

 Serena’s LinkedIn 

Serena’s Underwear brand Akimba 

Serena’s Instagram 

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur  

Professional Women’s Network Global  

“The most powerful resource is in yourself”

Marina Gregoretti, founder of Pro.Gre Consulting, a Leadership Development consulting firm, committed in helping talents in discovering and developing their leadership and plan their future life/career. She has over 30 years of experience in providing services to multinational organisations in Italy, Europe and USA. 

 Marina has presented evidence  of the experience in Leadership self-development  at the Gallup Institute Leadership Forum 2006, with the paper Awareness, Self Development and Transformation.

 She has translated and edited Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Transformational Leadership by Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio, and Full Leadership Development by Bruce Avolio.

 She is member of PWN Nice Côte d’Azur and served its board for four years.

She enjoys skiing, sailing, traveling and reading.

We talked about the benefits of volunteering, career shift and finding your way, we talked about what are some key important things to help you design your dream life like curiosity, self awareness and the crucibles which are  these defining moments in our lives.

References :

Marina's LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-gregoretti-328b677/

Serena’s LinkedIn :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-benedetti-649068b4/

Serena’s activities : https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeLo-qPhs/dYdtNYVuMuJjlnspfof4kQ/view

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://www.pwnnice.net/

“We want to Delight, Retain, Attract”

 The story begins in 2007, when Antonia arrived in France looking for activities where her young family could make friends. These were on every street corner in England, but not yet in France and Facebook hadn’t yet been invented!

Other than a small little mum and baby group and a little baby dance class neither of which exist anymore there was no way to easily meet new parents and babies.

So Antonia started her research, having already co founded a successful Au Pair agency while in the UK, the entrepreneurship route was open to her.

In 2007 she threw open the doors of KidooLand now nicknamed the little English school by her clients. They have now welcomed over 6,000 families.

She is also creator of the Facebook group Cote D’Azur Living and host of the Riviera Firefly Podcast.

In 2021 she will Chair the Riviera Business Club jury as they select the 2021 Business Person of the Year Awards.

We talked about 
-how she started her business on the French Riviera, how she developed her idea, did her market survey and opened Kidooland.

-How she handled the crisis in 2008 and the recent pandemic and how her business evolved over time. 

-We also talked about how she built her personal Venn diagram with her podcast Riviera Firefly Podcast and her Facebook Group Cote d’Azur Living with 11000 members.

Antonia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniabeauvoisinbrown/

Antonia’s Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/antoniabeauvoisinbrown/

Kidooland site : https://www.kidooland.com/

Kidooland Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/KidoolandPetiteEcoleAnglaise/

Kidooland YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/KidooLand

Kidooland Instagram : www.instagram.com/kidooland

Kidooland Twitter : https://twitter.com/kidooant

Riviera Firefly Podcast : www.rivierafirefly.com/podcasts/

Cote d’Azur Living Facebook Group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/cotedazurliving

Podcast referenced : https://bizchix.com/category/bizchix/

Serena’s LinkedIn :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-benedetti-649068b4/

Serena’s activities : https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeLo-qPhs/dYdtNYVuMuJjlnspfof4kQ/view

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://www.pwnnice.net/

“When employees have found their place, have found what they enjoy, have found their reason for working, they are going to be more engaged, more motivated which is obviously going to have the advantage for the team”

Jacqueline Syndercombe is South African and has been living in France for the past 20 years. She has

worked in the corporate world in various administrative and financial positions in South Africa,

England and France. 

In 2005, she became very interested in gardening and very sensitive to the

ecology and the impact we as humans have on the environment. 

In 2019, she left the corporate environment to retrain as a Systemic Team Coach with the aim of accompanying employees at all levels of the organisation to finding their purpose and place and to help organisations transform to a sustainable and regenerative future. 

She launched her business in the first quarter of 2021 and believes business and organisations have a fundamental role in driving the change for the world.

We talked about :

How she arrived on the French riviera and the challenges she faced

Her personality and how she is a waste warrior

Leap of faith to quit the corporate world at over 50 years old and start her own business

Systemic team coaching and how to make your team thrive

References :

Jacqui’s website: www.syndercombe.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqui-syndercombe-808bb44b/

  Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken



Serena’s LinkedIn :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-benedetti-649068b4/

Serena’s activities : https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeLo-qPhs/dYdtNYVuMuJjlnspfof4kQ/view

Subscribe to our newsletter on Professional Women’s Network  Nice Côte d’Azur : https://pwnnice.net/

“You have to have the joy and the sustainability in the way you do everything”

Today my guest is Liisa Hamalainen ,she is 31 years old, half Russian half Finnish and it is almost 10 years that she lives on the French Riviera
 
 She originally came here to dance with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. She is a former principal dancer of the company and it’s been now 3 years now that she “retired” from dancing
 
 She got certified as a Stott Pilates instructor and has her own company Mindbodyfitmc where she teaches her own LH Method. 
 
 She is full of energy and motivation and she needs to accomplish something every day to use her energy tank fully. She is also a nature soul and loves to be active in the nature; hiking, paddling, swimming, skiing... 
 
 She is passionate about holistic and healthy lifestyles and constantly learning about it. 

We talked about her life as a ballerina

We talked about what it means to be healthy and Liisa shared some tips to have a healthy posture

She is a beginner Biohacker and she share some tips and tricks with us

We also talk about personal branding on social media

References :

Liisa’s Instagram account : https://www.instagram.com/lhmethod_byliisa/

Aleancabrand : www.aleancabrandessence.com/welcome

Marina Matkova : https://www.instagram.com/marina.biohacker.monaco/

Podcast : Bulletproof Radio https://podcasts.apple.com/fr/podcast/bulletproof-radio/id451295014

Books : 

-The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle

-In the Flo by Alisa Vitti



Serena’s LinkedIn :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-benedetti-649068b4/

Serena’s activities : https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeLo-qPhs/dYdtNYVuMuJjlnspfof4kQ/view

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://www.pwnnice.net/

“Go back to the basics. Find out what do you like to do, what are you good at, where do you find your flow and in what environment do you really like to work. Start with that.”

Sandra Richez is the Global MBA Program Director at EDHEC Business School in Nice, which a partner of PWN.

She has been working in higher education for over 20 years. It is a real vocation to help others to open their minds to global perspectives, to constantly learn and build their skills, giving confidence to reach their potential.

She also holds prior experience in services and hospitality in firms like Véolia, Disney and Marriott in HR and operations. 

Sandra has lived in France for over 25 years. Her husband, her 3 grown children, dog and cat are all French, but they still enjoy her American culture, cooking and recipes (barbeques, hamburgers, and Sunday brunch).

When she is not working, you'll find Sandra most often on the water in summer and in the mountains in the winter. She is an avid boater and sails as crew most summers anywhere from 500 to 1000km in the Southern Mediterrannean. Come wintertime, she enjoys wintersports as well, skiiing and hiking, so the Riviera and our beautiful region is the perfect home for her! 

You can reach out to her for any questions about further education and careers, and especially if you might be thinking of getting an MBA! 

We talked about :

-changing career fields

-staying relevant on the job market and keeping your employability level high

-how to make the best use of your alumni network

-negotiating your salary

Sandra’s Linkedin profile : https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandrarichez/

The Global MBA Program at EDHEC Business School typically has 70 participants from all over the world. They are champions of diversity in all areas, but only 38% of their MBAs are women. They are trying hard to reach parity. https://mba.edhec.edu/

Partnership EDHEC Business School – PWN Nice Côte d’Azur : https://mba.edhec.edu/blog/professional-womens-network-now-partnership-edhec-global-mba-nice-france

Podcast : The Daily, The New York Times

Books :

Becoming by Michelle Obama

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman


Serena’s LinkedIn :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-benedetti-649068b4/

Serena’s activities : https://www.canva.com/design/DAEeLo-qPhs/dYdtNYVuMuJjlnspfof4kQ/view

Professional Women’s Network Nice Côte d’Azur : https://www.pwnnice.net/