Sharri Harmel: Welcome everyone to the Extraordinary Women Podcast. I’m Sharri Harmel, editor-in-chief of the Extraordinary Women Magazine, and your host for this podcast. Well, today I’m chatting with Marie-Anne Lecoeur, a French woman who started her business with her top selling first book back in 2016, titled How to Be Chic and Elegant. After the launch of that book, she actually left corporate and started her own business, which now includes e-courses, the fabulous French Chic Academy and of course her highly successful YouTube channel. That’s where I was first introduced to Marie -Anne. Now, this is a French woman who breaks down the details of how to acquire our own personal style that actually will elevate your self-confidence, your sense of self, what feels good, what fits, what makes you happy and truly as a result, simplify your shopping. And we all want that, don’t we? So let’s jump into my conversation with Marie- Anne Lecoeur. Well everyone I have Marie-Anne on, and she is going to talk about all things French style French Chic, and I’m so excited to have you here today.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Hello Sharri and hello everyone. Thank you very much Sharri for having me today on your podcast. 

Sharri Harmel: Absolutely. Well, let’s start Marie-Anne with just a brief overview for people don’t know you and don’t know your business. Give us a brief overview of what’s happening. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Alright, so I am an author. I wrote five books including two bestsellers on Amazon and they were style books. The first one was How to Be Chic and Elegant Tips from a French Woman. So these are many tips on how to dress and the way that we French women do dress and the guidelines as well as we follow every day. And the other one was the Tidy Closet, how to organize and a closet. And I am also a star consultant. Also the founder of the Friendship Academy, which is my main signature program. I’ve also got many courses and a masterclass, and I am also on YouTube. I have a YouTube channel. 

Sharri Harmel: It’s a fabulous YouTube channel. For all of you who have not checked her out, do that. But go into a little more Marie-Anne about where your love of style, chic style. As I said in our pre-conversation to me, it’s part of the French woman’s DNA and living in Paris part of the year, I said to you, I can see the difference right away, even on the streets as an American, I can notice the difference. So where did this come from and how do you break it down versus just absorbing it, sort of like a recipe.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: well, as you said, it’s, it’s probably in DNA being a French woman. I was born here and I grew up here and I think mothers, grandmothers and also aunts and friends, I mean the female community, if you like, in France is very important when we grow up and we are taught, you know, from very young age about sight and the colors to wear, how to wear them together and what does it mean to be well, and what has been not to be viewed as well dressed. So it’s very important. Style is, it’s very important when we grow up and throughout our life, very much so. So we are really learning it and applying it our whole life. For us, I think French women, we are probably a little bit surprised by the big thing about the French chi style of Frenchmen, because we don’t actually realize that we are special in that way that we stand out. But I suppose we are, we have a, a distinct style, and this is what, this is something that I’m trying to teach my ladies, my French ladies by giving them the guidelines that we, that we follow every day when we dress and also when for wardrobe, which clothes to pick and also what attracts us to each piece that we choose. 

Sharri Harmel: Now you said a couple of things there that I thought were so interesting about how important the relationships with the women in your family were from the time you were a child, and also that you learned style. At a young age from your mother, grandmother, aunts, was it actually talked about? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Oh, yes, definitely. And we also learned by watching others do this, so when you, you watch your, your mother gets dressed or shopping of the sea, she’s sharing guidelines. You know when she describes something, I’m going to pick this dress because of this element and that element. And instead of choosing that dress because it shouldn’t be suitable for certain such reasons. For instance, we learn very young the things that enhances you, enhances your body, the things to avoid and how to do it in a way that is simple, yet elevate it, I suppose. Also as we grew into a young lady, we we’re told what is sexy, but then also in an understated way, we don’t do the over sexy look for instance. You may have noticed that. Well, in Paris, we don’t overstate the very sexy, but we stay kind of middle of the board, but still elevated. We dress a lot of the time casual, but there’s one or two pieces that is elevated in our outfit. We don’t do extremes. We don’t do the overly casual and we don’t do the overly overdressed. I think we stay in between those two extremes. 

Sharri Harmel: Very interesting. Tell me if this is true. I don’t see a lot of labels, which can be very popular in different various parts, say, of the United States 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yes. Even if we do wear labels, I think we don’t go for the logo names, things that can easily be recognized at 50 paces, and we prefer the understatement. Even though our clothes may be very expensive, it’s not the price tag that really matters. It’s the overall look and the quality of the garment. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, I have to share with you, gosh, it must have been six years ago, five years ago, something like that. I was at Saint St. Peace, which is a church obviously, in Paris, and there was a family in front of me and it was a little probably five year old girl. Cause as an American woman, I’m still trying to understand scarves, how to wear scarves, how to, it comes naturally to you. But this little five-year-old girl in front of me dropped her scarf and actually, Put it on again and put it on beautifully. She was just this little tike who knew exactly how to, it was winter, so it was how to put on a heavier scarf, but in a beautiful way. It’s fascinating to me because truly, now, maybe I’m unusual, but truly as an American, my mother never took me shopping for he. And had those kinds of discussions. And that’s why we have to take your courses because we have to learn it as older women sometimes, or middle-aged women or young women. We have to have it broken down for us because we don’t always understand. We really don’t. So you wrote the books. You created the e-courses and why you took, why did you go that direction? Because that can be kind of a difficult to work with. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yeah. It, it is a difficult platform, and it has become more and more difficult because things have changed and also much more videos created. Because when I started, when I wrote my first book in 20 end of 2011, I created my first, my YouTube channel then, and I just took a few video to start with and then I stopped for a few years. Or I just put one here and there because I just thought I’ll do a video today about this topic. In 2017, putting really regularly adding style videos on YouTube, and this has started growing it, but before it wasn’t something that I had in mind. I just did it. But now it has become so big as a platform and you are discovered on that platform much more than you know, in the early days. 

Sharri Harmel: Did you choose that platform? I’m just thinking of other women who may have businesses that are very visual because you show things, obviously you’re using yourself, but you’re also using other people as models. You know how to say, cover up kind of some of those midlife issues like when our waste disappears and all of that, but how to still hold it all together and feel good and look good. When we look good, we feel good but did you choose YouTube because it was a very visual platform versus say, Facebook or, I don’t even know if Instagram started roughly in that time period. What caused you to go that direction? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: When you create a video, you can explain things at that time. So I have written the book with the tips and I was also creating blog post, which was nice to add the visual the same time as me explaining how to do something. For instance, how to, don’t remember the, the first few videos, but, probably how to choose the right shoes for which I fit. Maybe how to tie scarves that to explain how know the, the various elements of the bra, for instance thing. So I think it works better when you explain something to do it on a video than a blog post for instance because style is very much visual. 

Sharri Harmel: absolutely. Do you have a whole YouTube team? Whoever is behind the camera might be your husband, but whoever’s behind the camera and the editing and all of that, that you know, it’s technology which has nothing to do with style. It’s a different part of the brain. So tell me, who’s your team? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: That’s the thing. When you are, when you start going on various platform where actually. I think it goes for every business. For anybody who, who’s got a business, you have to, to be a person who knows so much, sure. You have to be good at editing, at shooting, at taking photos, uh, creating this, creating that. It’s just really, whew, there’s so much to learn. Yeah. So I did talk by myself for years, but my husband joined me think a couple of years. So nice editing my videos. He’s shooting the videos as well. He’s preparing them, you know, with the lighting and everything. He’s the one who remembers to plug in the battery for the camera and everything. I don’t have to think about that anymore. So, he’s doing all that, I don’t have to think about it, so I just have to prepare the video when, you know, things like trying to look nice on video, but it’s so much easier because it takes hours. When you think about the video all together, you need to prepare it, plan it, yeah, shoot it, edit it, and after you publish it, you have all the comments to reply. So probably takes how one video, but probably a couple of days work. Hours and hours of work for just maybe an eight-to-10-minute video. There’s a lot of work in work, so I’m really happy my husband. I joined the team.

Sharri Harmel: exactly. Do you find that your business really is coming out of YouTube at this point, or very much from YouTube? It’s really, that’s how I found you. So as you said in the very beginning, there’s so many books that are written on French style, French chic, and all of that, but they’re not written by French. I wouldn’t necessarily have found you. There’s a million of that, books of that, what do they call it? Bonura Effect or something like that. YouTube is a wonderful search vehicle in many ways. So talk about your e-courses because I thought that was interesting too. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Thank you. So, I started creating courses back in 2016 and I think like many, many women, we are creative. We have to create so many ideas every day. And, we don’t just don’t have enough hours in a day. And, so I started creating courses and it came to me that I created a number of dozen courses, I think, and I thought, I know now my ladies need an academic to kind of an umbrella program. And then if they go through that program, of course they would be taught everything. They would learn everything. So this is what I created. I started creating the academic. So this is why I created so many courses for my academia, which originally was a one year program, 12 month program. So I created 24 courses. And a couple of years ago I made it much smaller because it was such a huge course. It was just too big. But the academy, they have the base is a foundation. Also, the still got a fully mentored program and I’ve made it into a 12 week program. With nine steps and there is a weekly live call with me for the questions. So they ask me questions about the courses they are studying at the time, or it could be about the, their own wardrobe, their own style or the trend. So we’re having a conversation with the ladies every week and it’s really interesting because they have access to and also they are forming a relationship with which shall like, you know, like a community of ladies were interested in uplifting their style. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Does someone start at certain times or do so are they in the same cohort, so to speak? And when is your next one start? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: So, I’ve made it into a four programs for a year. So it goes by seasons. So we’ve got the spring and summer, autumn and winter, and the Autumn Wonder Four has just started two or three weeks ago, and the next one with the winter one. But people can start really at any time if they come and ask. And they want to join of course mean they can join because they can watch the past, you know, all the past calls cause it’s all in the Facebook group and they still have access, lifetime access to all the courses and the bonus master classes. They can join any time today.

Sharri Harmel: How do they sign up? Is it under the YouTube channel or do they need to go to your website?

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: They will have to go to my website, which is maria.com and then they’ll have Tab, the French Academy or Courses and Masterclass. 

Sharri Harmel: Okay. And just so everyone knows that it will be down in the show notes so that you can access it easily and quickly. With the academy, what are the most common issues, if there are any, that women bring  

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: It can vary the various things, but the main thing, the main questions and the queries that I get is definitely about the body shapes. Which body shapes am I, I have changed shape because as we get older, our shape can change and many times I get queries of ladies who are in between two shapes. So they’re asking a lot about the body shapes and they don’t know how to, not only how to analyze the, the silhouette, if you like, in order to determine such and such body shape and afterwards, once they know the body shape, how to dress for that body shape. They can send me the measurements and I tell them which body shape they are because I work with just five body shapes to make it simple cause of course to me they are as many body shapes as they are women out there. But you have to simplify it. And actually it all goes with the guidelines of the friendship style is, One of them is to keep it simple, and I like to keep things simple. Otherwise it’s so easy to complicate things and it’s easy to give. So that keeping simple, it’s makes it easier. 

Sharri Harmel: Yes. But you mentioned something at the very beginning that you learned actually from maybe your mother or grandmother, which is to identify what is your probably most attractive feature, if you want to call it that. So if you have a beautiful neck, I’m assuming you know, you would dress differently than someone who has, you know, in my age, double chins, , you know, that sort of thing. But how do you identify, because if you were to ask me, what are Sharri? What are your best features physically from the chin down, I don’t think I could tell you honestly.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I think it’s, it could be things that, you know, at times when we get compliments, because we get compliments for our life, you’ve got lovely legs. Oh, you’ve got a lovely burst, you’ve got a lovely neck, uh, lovely arms, uh, lovely small waistline. I think we, we end up realizing that, of course, even though we may have noticed, you know, ourselves, once we get the compliments so that works really well. So it’s an idea to emphasize that draw the eye towards that feature and then wear flattering clothes for this purpose. 

Sharri Harmel: That’s interesting though because so many of us brush off the compliments. We just, oh no. Oh no. You know, I can’t believe you think my ankles are nice. Forget it. You know. We do. But you also, in one of your recent videos, I thought it was really interesting where you said, , and this is where some of us have troubles, and I don’t know if I’m saying this absolutely verbatim, but don’t wear flowy and flowy or big and big. So kind of the, I call it the Eileen Fisher look, where it’s a big blouse over a flowy skirt because as I have found in America specifically as we age, many of us want to cover ourselves up versus show any. Of our bodies. Talk about that a little bit because I bet some of your ladies have that in the academy, have that issue. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yes, definitely. And it is, I think, an idea that if we wear flowy clothes or large clothes, maybe something in a different size up or something, then nobody’s going to see what’s underneath. We’re not going to notice our tummy, we’re not going to notice our spending, uh, bottom or, you know, things that we don’t want people to, to know about us, or people see. But actually what it does is the opposite. It makes us even larger and by creating but trying to create an eyeglass because their glass is viewed as the, the most feminine body shape by creating an eyeglass. So we have a shape and smaller waist size, uh, we have beautiful hips, we have beautiful bust. This is our idea, feeling shape. So if we try to create that eyeglass shape and everybody can, then we will appear with the shape as opposed to, to something that I could now plant is very much straight. And bigger then how we are, you know, the clothes. because it is my belief that many women think they are, they’re bigger than they are, or maybe they haven’t got the confidence to show their bodies, but if they did, they would be very surprised and they’re very surprised when they do so.

Sharri Harmel: That’s, it is really interesting. So how do you think how we dress actually and impacts our self-confidence? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I like to say that it’s something that is from the inside out and from the outside in, because it’s a bit like a, the chicken and the egg, which become . But when you start studying how to dress flatteringly for your, for this silhouette, then I think you get some confide. And with that confidence, you want to dress better by dressing better, you get more confident so which of us starts first? Or maybe they grew together. But it, it does work on the inside out. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Well, it’s, it sounds like everything, you know, we become a better cook by cooking. We become more in shape by exercising and starting very small and moving up, but starting small. One of the things I think you mentioned in a recent video, and I thought was so interesting, is to create a style journal. and tell everyone what would I write in the style journal if I had one. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: So many things you can write. Actually, it’s almost magical because there is a big transformation when you write Cause you’re writing like a journey. So in the beginning, I get this question all the time. What do I start writing? So, I created this, these books because I’ve got, you know, I thought it was the tool that was. As well as the courses you need, the tool that you know stays with you. You can either put it in your handbag or keep it on your next to your closet and make it almost like a ritual, like a daily ritual. Okay, I need to write on my journal in the beginning. You will force yourself to a certain habit after with you, you want, you will want to write. Yeah, in the beginning, at beginning they can write about anything as is just very mundane, almost. What am I wearing today? And describe your outfit. Describe your clothes, and little ask them, um, advise them to ask the question. Why? Because this is when you start to discover you, you almost feel the layers of an onion almost. Yeah, and you peel up the layers to know really what’s really deep within you, because when you start asking a question, you will discover so much more about your, not only just the outfit and the clothes you wear, but your style. And of course you discover so much more and there are so many aha moments that my ladies I discovered and the, because when they start writing, they will also reminisce about the past. They’ll ask questions and then it will say, of course, the penny drops. Suddenly. This is why I do this. When I was young, my mother used to do this. I used to do the same, and she gave me the idea of that, this is why I wear this now, or this is how I’m dressed because of this cause of. Or something else happened in my life, or whatever this is. Yeah. You still discovery things that you had forgotten. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a big transformation. and I like to call it a star journal for your style journey because that was your life. I advise them to date each entry so they can go back because once they start writing they will write for weeks and months and years. What good also is to, to go back to certain entries and discover, okay, what was I like two years ago? So of course you started describing what you were then. I am so much if you like my, my style changed and I have. Got so, so interesting to journal. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah, it’s fascinating. And also sometimes like I will wear an outfit that I feel really good in, and I don’t write it down. I, I forget what it was. You know, it’s, you forget the wins, so to speak. The times when you did feel really good and that outfit doesn’t go together. So really recognizing when you feel really good and confident. Yeah. Talk a little bit about makeup, because makeup is kind of part of style and that is something else. I noticed French women are very different in how much makeup or how, how they apply makeup. I don’t know. Tell us. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I think we very much do the no makeup. Many of us do wear makeup, but it’s very much light. We could do, I think the strongest part of Frenchman’s makeup would be an eye black eyeliner, uh, and maybe the red lipstick which when we go out, you will see many French women wear the red lipstick. Maybe not so much for the day, but for an occasion or for the evening. But we like to keep it mostly natural. We still want to, to look like us because things have changed. I know you see on social media everywhere that the makeup has really changed and things that have been shown. I mean, I had never heard of something like contouring and shading and highlighting, you know, so I’m sure many of my ladies are the same. But in France, I don’t think we do any of this. Never heard, but to ring and highlighting and all this thing . Yeah. But, um, we do things very, very likely. Less is more, I think, we apply very much on makeup and hair.  A lot of short hair you’ll see, can see women and even young girls. I mean, when I grew up, the little girls used to have the, the bob, we call it the bob or look. Maybe not so much now, but it was very much the short hair is in because it’s simple and easy t

Sharri Harmel: Yes. something came in my head and one of them is, you know what, men dress differently here too. This is totally off topic, but do men learn how to dress from their fathers and grandfathers because they look different here? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yes. And I suppose there’s a lot of black leather jackets. You may have noticed probably. Football attire, jump pants. I don’t think you see that in the streets. And that goes for both men and women. And you got pants the same. We don’t see that here during daytime. Nothing from the gym or from sport is wandering daytime here. I mean, you don’t see that. And you must have noticed that in Paris. It’s the same in the countryside. Different on the street of Paris and what you see in France. Very much cosmopolitan. But you, we notice that, no, we don’t go shopping in Jacque Japan or uh, yoga pants. Although now you will see French people wear sneakers and trainers are more so than before. I think it’s overtaken home fashion world. 

Sharri Harmel: Did that trend evolve out of covid or, and therefore then the designers turned around and, you know, Dior makes tennis shoes. You know, you name it. Chanel makes tennis shoes. Did the designers create as a result of the trend and where did the trend come from, or did the designers push the trend? What do you. It’s difficult because 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: the start in ale a while back, even before Covid, because I may believe on that very topic, it was the, how do I say? It was about the casualization of style. I noticed that the style was very much becoming so much casual and of course I was not happy about that. This on the video, we had been wearing sneakers for quite a while in France. I’m not saying we’ve been wearing just, um, sneakers just recently, but we have been wearing sneakers. But they were like very much a converse or a little bit dressier. Sneakers, but recently now it’s more becoming trainers, kind of what you call it, kind of running shoes. I’ve seen that, um, in the streets here as well, in, in the town. So wearing that more, but we still very much wear a casual shoes. But yes, the men as well are less casual than other places. Again, I mentioned the, the football attire. Cause sometimes we see that old shirts or short, but you don’t see that in front. 

Sharri Harmel: Mm-hmm. , even with the tennis shoes, you don’t see it. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yes. Many men wear tennis shoes, but they will wear, for instance, you know, a pair of jeans or a cargo pants, you know those and a shirt or even a t-shirt, many times a t-shirt, but not football shorts or football shirts much. 

Sharri Harmel: that’s very interesting that you say it, and it’s true throughout France. You had one of your videos, oh my gosh, what was the name of it? A top 10, something of What Not To Wear, and for I think Women over 50, and you talked about the yoga pants and talked about the flowered yoga pants, which I actually laughed out loud in my apartment by myself because you do see that. You do see that in America and sometimes, you know, honestly, We don’t take the time often. As a French woman, is it part of the culture that you plan out your outfit before you leave the house in the morning because you live, you also have, which we haven’t talked about at all, that other video, which is you and the farm kind of smaller farm. It’s not like you’re out there acres and acres and acres, but you live out in the country and so consequently your life is much more physical. I mean, you’re up in the hayloft at one point, so, but do French people, French women specifically, do you often plan out what you’re going to wear? How does that work? Because in America, we don’t do that so much. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Well, it depends. I think you may plan what you’re going to. Probably if you, if you work, if you go to work in an office or something, which is something I used to do to make it easier because in the morning you don’t have much time. Now that I work from home, and maybe the same with French, women who stay at home no longer go out to work, we have a little bit more time in the morning, so we can just create our outfits then and there, but we don’t going to, if you do yoga in the morning or go to the gym in the morning which I don’t believe many French women go to the gym first thing in the morning. 

Sharri Harmel: Why do you say that? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Cause probably we find it boring. 

Sharri Harmel: That’s funny.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I have been to the gym number of times, but it’s not my thing. I have tried, I have tried all I could, Sharri, I promise you. It’s very boring to me. So we prefer to actually do a sport or an activity, even if it’s dancing, because then you are doing activity of the sport or walking or riding bicycle. Many French people ride bicycles or go walks, especially in cities to walk. So that is an exercise that is not, it’s not too boring. But if we do an activity like that, we are still going back into our day wear clothes. We don’t. All day wearing jock pants or yoga pants and training. 

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Interesting. How different it really is. But that video is excellent. Um, the ripped jeans, the flowered yoga pants, and I can’t even remember all of it. I was fascinated by it. But you have this whole section where you talk about closets. And I thought that was really interesting how important your closet is to actually figure out what to wear and how to be stylish.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: It’s so, so important because if you have not got your closet sorted out, You cannot, it is impossible to create good outfits, career outfits that work for you and you need, this is you need to start from the beginning. And many people, you know, skip that step because it’s boring. Or many times it’s overwhelming because many women have decades of clothes. They’ve never, or they, they hold on to, or, you know, for one reason or the other. And it can be very difficult for many people to declare, to remove some of these clothes. It’s, we are having a connection with our things. We are bonded many times with our things and our clothes are very much part of ourselves. So it can be so difficult for women. This is why I’m, I advise them to, to take their time and they can’t declutter if they have tried before. You can’t do it. They have to take it in time to take small steps. And let’s not forget that, you know, small steps can lead to really big changes. So maybe one weekend and a weekend after that and take it over time. I never want to push. Women to get rid of things that they are really attached emotionally. For instance, a jacket that used to belong to their mother or their wedding dress or things like that. If they really don’t want to advise them, keep it because it’s very important to them just because you want them to close clothes it, I don’t think you should tell them, get rid of everything and stuff from scratch. I mean, it’s virtually impossible to do that. Yeah. So once the closet is dec collected and. Organized by category shirt or jackets of life and by color, then that’s important color because then you can see it is more visually pleasing if you like, and also you can see where everything is. This is why when you have closet that is full of things that. Disparate from various eras, various style also, and various colors and prints, everything. You can’t see the wood for the trees. If you don’t know where anything is, things could be wearable, and some won’t be wearable and no longer fit you or missing. But whereas once your closet is completely decreed and it’ll become a pleasure as opposed to really painful. If it’s cluttered and it’s a mess, you open the doors in the morning and very visually and also for the mind because it’s not something that is calming and you don’t want to see it. You just want to get the, the doors back so your style really reflect. 

Sharri Harmel: Interesting. Yeah. So is that something you take your ladies through in the academy? Is decluttering your closet? Decluttering? 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yeah, it’s one of my, one of my courses and also one of my books. So I give them a step by step and the first thing I work on is the excuses.

Sharri Harmel: Oh my. Like what do you hear?

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Well, so many excuses for not wanting to declutter because it’s overwhelming, because it’s painful. It’s, and if it’s not addressed, they’re the root. Well, people can’t move on. Yeah. Um, and its people become so stuck. Yeah. Because it’s something that is. Um, it’s total lack of energy, if you like. I am into tapping, I don’t know if you’ve heard that, EFT tapping. And it’s sort about energy. We are energy. So when we’re stuck, the energy is not moving. And it’s, it’s the same with style. When your project is cluttered and you can’t actually bring yourself. To declare, to remove things. You are stuck with energy around the clothes that is completely stuck and of course you be stuck, and your stern be stuck. So I address that first. Remove the excuses, which I don’t have time usually is I don’t have time and I don’t know how to do it. I don’t know where to start, all these kind of things. I address them and then we can start going step by step. Okay. Now let’s do it. 

Sharri Harmel: Mm. Love this. I absolutely love this. This is great. I need to sign up for your course actually. . . Now, you made the comment that you used to go to the office every day. So did you pivot into your business at some point and create your own?

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Yes. It happened like that. I didn’t plan to do it like this, but I was working in the corporate world in trademarks, and I’ve always wanted, was my dream. I wanted to write for years and years. So this is where my first book came about and literally it has changed my life. 

Sharri Harmel: it’s absolutely amazing first book. The first book changed your life

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: This one had to be best seller. And I thought, well, I’d rather, you know, continue. Because at that time I just thought, okay, I’m going to continue writing books because I wrote this one when I was working full-time. Afterwards I decided, okay, I’m going to continue writing. And it started like that. It started from this, I never expected then I had no expectation of that book other than helping women to make changes to this style, to start learning the guidelines of how to choose clothes, et cetera. So that was my only, my only goal is to help with the women. And so then you go, oh, okay, but I can I help even more. Writing more books and have them more, huh? This is how it started. 

Sharri Harmel: How did you choose that topic for your first book? What was motivating you? Cause I’m assuming you could’ve written on lots of things.

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: OH, definitely. But it was the thing that was the most glaring because as I was working in corporate world, I was by dress, I suppose, and I always had lots of compliment and also lots of questions and comments. People were telling me, oh, you dress so well. How do you do this? Just start. And I always thinking, it’s so simple to me, in my mind it’s, it’s simple. And I think if you ask any French women then say, well, I don’t know. It’s just simple how we do it. 

Sharri Harmel: you were living in France at the time I take it. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I was in Jersey, living in Jersey. And this is why me beating a French woman, I suppose I stood out, but I didn’t realize I stood out for the start. Uh, but because I had so many women asking me question, that’s what I think. They need this. They need to, to know the guidelines so it helps them.

Sharri Harmel: Yeah. That’s really interesting. And what was the second book? The tiny closet. Oh, so it went right to the closet. Yeah. It’s very interesting. The tiny closet. Yeah. But how difficult was it to pivot from corporate work to your own business, basically working from your home?

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: I found it very easy because Okay, you don’t have, you know, that kind of thing. If I could have started my day at 4:00 AM. I would’ve, and, and I did on occasion. Cause you just want, when you start working for yourself, something you’ve, you’ve found absolutely. So fabulous. You, so passionate about, you just want, you don’t even want to go to bed at times cause Oh, so much to do. I just want do it. How, it was just marvelous. I didn’t want to go back to the office. Yeah. Never regretted that decision. One second. 

Sharri Harmel: That’s wonderful. You’re passionate about your career path and also the women you’re helping. I hear that over and over in your videos and also as we’re having this conversation today, which I think is pretty amazing. So what do you want to leave someone with whoever’s listening to this podcast? Is there a place to start? Are there specific tips? Just a final. Check out this or feel this, that as we close our podcast today, what comes to you that you would love to. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Well, I think maybe the, the style journal would be probably the most important thing they could do because they will, many times many women don’t know. They may know they have a problem, but they may not do not know exactly which one it is, and they may think it’s something wrong with My styles not no longer, you know, it, it doesn’t really speak to me anymore, have changed with my. Has not followed me. It’s stuck. And I think by asking them some question and writing them down in a site journal, I think that we really, really help them a lot. And if they can write. In its daily, and then they will end up knowing, okay, this is where in this area I need the most help. And then they can come and see me, either my YouTube channel, Marie-Anne the Fran experts, or on my website. 

Sharri Harmel: That’s great suggestion. And I’m starting with that actually, so thank you. I so appreciate Marie- Anne having our conversation today. I really do. And you taking the time to be on this call. It’s been a fun conversation. I hope for you too. It has been wonderful. 

Marie- Anne Lecoeur: Thank you very much again, having me on Sharri. 

Sharri Harmel: Absolutely. Oh. Even though I have watched more of Marie- Anne’s YouTube videos than I can count, I need to sign up for her academy. And you probably feel exactly the same. We are all about simplifying and yet elevating our lives. And as Marie-Anne shared, start with a style journal and then your closet. Everything about how to get started on your own style journey with Maryanne is in the show notes down below. So don’t hesitate to click and check out her academy, her e-courses, and of course her YouTube channel. The Extraordinary Women podcast and magazine are all about that simple, but. Whether it is how you dress, how you feel, where you travel, how you entertain, and even the side business that you might want to start at this stage of your life. We are women who are not going to quietly fade into our next chapters, but actually we are women who are going to design a fabulous next chapter that energizes. Gives us purpose and fulfillment, but also incredible joy. Now a subscription to the Extraordinary Women magazine is free. So don’t hesitate, don’t procrastinate. Don’t say, I’ll take care of that later. Subscribe now and thank you everyone for joining us today, and I look forward to our next Extraordinary Women Podcast.

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