Are you excited about Laduree? That’s amazing.
I’m pinching myself I am so happy.

You were at Bourjois for ten years before?
Bourjois and Eres in house for 11 years.

And you did both?
Yes.

What’s the difference between beauty PR and fashion PR in general?
Beauty PR is much more competitive. It teaches you to be really creative. When you have a color collection you need to find a story behind it. There is a lot of thought that goes behind it and you have to be really efficient.

Fashion PR… it might be a bit less creative because the designer is the creator so it’s more the relationships, finding story angles, and everything. I’m really happy I started with beauty as a training ground and as a school and working Bourjois which was super creative and Paris would let me free reign and my understanding of the US market was like a really good progression. I think the opposite would have been tough.

When we’re looking for beauty writers it’s really important to me that they’re really good reporters and have that…like our beauty editor now is a nurse practitioner and she has this medical background and that’s very important to me because she’s very good about double checking. It takes a lot more attention to detail.
And even in skincare or makeup like all of the allergy, all the FDA…it’s much more scientific. I feel that when you work with beauty when there’s a collection that comes out and it’s not fantastic you can always find your way around it because it’s a color story. If you work for a designer and all of a sudden the collection is bashed, what can you do? You have six months of it. To do both is the best because they feed on each other.

You have a son?
I have a 14 year-old son.

Is he away at school?
He’s in New York. He was away. His father lives in Thailand but now he’s in New York and loves to travel, he is bilingual obviously.

What does he think about all of your fashion?
It took him a while to understand. I remember I had this sweater from Chloe. Like really old but its’ now back in style… it’s kind of a rugby sweater. With a huge “F” on top of it. And years ago I was wearing it and my son was like, “Oh Maman, you’re always so fancy!” It’s not true! And he said, “Look there’s even an “F” like fancy on your sweater.” Now he’s starting to understand. He gets it and I of course help—I want him to look cute and cool and then the other day a fashion photographer stopped him on the street and said “oh my god you look so cool I love your bag and the shoes” and he said “oh maybe he knows my mom.’” Which probably the guy didn’t but he’s finally starting to understand that it’s the business, that’s how we live in New York financially so he’s starting to grasp it. I remember the first few years even when we were doing backstage with Bourjois and we would do the makeup I would have the makeup team and organize the interviews backstage and sometimes if it was the weekend I would take him with me. “So what do you do, you drink coffee and talk to people? That’s your job Maman?” Actually kind of!

It’s fun, it’s like an amazing way to be creative…it’s fun to talk about and think about.
You really have the feeling that you’re not really working. That’s what I try to teach my son. It’s like do well in school so you can choose your job and do something that you love because then it’s not a burden ever and the day goes by and it’s never a burden. It’s super fortunate.