WEBVTT - Surviving Paris: Robin Allison Davis 0:00:00.070 --> 0:00:01.570 And then at the end of it, they offered me 0:00:01.610 --> 0:00:04.649 a freelance position paying 80 euros a day. And they 0:00:04.690 --> 0:00:06.190 said that I could not work for anyone else. 0:00:06.210 --> 0:00:08.330 Girl, I kept turning the pages of this book and 0:00:08.430 --> 0:00:10.700 waiting for the moment when things got romantic. 0:00:11.130 --> 0:00:11.460 Yes. 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:12.710 Yeah, it was a tough time. 0:00:12.730 --> 0:00:14.840 A few months after that, I was diagnosed with breast 0:00:14.860 --> 0:00:17.700 cancer for a second time. Pivot as much as you can. 0:00:17.739 --> 0:00:19.900 Pivot as much as you need to. Because we only 0:00:19.940 --> 0:00:20.560 have this one life. 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.100 Hey, hey, VA fam. Welcome to Brown Ambition. It's your girl, 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.780 Mandy Money. This is a conversation that I have been 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.540 really looking forward to for months now. I am joined 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:39.570 by the wonderful Robin Allison Davis, who joins me from Paris, 0:00:39.610 --> 0:00:43.550 from across the pond. Robin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, writer, 0:00:43.610 --> 0:00:47.510 and producer who's based in Paris, born and raised in Washington, D.C. 0:00:47.890 --> 0:00:50.430 After a 10-year television career in New York City, she's 0:00:50.450 --> 0:00:53.030 been a Robin desired to see more of the world, 0:00:53.110 --> 0:00:56.010 and she moved to Paris in 2016 to pursue the 0:00:56.030 --> 0:01:00.230 dream of a more international lifestyle. The story continued to 0:01:00.270 --> 0:01:03.700 go from there. Robin got way more than she bargained for, 0:01:04.170 --> 0:01:08.699 including becoming a two-time breast cancer survivor. She took her 0:01:08.740 --> 0:01:12.140 entire experience in Paris over the past few years, and 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.200 she turned it into a best-selling memoir called Surviving Paris. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.200 I hope that you will check out the memoir. I'm 0:01:18.260 --> 0:01:20.259 so grateful to have Robin in the studio with me 0:01:20.300 --> 0:01:22.760 here in New York City. Let's get into this conversation. 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.160 Thank you so much for coming to Brown Ambition and 0:01:25.180 --> 0:01:26.199 coming all across the pond. 0:01:26.420 --> 0:01:27.800 Of course. Thank you for having me. 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.160 Welcome. I mean, congratulations. I know the book was successful 0:01:31.180 --> 0:01:33.190 when it first came out. How does it feel to 0:01:33.670 --> 0:01:36.150 be a year out from that publication date? What has 0:01:36.170 --> 0:01:39.010 the reception been? How has that made you feel about 0:01:39.030 --> 0:01:40.570 your journey since launching the book? 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.880 It's felt amazing, to be honest. It's so scary when 0:01:43.900 --> 0:01:45.780 you're putting a book out there, especially a book about 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.530 your life and the worst times of your life. And 0:01:48.620 --> 0:01:51.570 people have been really warm. They've taken to it. I've 0:01:51.610 --> 0:01:53.309 had a lot of people come up to me and say, oh, 0:01:53.350 --> 0:01:55.350 like this really helped me with a friend that was 0:01:55.390 --> 0:01:57.350 going through cancer. This helped me because I want to 0:01:57.390 --> 0:01:59.740 move abroad. And I was afraid. And this kind of 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.440 gave me the courage to maybe take those steps. So 0:02:02.460 --> 0:02:05.280 that's been great. And with the paperback being out now 0:02:05.420 --> 0:02:08.640 a year later, I'm surprised by how many more people 0:02:08.700 --> 0:02:11.480 keep finding it. It keeps finding its audience, which I love. 0:02:11.700 --> 0:02:13.840 You know, it's a little bit more economical now. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.620 Yes, exactly. Because that price, the hardcover price is a lot. 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:19.760 Is it $ 30? Yes. Yeah, it is. 0:02:19.820 --> 0:02:20.780 I was like, in this economy? 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.310 I didn't even look when I bought it. We actually 0:02:23.350 --> 0:02:26.690 met at NABJ back in August. And when I saw 0:02:26.730 --> 0:02:28.070 you were on the panel, I feel like this is 0:02:28.110 --> 0:02:30.130 a book I saw. But it's one of those things 0:02:30.150 --> 0:02:32.049 you see and then you need to remember. And I 0:02:32.050 --> 0:02:33.930 was like, wow, the author is here. The book is here. 0:02:34.030 --> 0:02:36.750 I went to your talk. And I was like, she's mine. 0:02:36.790 --> 0:02:39.389 I must have her on brand ambition. And thankfully you 0:02:39.430 --> 0:02:42.290 said yes. Well, let's back up because if you haven't 0:02:42.310 --> 0:02:44.910 read the book yet, BAFAM, Robin, you had a very 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.660 successful career. You were living the dream, your own dream. 0:02:47.860 --> 0:02:51.780 You're in New York City producing like global content. I mean, 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.780 you were doing everything. So what was the moment when 0:02:54.820 --> 0:02:58.210 you said, I got to get out of here? It's time. Yeah. 0:02:58.270 --> 0:03:00.470 So I was actually, I'd always wanted to live in 0:03:00.510 --> 0:03:03.790 New York, graduated from Howard University with a broadcast journalism degree. 0:03:04.350 --> 0:03:06.830 Moved immediately to New York City and I actually started 0:03:06.850 --> 0:03:09.940 working at Dateline. So I was with Dateline NBC and 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.380 had 10 years there traveling the country, sometimes traveling the 0:03:13.419 --> 0:03:18.300 world for different stories, true crime stories, entertainment, celebrity. I 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.060 loved it. But after a while, I felt like, OK, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:22.859 I can kind of do this with my arm tied 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.559 behind my back, like blindfolded. I really kind of know 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.150 the formula and I want something a little different. But 0:03:29.210 --> 0:03:31.170 also I was traveling a lot with my friends. It 0:03:31.210 --> 0:03:33.670 was a peak of the or the start, really, of 0:03:33.730 --> 0:03:36.570 the black travel movement where everyone was like, oh, we 0:03:36.590 --> 0:03:39.040 had these flight glitches. Let's fly here. Let's fly there. 0:03:39.700 --> 0:03:41.880 And the more I traveled, I thought I would like 0:03:41.900 --> 0:03:44.700 to maybe live abroad and see how different life could 0:03:44.740 --> 0:03:46.860 be if I just, you know, spent a year or 0:03:46.900 --> 0:03:50.380 two abroad. If I'm on my deathbed at 97, I 0:03:50.410 --> 0:03:52.330 don't want to say, oh, I wish I wish I 0:03:52.370 --> 0:03:54.670 had done that. So I was like, I have no husband. 0:03:54.970 --> 0:03:58.700 I have no kids. Maybe now's the time. And it 0:03:58.740 --> 0:04:02.040 was tough. It was a tough decision. But I met 0:04:02.060 --> 0:04:04.840 with my boss, and I really wanted to get promoted. 0:04:05.420 --> 0:04:09.090 They had promoted three people over me. And I was 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.050 just like, what can I do? I've done everything that 0:04:12.110 --> 0:04:14.250 you've said that I should do to get promoted. And 0:04:14.290 --> 0:04:15.830 she said, sometimes you have to leave to get what 0:04:15.870 --> 0:04:20.580 you want. And I said, well. okay, the person with 0:04:20.620 --> 0:04:23.200 the power to promote me is saying this. So maybe 0:04:23.220 --> 0:04:26.820 that is my clue that I need to just make 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.100 this move abroad that I've been thinking about. And so 0:04:29.140 --> 0:04:31.589 that's what I did. I quit my job. I ended 0:04:31.610 --> 0:04:34.730 up doing a master's degree because a student visa was 0:04:34.750 --> 0:04:37.790 the easiest way to move abroad. Plus, you can work 0:04:37.850 --> 0:04:39.890 on a student visa. I said, okay, I'll do that. 0:04:39.910 --> 0:04:42.979 I'll try to make connections during my program and try 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:44.260 to get a job abroad that way. 0:04:44.740 --> 0:04:46.980 And it worked out. And then we're talking about Paris. 0:04:47.020 --> 0:04:48.740 So when did it become Paris is where I want 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:49.000 to go? 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.490 I was never a Francophile. I was never that person 0:04:52.529 --> 0:04:55.210 who like watched Emily and I was like, oh, that 0:04:55.250 --> 0:04:57.310 could be me or oh, I want a French man. 0:04:57.370 --> 0:05:00.349 I was never that girl. And even in the book, 0:05:00.510 --> 0:05:02.440 I talk about the first time I went to Paris 0:05:02.500 --> 0:05:05.020 as a child and the trip was a comedy of errors. 0:05:05.180 --> 0:05:07.190 I love that part in the book. Talk a little bit. 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.400 And I had to I tried to interrupt so much, 0:05:09.460 --> 0:05:11.870 but there are so many overlaps with our story. I mean, 0:05:11.930 --> 0:05:14.330 other than living in Paris and like, you know, your 0:05:14.500 --> 0:05:16.920 your situation. Exactly. But when I was 12, I went 0:05:16.940 --> 0:05:19.280 to Paris for the first time and I, too, had 0:05:19.339 --> 0:05:22.380 a terrible time. And then I found my love for 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:22.700 it later. 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.740 OK, but yes, it is. You know, I had to 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.820 grow into it, I guess. But that trip was pretty terrible. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:29.760 Ended up getting like punched in the stomach by a 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.020 grown man. All different types of things. It was a 0:05:33.060 --> 0:05:33.610 wild trip. 0:05:33.810 --> 0:05:35.120 Some lady squished your sandwich. 0:05:35.170 --> 0:05:37.969 Yeah, she squished my sandwich. I fell in a restaurant. 0:05:37.990 --> 0:05:40.290 There was dog poop everywhere. I was like, this place 0:05:40.330 --> 0:05:43.870 is awful. Why do people like Paris? But that was 0:05:43.910 --> 0:05:46.850 Paris of the 90s. But I decided to move to 0:05:46.890 --> 0:05:49.190 Paris because I'd lived in New York City for 10 years. 0:05:49.230 --> 0:05:51.780 It had always been my dream. But I felt, OK, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.000 at this age, I know what I need to be happy. 0:05:54.270 --> 0:05:56.510 I wanted a place with green space because I loved 0:05:56.550 --> 0:05:59.050 being in Central Park. I wanted to be diverse. I 0:05:59.089 --> 0:06:00.450 want there to be a lot of news so I 0:06:00.470 --> 0:06:02.890 could still work as a journalist. All these different things, 0:06:02.950 --> 0:06:04.550 not too far from the East Coast so I could 0:06:04.570 --> 0:06:07.170 fly back home. And when I had my list, it 0:06:07.210 --> 0:06:10.510 was London, Brussels or Paris. I said, well, Brussels is boring. 0:06:11.170 --> 0:06:13.150 London at the time, I wasn't really a fan. I 0:06:13.430 --> 0:06:14.890 was like, well, I guess I'll just move to Paris. 0:06:14.910 --> 0:06:15.680 Yeah. 0:06:16.410 --> 0:06:18.250 Which is kind of crazy when you think about it. 0:06:18.270 --> 0:06:21.010 I didn't speak French. I'd grown up like learning Spanish. 0:06:21.130 --> 0:06:24.039 So that wasn't helpful. But yeah, I decided to just 0:06:24.060 --> 0:06:24.560 go for it. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.340 Why not? How much roadway did you give yourself to, 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.659 I mean, did you save up for it? You were 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.600 starting a master's program. So does that mean student loans? 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:34.650 Can we talk about the financial planning around it? 0:06:34.860 --> 0:06:38.960 Absolutely. So I did make a big plan for it 0:06:39.060 --> 0:06:41.540 because I don't like doing anything without a plan. So 0:06:41.740 --> 0:06:44.820 I cut my expenses. To be fair, I lived in 0:06:44.860 --> 0:06:48.089 a rent-controlled apartment. I will say that. That's an important note. 0:06:49.270 --> 0:06:52.370 But yes, I cut my finances. I cut out a 0:06:52.410 --> 0:06:54.290 lot of the different bills I had. I lowered a 0:06:54.310 --> 0:06:56.690 lot of different programs I had because I wanted to 0:06:56.750 --> 0:07:00.120 save about $ 10, 000 before moving. I thought that would give 0:07:00.150 --> 0:07:03.080 me a nice little bit of financial cushion. And for 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.760 my master's program, I picked the American University of Paris. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.080 It is expensive, but it is a university where the 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.160 programs are in English and it's accredited in the U.S. 0:07:12.420 --> 0:07:15.190 So you can get federal student loans to go. So 0:07:15.290 --> 0:07:18.290 I got federal student loans to do that. And that's 0:07:18.670 --> 0:07:20.290 I just kind of put myself on a tight budget. 0:07:20.450 --> 0:07:22.890 And then when I got there, I did every kind 0:07:22.940 --> 0:07:25.160 of job you could think of just to make sure 0:07:25.180 --> 0:07:27.920 I was having spending money and that I wasn't going 0:07:27.940 --> 0:07:30.060 to be out panhandling. I mean, how old were you 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.320 when this all went down when you first 32? 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.680 You're 32. What did it feel like? I mean, it 0:07:35.700 --> 0:07:38.710 sounds so glamorous, right? Even if you don't watch Emily 0:07:38.730 --> 0:07:42.690 in Paris, which I haven't, beautiful gowns or whatever. But no, 0:07:42.730 --> 0:07:45.480 not for me. Right. But, you know, it sounds romantic 0:07:45.540 --> 0:07:48.300 and maybe people thought it was romantic. But, girl, I 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.580 kept turning the pages of this book and waiting for 0:07:50.620 --> 0:07:52.340 the moment when things got romantic. 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:53.080 Yes. 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:55.060 Yeah, it was a tough time. 0:07:55.100 --> 0:07:55.880 You were 32. 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.560 You moved from working on the Today Show and you're 0:07:58.580 --> 0:08:01.900 a student. Sorry, sorry, Dateline. You're a student and you 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.760 are interning. Yeah. Unpaid. 0:08:05.260 --> 0:08:05.720 Unpaid. 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.870 You know, what did that feel like or what did 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.670 that do to your confidence or your, you know, your 0:08:11.690 --> 0:08:13.070 thoughts about doing it in the first place? 0:08:13.860 --> 0:08:16.750 Well, it was tough because I went to the program, 0:08:16.790 --> 0:08:19.190 the master's program, and I was the oldest student. And 0:08:19.290 --> 0:08:21.410 then when the professors learned about my background, they were like, well, 0:08:21.430 --> 0:08:23.530 why aren't you teaching here instead of being a student? 0:08:23.570 --> 0:08:25.900 I'm like, well, why don't you hire me? Because I've 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:27.820 been trying to get a job. That's why I'm over here. 0:08:28.380 --> 0:08:31.400 So that was difficult. A lot of my classmates were younger. 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.420 I did become good friends with them. The apartment situation 0:08:34.620 --> 0:08:37.870 was rough. The student type of apartments where it's just 0:08:37.890 --> 0:08:40.770 a small studio was My very first studio, it was 0:08:40.790 --> 0:08:42.610 like a pull-out couch that you had to put up 0:08:42.790 --> 0:08:44.929 every day because you couldn't move around the place because 0:08:44.950 --> 0:08:47.390 it was too small. You could touch the kitchen from 0:08:47.429 --> 0:08:50.120 the toilet. It was a lot, and I was not 0:08:50.220 --> 0:08:53.599 used to that. So it was difficult. And doing the internships, 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:56.480 I knew that it would lead to something better. I 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.840 put a lot of different quotes from black women on 0:08:59.860 --> 0:09:02.900 my mirror, my bathroom mirror, to keep me motivated. And 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.229 one that I liked was by Oprah, which says, doing 0:09:05.270 --> 0:09:07.089 your best in this moment sets you up for the 0:09:07.130 --> 0:09:09.370 next moment. And I said, OK, I'm just going to 0:09:09.390 --> 0:09:12.429 do my best at this unpaid internship. And it's going 0:09:12.470 --> 0:09:14.320 to lead to something else because they're going to see 0:09:14.340 --> 0:09:17.080 how good that I'm doing in that. The unpaid internship 0:09:17.100 --> 0:09:19.560 didn't work out. It was at UNESCO and the U.S. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.280 pulled out of UNESCO membership while I was sitting there 0:09:22.300 --> 0:09:24.599 at my intern desk. So they're like, oh, we can't 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:25.040 hire you. 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:25.490 Sorry. 0:09:25.970 --> 0:09:28.610 So I took another internship, which was paid but low paid. 0:09:28.750 --> 0:09:31.250 And that one did turn into a job. But it 0:09:31.290 --> 0:09:35.390 was still difficult. making sure that everyone saw me as 0:09:35.410 --> 0:09:38.790 a colleague as opposed to just perhaps like a young 0:09:38.910 --> 0:09:41.500 intern with no working experience. That was really something I 0:09:41.530 --> 0:09:43.260 had to overcome once they hired me. 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.640 Yeah. I mean, your career, you were in, you were producing, right? 0:09:47.660 --> 0:09:50.340 Let me get that right. Producing and broadcast. Was your 0:09:50.380 --> 0:09:53.370 intention to pick that up in Paris or were you 0:09:53.380 --> 0:09:55.050 looking for a career pivot entirely? 0:09:56.070 --> 0:09:58.030 Part of me was looking for a pivot. The other 0:09:58.050 --> 0:10:01.089 part of me thought, OK, I can do journalism in France. 0:10:01.290 --> 0:10:04.890 They have lots of English speaking journalists. But when I 0:10:04.910 --> 0:10:08.990 went on my first interview, they said, OK, well, you know, 0:10:09.030 --> 0:10:11.600 we only have freelance positions. I said, OK, that's fine. 0:10:11.650 --> 0:10:13.380 They're like, you have to take our news tests, which 0:10:13.429 --> 0:10:17.080 was outrageously difficult. It was like who died in the 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.050 jungle of Colombia yesterday. in 1974. Give us names. I 0:10:21.530 --> 0:10:22.450 was like, excuse me. 0:10:23.410 --> 0:10:24.290 Was it open book? 0:10:24.750 --> 0:10:25.270 It was not. 0:10:25.290 --> 0:10:26.410 Jesus, okay. 0:10:26.510 --> 0:10:29.460 But somehow I passed the test and I was just like, yes, 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.120 you know, I'm an Emmy award winning producer, blah, blah, blah. 0:10:32.140 --> 0:10:34.760 And they were like, an Emmy, what's that? I said, oh, 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:35.600 excuse me. 0:10:35.820 --> 0:10:36.220 Okay. 0:10:36.740 --> 0:10:39.380 Oh no, this is going great. It was not going great. 0:10:39.420 --> 0:10:41.080 And then at the end of it, they offered me 0:10:41.100 --> 0:10:45.020 a freelance position paying 80 euros a day, gross. And 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:46.699 they said that I could not work for anyone else 0:10:46.740 --> 0:10:48.210 because I would have to be available when they called me. 0:10:49.130 --> 0:10:53.150 And I politely declined. I would rather work at McDonald's 0:10:53.690 --> 0:10:57.000 than get paid 80 euros a day for something that 0:10:57.010 --> 0:10:59.620 I've already been doing for 10 years. I thought that 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.820 was a bit insulting. So it was very difficult. And 0:11:02.860 --> 0:11:04.079 I said, okay, well, I guess I'm just going to 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.780 lean into this pivot into communications and see where that 0:11:07.820 --> 0:11:08.220 takes me. 0:11:09.059 --> 0:11:12.860 Okay. Yeah. It reminds me, I think, of a lot 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.890 of pivoters' fear that when you're moving into a new 0:11:16.929 --> 0:11:18.850 industry or a new place or a new skill set, 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.220 that either you won't have the transferable skills or that 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.830 the people won't have the same, like they won't speak 0:11:24.870 --> 0:11:27.290 the same language you were speaking, no pun intended, but 0:11:27.650 --> 0:11:29.790 like what's an Emmy? You know, this is like a 0:11:29.809 --> 0:11:31.290 whole different world. Right. 0:11:31.330 --> 0:11:33.670 And they know what an Emmy is. We all know 0:11:33.690 --> 0:11:34.430 what a César is. 0:11:34.490 --> 0:11:35.450 Like they know what an Emmy is. Oh, so what 0:11:35.470 --> 0:11:36.189 was that, a little shade? 0:11:36.490 --> 0:11:38.350 Yes. Absolutely it was. 0:11:38.750 --> 0:11:42.650 Como se dice shade? That's Spanish. I took five years 0:11:42.690 --> 0:11:45.330 of French and it is so dead. It's a dead tink. 0:11:48.330 --> 0:11:48.850 Okay. 0:11:48.970 --> 0:11:53.100 So from there, you went from UNESCO to then not 0:11:53.179 --> 0:11:56.880 taking this 80 euro a day consulting job. How did 0:11:56.900 --> 0:11:58.099 you make money? What were you doing? Were you living 0:11:58.120 --> 0:11:58.620 off savings? 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.640 Well, no. I went into that other internship where I 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.600 was offered a job at an international organization. So the 0:12:04.700 --> 0:12:07.640 working languages were English and French. And they hired me 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.280 on after my internship as the multimedia executive producer. So 0:12:11.300 --> 0:12:14.109 I was like, great. I'm working in comms. And for France, 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.689 the pay was quite good. Yeah. It was still about 0:12:17.730 --> 0:12:19.550 a 60% pay cut from what I was making in 0:12:19.590 --> 0:12:21.589 New York City, which I think a lot of people 0:12:21.630 --> 0:12:24.189 don't realize. Everyone's like, oh, things in France are so cheap. Well, 0:12:24.210 --> 0:12:26.890 the salaries are also quite low. So that's a big 0:12:26.910 --> 0:12:29.690 part of it. But I worked that job for five years. 0:12:29.750 --> 0:12:35.319 And it was very different being in such a diverse 0:12:35.980 --> 0:12:39.180 work environment in terms of languages, in terms of cultures, 0:12:39.700 --> 0:12:42.580 because it was people from 35 different countries all coming 0:12:42.620 --> 0:12:44.640 together to work on the same thing. And there were 0:12:44.660 --> 0:12:46.880 a lot of butting heads, a lot of butting heads. 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.220 And everything was in English and in French. So you 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.440 would be in a meeting. Someone would speak in English. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.699 The next person would speak in French. Sometimes people would 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.460 switch in the middle of their sentences from English to French. 0:12:56.500 --> 0:12:57.800 So you had to make sure you were able to 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.620 keep up. And I worked with people that also spoke Spanish. 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.319 Once they found out I spoke Spanish, they would speak 0:13:04.340 --> 0:13:07.160 to me in English, Spanish, and French. So every day 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.860 after work, I'd be, oh, I'm so tired. Like my 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:11.760 brain is exhausted. Yeah. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.160 I mean, I lived abroad after college. I moved to 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.660 South America. And I remember feeling the mental exhaustion at 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.060 the end of the day and having a similar experience 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.780 in terms of just culture shock a little bit. But 0:13:27.900 --> 0:13:31.650 I was surprised at how lonely I felt. I wanted it. 0:13:31.780 --> 0:13:34.219 I wanted to be alone and wanted to travel. But 0:13:34.380 --> 0:13:39.600 making friends, lasting friendships became harder. I pushed through it. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:41.900 You know, I stayed there through that loneliness. But can 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.780 you talk about like making a community or forming friendships 0:13:44.830 --> 0:13:45.760 and what that was like for you? 0:13:46.820 --> 0:13:50.079 Well, for me, I made friends through my master's program. 0:13:50.460 --> 0:13:53.109 But what I did not expect, because they keep promoting 0:13:53.140 --> 0:13:56.309 that you get an international career after this program, a 0:13:56.370 --> 0:13:58.230 lot of my friends had to move back to the U.S. 0:13:58.330 --> 0:14:01.130 or to Canada because there were no jobs. No one 0:14:01.150 --> 0:14:03.190 wanted to sponsor their visa for any of the jobs. 0:14:03.750 --> 0:14:07.630 So I was constantly attending going-away parties. And I said, okay, well, 0:14:07.750 --> 0:14:10.500 to combat this, I need to continue to keep making friends. 0:14:10.980 --> 0:14:12.920 So it was just a constant thing of having to 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.140 go out, having to meet new people all the time 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.949 just to– kind of gain a community. It did help 0:14:19.010 --> 0:14:21.610 when I started my job, and it also helped being 0:14:21.650 --> 0:14:24.110 friends with people that had children who were pretty much 0:14:24.170 --> 0:14:28.910 well-rooted in France, French husbands, different things like that. But 0:14:28.970 --> 0:14:31.990 it was difficult, and it's still difficult because a lot 0:14:32.030 --> 0:14:35.030 of Americans, they'll move when their parents get older because 0:14:35.050 --> 0:14:36.970 they need to take care of them. A lot of 0:14:36.990 --> 0:14:39.109 my French friends are more international, so a lot of 0:14:39.150 --> 0:14:40.970 them have even picked up and moved to the U.S. 0:14:41.130 --> 0:14:43.870 since we've started our friendships. And I'm just like, you're 0:14:43.890 --> 0:14:47.850 my French friend. You're supposed to stay here. So it's difficult. 0:14:47.870 --> 0:14:50.600 You have to continuously be open to meeting new people 0:14:50.910 --> 0:14:53.480 and growing your community. And sometimes you don't always feel 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:54.120 like doing that. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:57.440 I mean, it helps that you said you're an extrovert. 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:57.760 Yes. 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.140 We were chatting a little bit before. I really struggled 0:15:00.180 --> 0:15:03.440 as an introvert and being like really shy. I mean, 0:15:03.460 --> 0:15:05.220 I don't regret it because it pushed me out of 0:15:05.260 --> 0:15:10.860 that comfort zone. But I was really impressed and I thought, 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:13.770 you know, Like that's the resilience that you had is 0:15:13.790 --> 0:15:15.530 that you kept pushing. You would open that door and 0:15:15.570 --> 0:15:18.330 walk out and do a thing and say yes to 0:15:18.410 --> 0:15:19.370 the random coworker. 0:15:19.670 --> 0:15:19.979 Yes. 0:15:20.460 --> 0:15:22.700 Talk about the candy bowl on your desk. That was 0:15:22.780 --> 0:15:23.380 a cute story. 0:15:23.660 --> 0:15:26.900 Yes. So one thing that I learned actually from my 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:31.970 time at NBC was that everyone loves snacks. Everyone loves snacks. 0:15:31.990 --> 0:15:34.710 So when I started as an assistant at NBC, there 0:15:34.730 --> 0:15:36.890 was always like kind of a, if there was candy 0:15:37.010 --> 0:15:38.990 or someone would bring in brownies, they will put it 0:15:39.030 --> 0:15:41.310 by the assistant's desk. And so they would stop, people 0:15:41.330 --> 0:15:43.500 would stop by and they would, they kind of feel 0:15:43.510 --> 0:15:44.979 like they have to speak to you because the food's 0:15:45.020 --> 0:15:47.680 like right in front of your face. So, yeah. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:48.680 Unless they're a monster. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.360 Yes, unless they're a monster. So they would say hi 0:15:52.420 --> 0:15:54.680 or whatever, then grab their brownie and go. And so 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:56.990 I said, okay, well, I'm starting this new job. I 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.050 need to make friends. My desk is in the corner 0:15:59.170 --> 0:16:02.170 of all places. So I got a candy bowl and 0:16:02.230 --> 0:16:04.410 I put lots of different candy in there. And every 0:16:04.510 --> 0:16:06.830 afternoon people would swing by and they'd be like, oh, 0:16:06.870 --> 0:16:09.830 there's candy. But then they would see, oh, there's a 0:16:09.870 --> 0:16:12.350 girl sitting at that desk with the candy. So they 0:16:12.390 --> 0:16:14.610 come up and they're just like, hi, I'm so-and-so. I 0:16:14.670 --> 0:16:16.810 see you've got candy. I'm like, yeah. And it became 0:16:16.850 --> 0:16:18.670 a thing to meet more of my coworkers or even 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.240 just to talk to the ones that I knew but 0:16:21.260 --> 0:16:23.300 didn't know very well. People would just swing by and 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.260 get candy. It was a great conversation starter. And I 0:16:26.300 --> 0:16:28.580 think definitely one of the hacks that really helped me 0:16:28.620 --> 0:16:29.640 to stay there as long as I did. 0:16:29.660 --> 0:16:32.700 I love that idea. If you're in an office, why not? 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:37.380 Language barrier. Language barrier. How long before you were proficient 0:16:37.420 --> 0:16:40.800 in French did you– what was it like starting a 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.120 career in a different language? Did you have to speak French? 0:16:43.140 --> 0:16:44.610 Like how were you learning it? 0:16:44.780 --> 0:16:47.570 Yes. So actually with my master's program, they did not 0:16:47.610 --> 0:16:50.750 include French classes, which was a bit shocking to me. Yeah. 0:16:50.790 --> 0:16:53.290 So I had to spend my own money to do 0:16:53.330 --> 0:16:56.730 classes at Alliance Francaise and a few other places. And 0:16:56.750 --> 0:16:58.690 it was difficult. It was difficult. I took some of 0:16:58.710 --> 0:17:00.970 the city hall classes, which were very good and cheap. 0:17:01.430 --> 0:17:03.510 But in order to have my job, you had to 0:17:03.550 --> 0:17:09.200 be about– B1 level-ish of French or English, and B1 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.010 is considered lower intermediate. So I kind of eked on 0:17:13.070 --> 0:17:16.030 by a bit with my classes, but I really learned 0:17:16.190 --> 0:17:19.590 so much in the workplace. I found that just listening 0:17:19.630 --> 0:17:23.109 to everyone say, oh, that's how they would formulate that sentence. Like, 0:17:23.130 --> 0:17:25.090 that's not what I would have thought. And I was like, okay, 0:17:25.109 --> 0:17:27.429 so just listening to that really helped it, improved it. 0:17:27.810 --> 0:17:29.630 And then, of course, as I said, in meetings, having 0:17:29.650 --> 0:17:31.570 to stay on your feet to make sure you're listening, 0:17:32.010 --> 0:17:34.149 actively listening, because someone might throw a question at you 0:17:34.660 --> 0:17:36.879 in French, even though the last 45 minutes have been 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.590 in English. So just always having to be on your feet, 0:17:39.690 --> 0:17:43.290