Previous Speakers

Photo: ©Carla Coulson

Lisa Anselmo: Creating Your Best Life in France &
                           Living the Creative Life in the City of Light chat with Authors

Moving to a new city, especially a foreign one, takes you way out of your comfort zone. But that’s a good thing! In this lively talk, author Lisa Anselmo shows you how to navigate the challenges of expat life, learn from them, and actually use them to create a more satisfying life—beyond your time in France. From overcoming fears to finding your purpose, you’ll discover how you can do more than survive here, but really thrive. This lecture is for anyone who has just moved to France, or is thinking about moving—whether for work, or chasing the dream of a better life.

Lisa Anselmo lives in Paris and is an author, writing coach, and branding expert. She has spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing in New York, working on such iconic brands as Allure, InStyle, and People. Her memoir, My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home (St. Martin’s Press), is a candid story of a woman searching for purpose in the City of Light.

Photo: ©Stéphane Cugnier

Craig Carlson: Adventures of an American Entrepreneur in France:
                           Navigating Bewildering Bureaucracy & Labor Laws &
                           Living the Creative Life in the City of Light chat with Authors

Craig was the last person you’d expect to open an American diner in Paris. He’s not a cook and has never owned a business. If that weren’t challenging enough, Craig chose to open his restaurant in a foreign country with a foreign language, which also happens to be the culinary capital of the world. Yet despite the odds, his restaurants succeeded. Craig wrote a New York Times bestselling book about the experience called Pancakes in Paris. Craig will share his adventures of being a small business owner in France, where its mind-numbing bureaucracy and complex labour laws nearly killed him.

Craig Carlson, with a background in journalism, studied cinema at the University of Southern California where he was awarded the prestigious John Huston Directing Award. In 2003, he completely shifted gears and opened the first American diner in Paris. He’s been serving hearty breakfasts to hungry customers from all over the world ever since.

Photo: ©Paul de Berger

Adrian Leeds: Finding Your Perfect Home in France

Making France your new home? Finding the right apartment is often easier said than done, especially if you don't know the first thing about how to navigate the French system and property laws. Real estate professional Adrian Leeds will teach you how to bridge the gap between the American and French ways of maneuvering the property market—for rental or purchase—to make sure you’re not left out in the cold.

Adrian Leeds is a French property expert and HGTV personality, Adrian Leeds arrived in Paris in 1994 with more than 21 years of experience in marketing and public relations—not to mention a daughter. In her need to survive in the City of Light as a single mother, she created a variety of businesses devoted to assisting other expats in their quest to fulfill their dream to live in France. Her company, the Adrian Leeds Group, is a licensed real estate agency offering complete property consultation services primarily for North Americans and other Anglophones wanting to live and/or invest in France.

Allison Grant Lounes: Foolproof French Visas: Selecting the Right Visa Type for Your Dreams

Choosing the right French visa is the most important decision you’ll make when planning your move, because it determines so much of what you can be and do in France: it determines what type of work you can do, how you can support your family, and your options for staying long-term and becoming residents or naturalized citizens. Conversely, making the wrong visa choice, or engaging in activities not allowed on your visa, can end in an administrative and tax mess it would be better to avoid! This talk provides an overview of the visa categories so you can determine the visa type most compatible with your move and understand basic visa requirements. You will be able to choose the visa that is most appropriate for your stay in France, but also create a viable long-term plan for staying in France.

Allison Grant Lounes is a “Franceformation” consultant for people moving to France, helping them imagine and align with their dream lives—getting the right visa for creating the life they envision, and navigate the French bureaucratic procedures that will enable them to achieve their goals. She works with highly motivated, creative, and heart-centered people who want to design a whole new life for themselves in France—those who struggle with finding the right path for to bring that new life to fruition, and need support as they blossom and s'épanouir into who they truly are.

Elizabeth Milovidov: A Digital Family In France

Raising a family in France during Covid and beyond, including guiding them to use the Internet and social media responsibly, keeping them safe online, and preparing them to thrive in the digital world of tomorrow.

Elizabeth Milovidov is an international speaker, author, and consultant on internet safety, digital parenting and digital family wellness. She founded Digital Parenting Consulting, which provides advisory services to the Council of Europe, UNICEF and e-Enfance, as well as provides support services to Internet Matters, the UK Safer Internet Centre and the Family Online Safety institute. She founded DigitalParentingCoach.com, a website which provides resources for parents and caregivers, and she is host of the free, private, Facebook Group, The Digital Parenting Community. Elizabeth has several publications on digital parenting.

Photo: ©Joann Pai

Lindsey Tramuta: Living the Creative Life in the City of Light chat with Authors

Lindsey Tramuta is a Paris-based culture and travel journalist and the author of the bestselling book The New Paris. Her work regularly appears in The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Afar, and Fortune. Her latest book, The New Parisienne: the Women & Ideas Shaping Paris, was released in July 2020 by Abrams, and features more than 40 women influencing Paris.

Tom Wilscam: Creating Community Through Giving Back

If you are an expat in Paris, or if your travels include Paris, there is a dynamic expat community of all ages, where you can engage in a meaningful and impactful way. Become a volunteer in Paris with other expats, through various Paris-based NGO’s and collectives who offer a broad selection of volunteer activities. Teach English or French to refugees. Help feed the homeless. Have meaningful conversations with the elderly. Participate in integration activities and sports events with foreigners. Engage in sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives. You can even take online workshops on how to become a more impactful volunteer in Paris. Tom will talk about the volunteer community in Paris, and he will further preview a variety of volunteer options so you can choose which program is right for you.

Tom Wilscam, along with wife, Kim, and daughter Sienna, have lived in Paris for over 18 years. After living in San Francisco and working in Silicon Valley, Tom now dedicates his time to social impact projects in Paris, including with Serve the City for over 6 years as a volunteer, a Board member and now the Executive Director. Tom also launched a non-profit Association in Paris called Venture Académie, dedicated to helping immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs start their own business. His company also created the business plan for the U.S. National Refugee Welcome Center in Philadelphia, and a training program for the French government to help new refugees and asylum seekers find employment in France. Tom is a member of the ACP Refugee Task Force, and holds the Chair position of the Mission Outreach Program at the American Church in Paris.

Mundey Young: Strategizing Your Dream Life in France

International life and business coach, Mundey Young, will show you how you can create an action plan for your move to France—working through the roadblocks, creating a clear vision of the life you want, getting your career off the ground—guiding you from dreaming about a new life in France to actually making a success of it.

Mundey Young is a life coach how has spent years working with clients to ensure that they have the necessary skills, support, and compassion that they need to achieve their goals, become one with themselves, and live the life that they’ve always envisioned. Her time in the United States Air Force taught her the skills of discipline, structure, and dedication—and this informs her unique coaching method. She has lived abroad for many years, from England (Cambridge and London) to France (Paris, and now Marseille), and she understands what it takes to make the life you want abroad—and the hard work it takes to make the dream real.

SPECIAL TALK: Living the Creative Life in the City of Light chat with Authors

In the tradition of Hemingway, American writers—and all creatives—come to Paris for inspiration. Authors Lindsey Tramuta [The New Paris; The New Parisienne], Lisa Anselmo [My (Part-Time) Paris Life], and Craig Carlson [Pancakes in Paris; Let Them Eat Pancakes] will discuss how living as an expat in the City of Light inspires and shapes the creative process, and helps attract audiences. This talk is for anyone who is looking to pursue a creative vocation (or avocation) in Paris, be it writer, photographer, painter, designer, or any other creative field. Moderated by journalist Carita Rizzo [Variety, Vanity Fair].