Our Story

« It all started with a particular frustration and anger.

It was in 2012, I had just returned from a trip to India where I had followed my husband. I had graduated in International Business, speaking several languages including Chinese, and having made contacts in different countries, I could only think of one thing: finding a job in Purchasing.

On paper, it was a no-brainer. I was qualified and I wanted to commit myself.

But the reality was quite different. My application letters had gone unanswered and I hadn’t even gotten an interview. I had to come to terms with the reality. No one wanted me.

I was unsettled, but I was an expatriate spouse who was used to overcoming obstacles. So I looked for a way to remedy the situation.

I turned to the food industry. Before my first expatriation to China, I was a chef de rang in Michelin-starred restaurants and immediately found a job in the industry.

I was happy at the time, but my joy didn’t last long. After living abroad for a long time, I could no longer be satisfied with what had been my life before. I had moved on, I had trained for prestigious degrees, I no longer wanted to be under a maître d’hôtel. The position I had found did not correspond to my new aspirations. So I quit.

And the anger rose. A huge anger.

I had followed my spouse abroad for years to find myself with nothing. No one wanted me. I was financially dependent. My degrees – never put to good use because of all our

« Of all the books, the one I prefer is my passport » Alain Borer (poet and travel writer)

13 moves – seemed useless.

I was furious. Why had my husband’s employer never met me and informed me of the consequences of an expatriation for the spouse?

No one had explained to me that I was sacrificing my career by following my husband.

No one told me how difficult it would be to return, or warned me that a resume with several years of « gaps » would scare off employers.

I had sacrificed myself for years and I was paying the price.

Once again, I asked myself what I could do.

I decided to offer the services I would have dreamed of in all the countries I had lived in. I wanted to offer expatriates what they needed to integrate quickly in France. Created in 2012, Absolutely French started to develop thanks to contracts signed with large corporations.

When seven years later my husband was given an assignment to Mozambique, I refused to leave everything. I had four children at the time, but I had become a businesswoman. This time, I decided to manage my company by going back and forth between Maputo and Paris, where I spent ten days a month.

During this period, I had decided to help expat spouses and had to live between two countries and manage the career I had built while taking care of my family and children.

A difficult but useful experience.

I remember seeing myself accompanying my youngest daughter to the French school for her first day of class.

It was a shock. It was hot, all the mothers were wearing summer clothes and chatting with each other. I hear English, French, Portuguese and other languages being spoken. It is a joyful hubbub, the expatriates are delighted to be back together after the vacations. They laugh. Not me. I don’t know anyone, they don’t talk to me, the welcome for new students is non-existent and I don’t even know where my daughter’s class is. I am ALONE. And this feeling of loneliness is all the more important because it brings me back to situations I experienced each time we moved abroad. It’s like a huge flashback, like a pain that is revived. I feel like the abyss is opening up when I think of the energy it will take to start all over again.

This unpleasant and intense moment came as a reminder of what expatriates accompanied by Absolutely French feel. Even if you have experienced this feeling of loneliness many times, you forget how strong it is !

So, I decided to write a book for them. So that companies would become aware of their situation and accompany them better than the way I was.

Today, the majority of expatriate spouses want to work. They no longer accept to sacrifice themselves like the previous generation. The subject of employment is very important to me and touches me deeply. As you can see, I am 100% committed to helping them in this process.

Companies must understand that it is in their interest to get involved as well. To attract foreign talent, we must also encourage the careers of their spouses by offering them specific support. This is the only way to enable them to find a job in their sector of origin, at the same level of responsibility and remuneration. »