A few weeks ago, an editor friend invited me to her "Girl's
Night" party at her flat in Levallois. Of those
that responded (approximately 10 women), I only
knew one person. Carolyn. Carolyn and I met a little over one year ago
through the Paris Woman website. She'd
written to me and introduced her "Virtual
Assistance" business here in Paris. After a few
emails, she invited me to lunch and we met at La
Defense for a hearty meal. What began as a
business meeting quickly turned into a long
discussion about our lives here in Paris. We both
laughed and shared so many things in common,
especially being entrepreneurs, and I talked to her
at length about the Paris Woman website,
particularly its purpose and goals. When Carolyn
asked what my website needed, I immediately said
"Writers, I need good, mature writers who have
lived Paris, either in their dreams or for real".
Carolyn looked at me and said, "Well, I may just
have someone for you".
About a week later, I received an email from
Carolyn inviting me to lunch with Priscilla. "Wow," was my response, "you are really
quick!" As a result of that meeting, Priscilla
is now the editor of our new feature "Paris:
Through My Eyes". Through Priscilla, I then met
Tamiko, who told me that she has met Priscilla
through the Paris Woman website! After reading an
article Priscilla wrote on internet publishing, Tamiko contacted her. So now at the most
recent "Girl's Night" party, I now knew
three people and it was a pleasure and opportunity
to introduce Tamiko to Carolyn.
When I created the Paris Woman website in
October 1998, I did so with the expressed purpose of keeping
in touch with the local expatriate community while meeting
interesting new friends from around the world.
Such goals are not
easy, since my young son and I had moved here from
sunny California, following my husband to his new
job. While it took my 4-year-old only three months
of public school to begin speaking French fluently, I continue to struggle with a beautiful, yet
unforgiving language. By law, I am not allowed
to work in France and the last thing I wanted to do
was sit in a foreign country doing nothing except
housework and taking care of kids. I felt I was
hiding, from who or what, I couldn't say. All I
knew was that I wanted something of my own.
At the time this website was birthed, I didn't
have much money to start a storefront business, so I turned to the Internet. With no
previous background in websites, I started at A and went all the way to Z, with
several speed bumps in between. Surfing around,
reading every article on e-commerce that I could
find, drinking in topics on home businesses,
learning about Frances' international laws, it
really took some time before I was knowledgeable
enough to purchase the very first version of MS
Front Page. Exploring this new software, I learned
HTML raw and attended classes at the
American University. Eventually I limped towards
creating an affordable, accessible website that we
all enjoy today.
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