At Business O Féminin, we love the unique journeys of women, as inspired as they are inspiring. Those who allow themselves to step outside the box to create their own score. This is the case of Fanny Auger who, as she herself summarizes “ feels like he’s had a thousand lives “. Encounter.
How would you describe the child you were?
Fanny Auger: I was the eldest of four children. I grew up in Moselle, northern Lorraine, a land of immigration, marked by unemployment and factory closures. I didn’t dream of being married and having children, I wanted to travel, write, be free. I have two passions that shape my life: culture and transmission, and that was already the case when I was little. I was secretive, a little shy, with little self-confidence. Often away from my classmates, I remember that time passed very slowly. I sometimes had anxiety attacks because I was a good student, but I was very bored at school. So books were a refuge that allowed me to feed my curiosity and explore lots of subjects.
My parents did not have degrees, but wanted us to study for a long time. Thanks to them, I quickly understood that this was the key to freedom. They received a lot of people and at their table, there could be a deputy-mayor as well as illegal migrants. They were really welcoming of others, very involved in associations and I think I also have that in my blood.
Exactly how do you go from a shy and insecure little girl to a people-oriented entrepreneur who teaches the art of conversation?
Fanny Auger: I very quickly understood that if I didn’t work on my self-confidence, no one could help me with that. Constantly feeding my curiosity was key, but I also turned to sport and theater. I was also lucky to be born into a wonderful family who always supported me. Coming from a rather modest background where nothing was taken for granted, in a way forced me to work on my soft skills, driven by the feeling of having nothing to lose. I did hypokhâgne and khâgne in Metz, a bachelor’s degree then a master’s degree in Modern Literature at the Sorbonne, then Sciences-Po Paris, and I loved it.
At the same time, I did all kinds of odd jobs to help finance my studies: day center instructor, store representative, receptionist, waitress… I also benefited from these meetings, these exchanges and it helped me become the person I am. Not having a role model helps in a sense to forge your own path. At Sciences-Po, I wanted to explore fields that were far from what was familiar to me like marketing. That’s how I started with an internship at L’Oréal, before being hired.
You then had a series of professional experiences, particularly abroad, before launching into entrepreneurship.
Fanny Auger: Yes, at 25, I quit my job to go to Dubai with a one-way ticket. I had never been there, but I was always carried by the feeling that I had nothing to lose. Back in France, the Italian brand Fratelli Rossetti offered me a position as Sales Director for France. At the same time, my best friend, Fany Péchiodat, launched My Little Paris and I became a consultant for her, supporting her on various subjects such as finding offices, recruitment, sales… This allowed me to understand the digital issues and the world of a start-up.
After a break of a year and a half in Milan as International Sales Director of Fratelli Rossetti, I launched my first company based on epistolary art, Letters from an Unknown, in 2012. Twice a month, I I handed my pen to a stranger who told me his story and I reproduced it on very beautiful paper, taking care of every detail before sending it to the registrants. But there was no business model and after several years of devoting a lot of energy to it, almost 4,000 subscribers, I reluctantly stopped.
It was then that I came across a poster in London, The School of Life, and discovered this unique school, founded by Alain de Botton, philosopher and author. A school where we don’t learn what we learn at school, a school where we follow above all group lessons around art and philosophy in order to develop our soft skills. I brought the concept to Paris and for 10 years we have been offering complete programs to develop the emotional intelligence and soft skills of employees of large groups and small structures.
How did you become interested in the art of conversation?
Fanny Auger: When I was trained in The School of Life, Alain de Botton invited me to work on a course on conversation. I then accumulated a huge amount of theoretical information, by reading and documenting myself. Then the exchanges with people during the courses I taught allowed me to delve even deeper into the subject. It is thanks to this that I was able to enrich my knowledge and produce a book*. I don’t teach eloquence or rhetoric, that doesn’t interest me. What I like about conversation is meeting people. We discover in particular by looking into the subject, that listening is not easy, that we can be afraid of silences, of mentioning certain subjects such as death…
So how can we enrich ourselves with reciprocal conversation? How to learn to observe before speaking and get in tune with your interlocutor? A successful conversation is one where you learn something new about yourself and the world. This is also what I explore with my podcast on The Art of Attention. There is a phrase I love from William Butler Yeats: “ There are no strangers here, there are just friends you haven’t met yet “.
Are you more the type to savor the present moment or to constantly project yourself?
Fanny Auger: I am a great enjoyer of the present moment, but I have a lot of dreams, sometimes even preventing me from sleeping at night! Dreams of writing, inventions, travels and experiences.
*Enough chatter: Let’s rediscover the taste for conversation, Fanny Auger, Editions Eyrolles
Vanina Denizot
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