If I hadn’t come to Paris to study, I never would have met my husband.
If I hadn’t been stuck with an expired visa and unsuccessful job interviews, I never would have considered getting my Master’s.
If I hadn’t gotten my Master’s in Paris, I never would have met my dear friend Andi who introduced me to my dear friend Elena.
If I hadn’t gotten closer to Elena, I might not have learned about her two powerful projects, The Illusionists (a documentary about women, body image and the marketing of unattainable beauty and perfection) and No Country for Young Women and contributed to the latter.
If I hadn’t jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, I wouldn’t have started following Elena’s tweets and discovered Liza Donnelly, a cartoonist best known for her work for the New Yorker. She also teaches Women’s Studies at Vassar and contributed to Elena’s NCYW project. She is nothing short of inspiring.
All of this leads to the events of this week. Liza was in Paris for an international cartoonist conference and had some time to meet Elena, Haley, Beth Arnold and me for a drink at a charming restaurant in the 20th. Beth is an award-winning writer and journalist who has lived in Paris for the last 7 years and maintains the blog Letters From Paris. Haley is a writer charming the world with her wit and passion for words. Talk about inspiring – four powerful, intelligent and successful women surrounding me. I was thrilled to get the opportunity to finally meet Beth and Liza after much twitter-courtship and admiration.
Sensory Overload
Back to twitter and the blogosphere, there’s Nichole from Obvious State (formerly Little Brown Pen): copywriter, blogger, creative, and francophile extraordinaire. Nichole and her husband Evan were in Paris for several days and managed to fit Anne and I into her schedule for a drink. After a couple hours of storytelling and sharing, I left feeling energized, enthralled and, well, kind of starstruck. Both Anne and Nichole have an incredible aesthetic and eye for design, qualities I only dream of having.
Moral of the story ? I never would have met such strong, successful women had it not been for my resolve to get where I am. Twitter may seem futile to many, a time-suck to others, but it has allowed me to connect with some of the most inspirational and creative individuals whose paths I never would have crossed back in the States. Paris is truly the haven for creatives and whimsical dreamers.
Every little choice leads to something, good or bad. Embrace the good, learn from the bad. I no longer regret the choices and sacrifices I’ve made to arrive where I am because every single inspirational person I meet makes it all worth the struggle.
Which encounters have inspired you?
* A lovely reader pointed out that the point of twitter is that you CAN connect with people from anywhere but what I meant was that had I stayed in my hometown, I never would have connected IN PERSON with these inspirational people that I initially began engaging with on twitter!
