Living the Dream: Women Reinventing Their Careers Abroad | Stories from the French Riviera

From French Model to New York Beauty Founder: Starting Over at 36, Building a Brand During COVID, and Finding Backing at Cannes 2026 She left France with two suitcases at 36. She came back with a Vogue feature, a New York atelier, and a docu-series in development. This is Delphine's story. Most guests on Living the Dream left their home country to build a new life on the French Riviera. Delphine d...

Living in English on the French Riviera can feel easy, especially in a region where so many people speak your language. But what does that ease really cost when it comes to building a career? In this episode of Living the Dream, Cecile Liconnet explores the professional journey of Kirsti Formoso, whose path has evolved from yoga and massage therapy to a deeper, more complex field shaped by mystica...

What happens when a high-achieving career no longer aligns with the life you want to build? In this episode of Living the Dream: Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera, Helen shares her journey from a career in finance to building a new professional life in the South of France. At the start of her career, she had a clear ambition: to follow in the footsteps of Nicola Horlick and succee...

Relocating abroad is challenging for anyone. But what happens when your profession is highly regulated and your qualifications don’t automatically transfer? When Nita moved as a trailing spouse from London to the French Riviera in 2006, she left behind a prestigious career working on major international architectural projects. What began as a temporary relocation quickly became a long-term life in...

Faye arrived on the Côte d’Azur in the late 1990s after a decade in Madrid and a career in film production that had taken her across Europe. Monaco was glamorous. The Riviera was quieter than she expected. The beaches were pebbled, not white sand. Life looked different here. What she could not foresee was how profoundly her professional life would change. After years working in film, alongside IVF...

Vicky moved from Manchester to the French Riviera with a plan, savings in place, jobs secured, and a dream built years earlier on a beach in the South of France. But building a long-term professional life abroad is never as simple as the dream. In this episode, we go deep into what it really takes to build a financial advisory practice in France as a British expat: from navigating French bureaucra...

At 18, Lu arrived on the French Riviera with a plane ticket, a job on a yacht in Golfe Juan, and no idea that the industry would shape her entire life. The job lasted 24 hours. The career lasted decades. After years working as a yacht chef and travelling the world, yachting eventually brought her back to the South of France this time as a mother of twins and unable to return to life on board. What...

Dana relocated from London to the French Riviera with the promise of a position at a high-end fitness club that was still in development, where she would continue her successful career in wellness. Shortly after arriving, the investor pulled out. Suddenly, she was unemployed in France with no French language skills, no guaranteed income, and a family depending on her. In this episode, we explore w...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Emilie grew up between France, the UK, and Belgium. A third culture childhood that shaped her language, identity, and sense of belonging long before she realised it. Returning to France as a young adult felt both familiar and unsettling: home, yet foreign. In this episode, we explore what it means to grow up internationally and come back to your...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Flavia has lived and worked across five countries, but what sets her apart is not the number of moves, it’s what she has learned by staying long enough to be changed by them. In this episode, host Cecile Liconnet speaks with Flavia Wahnfried, a career and transition strategist whose own journey from Brazil to New Zealand, the UK, Portugal and fin...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Rachael Dickens arrived on the French Riviera just days after osteopathy became legal in France: a move that could have been risky, but she treated it like a masterclass in strategy. In this episode, hosted by Cecile Liconnet, Rachael shares how meticulous planning, foresight, and sheer determination allowed her to turn a bold relocation into a t...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Moving to France is often described as a dream. But what happens when it doesn’t feel like one? In this episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, Cecile Liconnet speaks with Valentina Gargano , an independent educational consultant, who first moved to the South of France in her mid-forties full of hope, only to realise that life there was far...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Suzanne’s story is a powerful illustration that building a life abroad rarely follows a straight line. In this episode, Cecile Liconnet sits down with Suzanne Shields, who first arrived in the South of France in 2000 after a career as a British Airways stewardess. What followed were multiple relocations and a series of professional reinventions,...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: What does learning French really look like when you are living in France and trying to find your place there? In this episode, Cecile Liconnet speaks with Patricia Pedditzi a Riviera-based French teacher whose approach is built around immersion, everyday situations, and cultural understanding. Drawing on her own experience living abroad and years...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: What does it really take to build a business in France when you’re not European, don’t speak the language fluently, and have no safety net? In this episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, Cecile speaks with a Brazilian entrepreneur who rebuilt her professional life from scratch after leaving the yachting industry and settling in the South of...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: What does it really take to build and scale a serious business after relocating abroad? In this episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, Cecile speaks with a former UK nurse who rebuilt her professional life in France and went on to co-found a global communications and technology business headquartered in Cannes. Starting with the typical exp...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: Staying True to Your Path: Christine’s Wellness Journey from Denmark to the French Riviera. In this episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, Cecile welcomes Christine Kjeldberg, a wellness expert who has built a thriving career in Pilates, barre, and nutrition since relocating from Denmark nearly 20 years ago. Christine shares how she turned...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: If you’re considering a move to the French Riviera, or already here and feeling stuck, this episode is a goldmine. In this conversation, Cecile speaks with Luus, an engineer who went through extensive professional retraining to become a therapist and coach, and who has spent years observing how women adapt, reinvent their careers, and rebuild the...

Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera: When Ariana moved back to the French Riviera in 2020, she knew one thing for certain: she was ready to leave her corporate marketing career behind. What she didn’t know was what would come next. In this inspiring episode, Ariana shares how an unexpected conversation at a local market pushed her to explore a completely different path; one that led...

What happens to your career when you relocate to the South of France after a major life change and have to start again from zero? In this episode of Living the Dream: Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera, Mel shares how she rebuilt her professional life after returning from London as a single mother of two. Her first move to the South of France was shaped by lifestyle and opportunity...

What does it really take to build a sustainable career in France as a foreigner? In this episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, the podcast discussing women, work & relocation on the French Riviera, Cecile Liconnet sits down with Catherine Aygen, an English teacher who transformed her freelance work into a fully accredited training centre, now helping hundreds of professionals in France...

What happens to your career when you relocate to the South of France without speaking the language? In this episode of Living the Dream: Women, Work & Relocation on the French Riviera, Lizzy shares how she rebuilt her professional life after moving from London to Cannes. Like many women relocating for love or as a trailing spouse, she arrived with no French, no network of her own, and no clear...

In this first episode of Living the Dream: French Riviera, Cecile welcomes Jo, a real estate agent who has spent nearly two decades guiding international families through the complexities of buying property in France. Jo shares what most newcomers never expect: the impact of French inheritance law, why buying under the wrong status can create long-term complications, and what actually happens from...