Who We Are & What Our Values Are

Stephen

Stephen Heiner began this blog a few weeks before he moved to Paris in late 2013, as he started to document his move to Europe, where he had not lived since he was a student in 2000 in Rome.  He sold an educational company in the US in 2012 and came to France not quite sure of what was next or how long he would stay.  He tried out several different new businesses (with varying levels of success) before founding Writerly in 2016 to help businesses in Europe and around the world share great content with their current and potential clients.  To see what else he gets up to, you can check out his personal website, where you can also find his social media feeds.

Molli

Molli Sébrier has lived in Paris since 2014 when she decided to leave her American life behind and pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Since living abroad, Molli has earned her master’s degree in English Studies with a concentration in literature and now owns a digital content boutique called Plume. If you’re interested in following your own dreams of moving to France, she also offers consulting.

You can follow her journey on Instagram @mollisebrier, and if you like to read, Molli runs a female-focused book review website called The Mistress of Books. You can also follow her website on Instagram @themistressofbooks.

Marlene

Marlene has spent half a century as an American living in Paris and half of that as French, too. As a fence-sitting, half & half person she looks at her two cultures both from within and without. There are days when she loves Paris and couldn’t think of living anywhere else, and others where she wonders what she is doing here. She wrote her thesis on child bilingualism which got her a position at the French National Education teachers’ college in Paris training teachers to teach English in primary school where she did her best to improve language teaching in the French school system. She is always happy to share with others her long experience in France, its pains,  pleasures, paradoxes and a better understanding of the culture into which she has integrated.

Chris

Chris first moved to France when he was five years old. He spent eight of the next ten years residing and attending school in France, before moving to Germany to finish high school. Growing up in multiple cultures was incredibly enriching, as Chris grew to love the beauty and diversity found in different societies and ways of life.

Chris moved back to France in 2018, to use his experience of growing up in foreign countries, along with his training in counseling, to help expats and their families thrive in their lives overseas. He has counseled, coached, led webinars, spoken at conferences and written on many topics related to international living. He is particularly passionate to help parents with the various challenges of raising their children abroad, while helping them maximize the wonderful benefits of a cross-cultural upbringing. In his mind, there’s no greater experience than to grow up among differing cultures and to travel the world.

Luke

After seeing a picture of Amiens cathedral in a book, Luke Middleton decided life probably wouldn’t be complete without seeing it in person. After seeing it in person, he decided life might not be so bad if he just moved to France for good.With a visitor visa he moved to France in 2021 and settled in Annecy.

When not engrossed in French paperwork, he enjoys reading, writing and raclette. His occasional musings can be found on his blog titled Lewis Milton.

Vince

Vince Duque spent three months in Paris in the summer of 2016 on a whim and then spent the next five years figuring out how to get back to Paris for good.  He wanted to surround himself with the inspiration to become the filmmaker and storyteller he couldn’t as a Filipino-American filmmaker in Hollywood.

In November 2021, Vince finally made the permanent move with a profession libérale visa and is finding his way into the France film industry while telling his stories about Paris on several platforms. He has been published in a book called Table in Paris and if you want to read about his Paris Magical Mystery Tour about diving into all kinds of Parisian rabbit holes and meeting many of the city’s eclectic characters, visit Un philippin à Paris on Instagram. He is also coaching creatives all over the world with his program, Stay On Your Path.

Alexa

Alexa Bloomfield moved to Paris in early 2022. Since finding meaningful friendships abroad, she is currently on the pursuit of starting a new life in France. Despite not having a degree, she has been able to gain experience through travel and volunteer work. Alexa’s goal is to defy the “I can’t” belief system and inspire others to do the same.

Upon arrival, Alexa decided to document her journey writing for TAIP and nurture her creativity by painting on the weekends. If you like colorful art, you can support her on Instagram @wildstrawberriesworkshop while she’s getting on her feet in the Paris art scene.

Stephanie

A Francophile since spending three years in Bordeaux in her 20s, Stephanie studied French History and Politics at New York University and promoted travel to France when she worked at Maison de la France, a division of the French Consulate in New York City.  She always had the dream to return one day to France to live but marriage, work, and children somehow got in the way.

A recent empty nester, Stephanie decided to shake things up and leave behind the hustle and bustle of NYC to create a new life in Paris.  With a long-term visitor visa in hand, she settled into Paris’s Marais district in early 2022 where she continues to run Successfully Starting Over, a coaching business helping women move quickly past divorce.  She enjoys cycling through the streets of Paris, taking in the local cultural offerings, and reading in French and Spanish.


As we came together to refound TAIP as a collaborative project, we set forth four key values, which we ask all our guest contributors to follow as well:

Optimism — Americans are very much the “everything is awesome” people and we lean into that.  We are “solutions-oriented” and wholly uninterested in the French tradition of complaining.

Integrity — We only want to share verifiable information.  When necessary we will call out misinformation, especially when such misinformation is used to drive a financial agenda.

Accessibility — We want our content to be well-written yet understandable by all.

Authentic — While this is not a personal blog (anymore) we do want to be emotionally vulnerable/open when appropriate.

4 thoughts on “Who We Are & What Our Values Are

  1. I would love to follow your story and updates. I am 54 and have a daughter living in Aix Provence for 5 months — we love all France, she has a degree in French Language.

  2. Pingback: To Know the Place Again for the First Time: TAIP’s Soft Reboot | The American in Paris

  3. Pingback: Why I Moved to Paris and How I Made It Happen | The American in Paris

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