Manucist, it is A family story, a mother-daughter collaboration that has become a matter of women. So, as Mother's Day approached, we wanted to chat with Gaëlle Lebrat-Personnaz, CEO and co -founder of Manucist.
She returns for you on the genesis of this project that she has been carrying out for a long time and entrusts her impressions of a very active woman, mother and entrepreneur.
Gaëlle, you created Manucist in 1996 with your mother. Can you tell us how the idea was born and how did you grow it?
Gaëlle | My mom has always had an impeccable manicure with beautiful lacquered nails. After raising her 3 children, she felt idle and wanted to learn the profession of manicure. She first worked for Parisian hair salons until she finds the ideal place, place du Marché Saint Honoré. This is how we created the Manucist Institute dedicated to the beauty of the hands.
For my part, I worked 15 years in fashion while helping it from afar on product development, communication, etc.
At the end of 2016, I resumed the 100% Manucrist company to develop a new type of varnish and care, intended for all women, with formulas as clean and natural as possible, without compromise with their efficiency.
What qualities do you admire the most about your mom?
Gaëlle | Courage, pugnacity, a taste for work is what I particularly admire with my mother. I always heard her tell me that if I wanted to be free as a woman, I had to be financially independent.
Later, reading “the second sex” of Simone de Beauvoir, I thought I heard my mother: "It was through work that the woman has largely crossed the distance that separated her from the male; it is the work that can alone guarantee him concrete freedom. ”
What does maternity bring you?
Gaëlle | Vast subject than maternity! It's ambiguous: I find that she has both weaken and reinforced. I realized that I was no longer alone and that I was responsible for small beings completely dependent on me, which is scary because we lose the characteristic of youth. But, and it's also a real force: we understand that we are doing things only for ourselves. We feel useful. This removes the feeling of emptiness of existence which was strong in my house before.
How do you combine your role as a mother with 5 children and your business chef's responsibilities?
Gaëlle | It's crazy ! We never ask this question for business leaders or even any man. As if the burden of the organization of the family was only incumbent up to women. Unfortunately, it is a reality in many countries and there is still work to reach parity on this point, as on many others.
Any woman, mother and active, has a list that turns in a loop in her head and constantly renews herself. It is the famous and exhausting "mental load", a term that only entered the little Larousse illustrated until 2020 ...
I am, like all these women, often overwhelmed, with my work/house list that runs in a loop. To this is added the guilt, a feeling oh so feminine, not to be present enough for my children. But, over time, I learned that it is not necessarily the number of hours spent with them that counted but the quality of the moments shared with them.
What do you want to transmit to your children?
Gaëlle | They are raised in town, in Paris, and I find it a little sad. I want to transmit the taste of nature, gardening, the names of flowers, trees ... I try to help them feel the present moment, the taste of little things that make the salt of life. They often immerse me when they quoted me: "We are not there?"
There are also essential values such as respect for others and the sense of work without which, nothing is really possible. To my daughters, I want to transmit the meaning of beauty for oneself. That they accept as they are and use makeup to feel stronger. And boys, I would like them to become just men, capable of sharing the tasks at home fairly.
But what I want them and they remember above all is: "Be yourself, do not try to please, neither to me nor to others, become who you want to be".
