Virginie van Gysegem is the founder of Poupette Biscuits.
She makes bespoke biscuits, and also offers creative workshops in her Lab/Workshop which has been open since May in Paris in the 11th arrondissement, at 44 rue Richard Lenoir.
Whilst one might think that this passion stemmed from childhood and that she used to bake with her mother or grandmother, the idea of making artisanal biscuits came to her rather later in life, right in the middle of a career change following a background in television production and then the music industry.
From her past experience, Virginie has retained her rock 'n' roll edge, creativity and daring.
To create Poupette, Funky Biscuits, she added a good dose of authenticity and great precision, all sprinkled with an enormous amount of joy.
Poupette is lovely, and it tastes great! But like any entrepreneurial adventure, it isn't always simple.
To be completely transparent, we spoke:
From his lack of an initial business plan — but his unwavering motivation; ;
Profitability, which can be difficult to achieve for this business model; ;
Behind the scenes ;
And of everything that deeply drives it, which explains the rapid development of Poupette, launched barely 3 years ago.
If you’d like to find out more about what I call Creative Management, I dedicated a full episode to it a few months ago.
Today, I would like to take a closer look at one aspect of Creative Management: team-building.
What exactly does it involve?
What are the benefits?
I also share a great example, as well as a counter-example, from my own experience as an employee.
And bonus: I talk about my favourite sports coach, Ted Lasso. (no spoiler as I haven’t started Series 4 yet).
If you're interested in offering your team a workshop / team-building / training session, do drop me an email! lbm@lilibonnet.com
I can organise and facilitate almost anywhere in the world 🙂
I’ve known Fabien for over 20 years, back when he was a graphic designer.
We worked together on a project and have stayed in touch — partly because it’s something I enjoy doing, of course, but mainly because I’ve always admired his entrepreneurial spirit.
Even when he enrolled at art school, he didn’t know what he was going to do later on; he just had a fairly broad vision of his future:
– getting up whenever he wanted;
– not working for a boss;
– and living in a loft.
Today, that’s exactly what he’s doing.
He’s the owner of UNSEEN, a vintage shop in Brussels, but he’s also a designer, a carpenter…
it’s clearly impossible to define him in a single word, as he has developed and put to use a wide range of skills.
And it’s quite fascinating to see how much this multi-potential individual needs to free himself from the constraints that a single skill entails, to allow himself not to be confined to just one profession. Not to limit himself. And that is precisely the driving force behind everything he undertakes.
this episode, we also talked about:
– pop culture,
– imposter syndrome,
– mental health,
– and identity, thanks to his recent reconnection with his country of origin, Vietnam.
