Interview: Aurélie Jansem, Yasmine Auquier & Sofia Buron from Rive Droite
March 8: International Women's Rights Day
For this month of March, the Exertier Trésor des Alpes team has decided to talk to you about several women. Why these women? Because we admire them and because we believe their words can inspire you as much as they did us.
Today, read Aurélie, Yasmine and Sofia.
Rive Droite is the coolest bag brand of the moment which proves that you can combine style and meaning! Their bags - sublime - are made of upcycled fabrics (she uses the end of fabric stocks or jeans production scraps) because you should know that 13 million tonnes of textile are thrown away each year in the world, and that only 2 million are recycled. At Rive Droite; it's the pride of being able to tell you who made your bag or your kit: production is done in Morocco by artisans who are helped to escape precarious situations. I admit that I already own several of their models and I can say that I really have a little obsession with their very pretty and practical pouches. Behind Rive Droite are three founders: there is Aurélie who takes care of communication, Yasmine who manages the strategy and Sofia who is in charge of artistic direction. These are girls of today who hold their convictions high and that's everything we love about Exertier.
Who are you and what does International Women's Day mean to you?
We are Aurélie, Yasmine and Sofia, the 3 co-founders of Rive Droite, a brand of mixed bags and accessories designed for today's urban tribes, made from recycled and upcycled materials by designers in precarious situations, that we help to become independent and create their micro-enterprise. (to follow us, click here ) Obviously, when we are feminists like we are, we feel a little like crying when we see that there is still a day in 2020 to remind us that it is necessary and urgent to fight against inequalities faced by women…. That being said, as long as inequalities persist, let's take this day as another opportunity to bring this fight back to the forefront, and let's all come together to make noise so that things move forward. For our part, we mobilize throughout the year with other women, for women and causes that are close to our hearts. We do this in particular through Band of Sisters , a community of nearly 200 women founded by the talented Cécile Fricker-Lehanneur, to whom we belong, which promotes female entrepreneurship in France and benevolent sorority. With them we support the Maison des Femmes , an association founded by the brilliant Ghada Hatem which welcomes and repairs in St Denis and soon elsewhere in France, we hope, all vulnerable women or victims of violence. We also developed for March 8, 2020, in collaboration with Galeries Lafayette and Patine which created an exclusive t-shirt, a “Sisters” pouch whose profits will be donated to the Women’s Foundation which provides financial, material and legal assistance to associations working for women's rights.
Who are your biggest female inspirations?
We won't necessarily each have the same inspiration, but I think all 3 of us agree to say that the women who inspire us the most are those around us. Since the creation of Rive Droite, we have had the chance to meet many entrepreneurs who have created beauty, fashion, decoration brands, florists, etc. hyper varied and committed businesses that each at their own level want to have a positive impact on the world in which we live. They are the ones who give us a lot of energy and a lot of ideas. We support each other, we help each other, we laugh, we cheer each other up sometimes... in short, it's super rich and necessary! But if we must cite an inspiration, there is a woman who means a lot to the 3 of us: it is Nathalie Rozborski, the CEO of Nelly Rodi, a consulting agency specializing in the creative industries. She is our good “fairy”, she taught us sisterhood, but also gave us certain keys to successfully evolving in this entrepreneurial environment. It's a wonderful encounter, a super inspiring woman who carries out several activities while remaining hyper available and generous for others.
What were the difficulties when you started your professional life and how did you overcome them?
More than anything, solitude was a real difficulty when we set out to create Rive Droite: solitude in the face of our project and our convictions when we searched the entire Casablanca region to find our sourcing of recycled cotton and industrial scraps. of denim, solitude when faced with banks, solitude when faced with oneself when it comes to making hyper-strategic decisions. In short, the loneliness of the entrepreneur is not a myth (even if there are 3 of us, moreover we admire people who start out alone, frankly bravo!), and that is why it is fundamental to meet as many other entrepreneurs as possible. It is also to fight against this loneliness that we have approached women's networks like Band Of Sisters because it brings together women who share the same business problems and sometimes obstacles such as lack of self-confidence, imposter syndrome etc… Sometimes, we meet around personal development workshops organized by Band of Sisters to help us move forward together, without judgment. It feels really good!
What is your ultimate advice for balancing your lives as a woman and your work?
Ahhh the killer question!!! After having spent a long time (but really a very long time) looking for ways to compartmentalize and balance our personal lives and our jobs, we gave up. And since then it has been an absolute liberation! When you are an entrepreneur and you have launched your company, there is no separation between your job and your life as a woman or your family life. It's all mixed together, and it's cool. In our case, it's even more mixed as Yasmine and Sofia are sisters, Aurélie and Yasmine have been friends for a long time, long before being associated. We can't do worse than non-separation! As a result, it is much more relaxing to admit this porosity of borders than to struggle to find this balance. Of course, it is necessary to carve out time for yourself, to recharge your batteries (yoga, meditation, weekend outdoors, alone, with family or friends... in short, whatever you want and what makes us feel good but... 'give something just for yourself regularly). And if during this thing just for yourself , we think about work, we will think about it differently, which could help resolve complex situations, for example. A little clarification that said: we're like "we've been managing this really well for a really long time" but to be honest, this revelation was just a few days ago. We owe it to an entrepreneur whom we greatly admire: Clara, the founder of the very pretty lingerie brand Ysé, with whom we had dinner recently and who, to describe this situation, spoke of a “balancing imbalance”. So we quote it today to say that our balance, ultimately, is found in “this balancing imbalance”! Are you following us? We hope we didn’t lose you too much… Julie Exertier
Rive Droite news: 1st “Velvet” Capsule Collection in upcycled velvet which will be released on March 6 on our site . Yoga collection created in collaboration with Lili Barbery available here . Launch of the Spring 20 collection at the end of March 2020. “Sisters” Galeries Lafayette x Patine x Rive Droite collaboration exclusively at Galeries Lafayette for Women’s Day. The profits will go to the Women's Foundation .