🏠I was born in Normandy, France. From the very beginning, there were signs that my trajectory would be anything but a straight line.
🎓I went to school at ISIT in Paris, where I got my Masters in Intercultural Communication and Translation in 2017. At that point, there was simply no stopping me.
🌴 I stayed with translation, but not in Paris. I now live with my husband and son in the sunny French Riviera. I may have settled down, but my bags are always packed and my passport never far. 😋
🪂 I started freelancing in 2016 before I had even graduated. I’ve always wanted to run my own translation and project management business, so setting up HDM was something of a dream come true.
Since then, I have continued to learn and grow (and grow my business). And, while I do love my independence, I have formed some fantastic partnerships over the years.
🤝 In 2023 I met Gaële Gagné, founder of online translator training academy Tradupreneurs. It was a real meeting of hearts 💖 and minds, entrepreneurially speaking, that is! We now work together to bring French-speaking freelance translators the skills they need to succeed on today’s market.
💭 My philosophy is that there is no competition between translators, only collaboration.
I love working with colleagues to provide customers with the services they need and develop new offerings.
👉🏼 One example is my partnership with talented copywriter and project manager Alexandra. We believe it takes two to tango 👯♂️. Our team, Loc ‘n’ Roll, gives you twice the project management capacity without doubling your budget.
👉🏼 I have also built a wide network of trusted experts I am always happy to recommend—a win for everyone!
I translate, manage projects, and teach courses to freelance translators in France.
See? One, two, three!
What does this mean for you? A 360-degree view of multilingual project management and unique insights that can help your organization be more efficient and effective.
When I’m not translating and project-managing, you can usually find me doing one of the following:
🩰 Dancing: I studied ballet for fifteen years, then pivoted to jazz. Now it’s strictly ballroom with my husband (see what I did there?)
🎼 Playing the recorder: fifteen years making musing to add to my fifteen years dancing to it!
💖 Taking care of my son and watching him grow up (much too quickly).
🌱 Growing things at our local community garden.
🍲 Cooking healthy meals at home.
✈️ Travelling (which should come as no surprise by now).
My latest travel adventure was a 🚗 seven-month roadtrip across Spain and Portugal 🚗 with my husband and then-toddler son. From flamenco to fado and back again, the trip added thousands of miles of new experiences to our lives and just as many new words to our vocabularies.
🕷 And one last tidbit before you go...I am petrified of spiders. We are talking phobia-level. I almost crashed my car once when I discovered a spider in the vehicle while driving.
I like smart people (and I like to think I am one 😛). But only if both of their feet are firmly on the ground. “Consultantsplaining” is not part of my freelance vocabulary.
The solitary translator cooped up in some dusty office with shelf upon shelf of dictionaries is not really my vibe, either.
I want to prove that you can rise to the very highest levels of the translation industry and still be a totally normal and approachable person.
Sometimes I even color (and translate) outside the lines.
Translation is technical, but it’s also creative.
What you see isn’t always (exactly) what you get. And it’s a good thing, too!
My friends and colleagues would say I’m:
