LISA ANSELMO
Founder and Editorial Director
Lisa Anselmo is an author, branding expert, speaker, and coach. She has spent most of her professional career in magazine publishing in New York City, working on such iconic brands as Allure, InStyle, and People, the largest magazine brand in the U.S. In 2014, she left her “day job,” and now lives (mostly) in Paris where, when she’s not hanging out in cafés, she’s writing and coaching. Her experiences inspired the memoir My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home, (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press), a candid narrative of a woman searching for hope and healing in the city she loves after the death of her mother from breast cancer. She has been featured in New York magazine, Travel and Leisure, Bustle, House Hunters International, Expatriates Magazine among others. More press, here.
Lisa also is the co-founder No Love Locks, an organization that works with the mayor’s office to protect historic structures in Paris devastated by the “love locks” tourist trend. Lisa, along with her co-founder, the late writer Lisa Taylor Huff, has been interviewed by hundreds of international media outlets, most notably BBC, CNN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, RTL, Le Parisien, and Le Monde.
Discover her blog and book.
Subscribe to her Youtube channel.
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♥ Lisa’s favorite cafe right now: Le Rouge Limé, 167 Boulevard Voltaire, 11eme.
PATTY SADAUSKAS
Staff Photographer
A true flaneuse, Patty, along with our editorial director, Lisa, enjoys spending (a lot of) time in cafés. She recently realized that about half her photos are of the world as seen from her terrace table. Her photos—and her flaneur‘s POV—will be gracing these pages.
Patty, a former credit union CEO who hails from Kansas City, chucked it all to live the dream in France. A passionate advocate for expanding horizons through travel, Patty is a master of vacation logistics and planning.
Discover her world at genuinefrance.com
Follow her on Instagram: @geniunefrance and @parisonadime
♥ Patty’s favorite cafe right now: Chez Lui, 67 Rue Saint-Maur, 11ème.
EDITH de BELLEVILLE
For more than 20 years, storyteller Edith de Belleville worked as a lawyer, but at age 50, she decided to follow her passion—her love for the city of Paris—going back to study at university to become a licensed tour guide. She’s an expert in French history and literature, and her tours are some of the most intriguing you’ll ever experience.
As a parisienne, Edith has always been interested in the stories of other parisiennes from the past, such as Christine de Pisan, Madame de Montespan, Josephine de Beauharnais, George Sand, and Sarah Bernhardt. Her book, Belles et Rebelles (Erick Bonnier) profiles these extraordinary women, and many more you may not know, who have had a hand in transforming Paris into the city we know today.
Discover her Paris tours.
Buy Belles et Rebelles (in French).
Subscribe to her Youtube channel.
♥ Edith’s favorite cafe right now: Café de la Rotonde, 105 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 14ème.
CORI COPPOLA
Editor’s note: It is with a heavy heart that I write here that the world lost Cori, quite suddenly, in early 2023. We were honored to have her as a contributor, and as a friend, and her biography will remain in memoriam.
Cori Coppola was the producer of the documentary The House of Cardin, directed by P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes. Shot in five countries over the past year and a half, the film depicts the life and work of famed French fashion designer Pierre Cardin. Previously, she worked as a coordinator and VFX producer for films and commercials both in the U.S. and in France at high-profile companies such as Kleiser-Walczak, BUF, and Partizan. She was also the official English-language biographer of the Japanese fashion designer Yumi Katsura. Ms. Coppola, who originally hailed from Hollywood, was fluent in French and lived in Paris for over 20 years. She was the granddaughter of famed opera conductor Anton Coppola and part of the celebrated Coppola family. Her passion for art, fashion, and film inspired her work.
♥ Cori’s favorite cafe: L’Escale, 1 Rue des Deux Ponts, 4ème.
DAVID DOWNIE
David Downie is a multilingual Paris-based American nonfiction author, crime novelist, and journalist who writes most often about culture, food, and travel. His articles have appeared in about 50 publications, print and online, including The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Gastronomica, The Art of Eating, Australian Financial Review, Salon.com, Epicurious.com and Concierge.com. His books on Paris and France include, Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light, Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James, and A Taste of Paris: A History of the Parisian Love Affair with Food. His novel, The Gardener of Eden, was released this year. David has his own Wikipedia page, here.
♥ David’s favorite cafe right now: Le Rostand, 6 Place Edmond Rostand, 6ème.
LILY HEISE
Lily Heise is a Canadian travel writer, author, and romantic expert who has lived in Paris since 2000. Her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, Business Insider, Frommer’s, TravelAge West, Playboy.com (Travel), HiP Paris, among others. She is also the author of two lively books on searching for love in Paris, Je T’Aime, Me Neither and Je T’Aime…Maybe?. She shares tips on Paris date ideas and romantic travel on her website and leads romantic tours of Paris.
Discover her world at www.jetaimemeneither.com.
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♥ Lily’s favorite café right now: Mademoiselle Raymonde, 1 bis rue Félix Ziem, 18ème.
JANET HULSTRAND
Janet Hulstrand is a writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher who divides her time between France and the United States. She is the author of Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You, and she writes frequently for Bonjour Paris, France Today, France Revisited, as well as for her blog Writing from the Heart, Reading for the Road. She created and has taught “Paris: A Literary Adventure” in Paris for the City University of New York nearly every summer since 1997, and in 2008 she began offering “Writing from the Heart” workshop/retreats in Essoyes, a village in Champagne.
Janet is co-author of the book Moving On: A Practical Guide to Downsizing the Family Home, and the blog Downsizing the Home: Lessons Learned. She is currently working on her next book, a memoir titled A Long Way from Iowa.
Discover her world at JanetHulstrand.com
♥ Janet’s favorite café right now: Café Bullier, 22 Avenue de l’Observatoire, 14ème.
ADRIAN LEEDS
French property expert and HGTV personality, Adrian Leeds, is also an author and marketing/communications expert. She arrived in Paris in 1994 with more than 21 years of experience in marketing and public relations, not to mention a daughter. In her need to survive in the City of Light as a single mother, she created a variety of businesses devoted to assisting other expats in their quest to fulfill their dream to live in France. Her company, the Adrian Leeds Group, is a licensed real estate agency offering complete property consultation services primarily for North Americans and other Anglophones wanting to live and/or invest in France.
Discover her site
Attend one of her Après-Midi Events
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♥ Adrian’s favorite café right now: Cafe Charlot, 38 Rue de Bretagne, 3eme.
JANICE MacLEOD
Janice MacLeod, best known as a Paris artist, is the New York Times best-selling author of Paris Letters, a book based on the creation of an illustrated letter-writing service of the same name. She is also the author of A Paris Year, a travel journal about Paris, which was named one of USA Today‘s top most beautiful books.
Janice hails from Canada and spent several years as an advertising copywriter in Toronto and Los Angeles. Her award-winning advertisements have garnered praise from Fortune 500 companies around the globe.
Janice and her family reside in Port Dover, Canada, and live in Paris part of the year.
Discover her world at janicemacleod.com.
Visit her Etsy shop.
Like her Facebook page.
♥ Janice’s favorite café right now: Le Saint-Médard, 53 Rue Censier, 5ème.
RICHARD NAHEM
Richard Nahem is the creator of the popular blog Eye Prefer Paris, with three weekly posts about art, history, fashion, food, shopping, architecture and restaurant reviews He also writes about Paris and European travel and his articles and photos have appeared in The Guardian, Romantic Paris, Passport Magazine, Travel Agent Central, Luxury Travel Advisor, France Today Magazine, and Bonjour Paris. He recently edited the National Geographic Walking Tours of Paris Guidebook.
Richard also leads private insider tours of Paris via Eye Prefer Paris Tours, showing clients the Paris they never usually see on their own. With over 700 five-star reviews on TripAdvisor, his specialty tours include Le Marais, Saint Germain des Pres, Chocolate and Pastry Tours, Flea Market Tours, Gourmet Food Tours, and Cooking Classes.
Read his blog. Discover his Paris tours.
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♥ Richard’s favorite café right now: Le Nemours, 2 Place Colette, 1er
FILLY di SOMMA
Filly di Somma is a hospitality professional who lives between Rome and Paris. She grew up in her family’s hotel business in Castellammare di Stabia, in Italy, and hospitality is in her blood. She has dedicated her career to bringing people of different cultures together via tourism, and organizes cultural events such as Paris Hospitality, Discovering Japan in Paris, Social Writing, and Paris Italian culture. Filly speaks five languages including Japanese, and is also a travel journalist.
Discover her website.
♥Filly’s favorite cafe right now: La Belle Hortense, 31 Rue Vieille du Temple, 4ème.
AMY THOMAS
Amy Thomas is the author of three books including Paris, My Sweet: A Year in the City of Light (And Dark Chocolate) and its follow-up, Brooklyn In Love. For two lucky years, she got to call Paris home. She now resides in Brooklyn as a freelance writer, covering food, travel, and parenting.
Follow Amy: Instagram | Twitter
♥ Amy’s favorite café right now: Cafe de Flore, 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 6ème.
SAVE THE PARIS CAFÉ 