Having raised her four children as a full time mom for twenty years, Sharon Santoni saw the empty nest looming and decided to react: she set about to reinvent herself and find a new way to channel her energy and creativity. In 2019 Sharon published the first edition of her print and digital magazine, My French Country Home Magazine. She also offers an on-line boutique and runs high end tours, welcoming clients to the most beautiful regions of France.

Surrounding yourself with beauty is important for you to create a fabulous next chapter. Since moving to Paris and being immersed in beauty, I have shifted my mindset and become opened up to new possibilities. You don’t have to move to Paris to experience this shift, you can start with the room you are in now! How can you bring more beauty into that room? How do you feel when you put yourself in the midst of beauty? Let’s explore an important step of designing your next chapter and let the beauty surround us!

With a lifetime designing award winning gardens, floral art and self-taught photography, Lucy Hunter’s work is constantly looking at ways in which we can soften and meld the boundaries between the inside and out. Her work focuses on capturing for a moment the fine and transitory shifts in nature, the light of the changing seasons and always, colour, form and composition.

I fell in love with Paris in 2011 and although the honeymoon phase of my love affair has passed, I still feel more myself in Paris than anywhere else in the world. But living in Paris isn’t always easy, especially as a solo in mid-life who doesn’t speak French! There are many challenges I’ve had to overcome. Here are a few of them…

Dr. Sara Zeff Geber is a recipient of the “Influencers in Aging” designation by PBS’ Next Avenue. She is an author, retirement transition coach, and professional speaker on retirement and aging. She has developed a niche specialty as an expert in “Solo Aging,” informing people who have no children or who are aging alone how to have a safe and fulfilling life in their retirement years. Dr. Geber is the author of the 2018 book, Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers: A Retirement and Aging Roadmap for Single and Childless Adults, which was selected that year as a “best book on aging well” by the Wall Street Journal.

Living in Paris has changed many things in my life- but first and foremost, living in Paris changed my relationship with food. The French have an entirely different relationship with food than the average American. We all know about French cooking and chefs like Julia Child who introduced America to French cooking. Recently there has been a Julia revival through a movie and television series which is wonderful. But those shows don’t really explore how much food in France is a sacred and integral part of their culture. Let’s talk about it!

Sarah Jansel was on her own at only 16. She found herself faced with a crossroads: homeless or successful. She chose the latter, but it wasn’t without challenges. Sarah struggled with the innate human desire for safety with the entrepreneurial drive to create and thrive. She took what she learned as an HR corporate executive for CarFax, taught herself new skills related to building online businesses, and was fueled by her excitement to pursue her dreams.