Profiles
I love to talk to people
and then write about what they tell me.
Lost & Found in Paris with Colleen Dupont
The Les Frenchies YouTube star on identity, and the power of self-awareness.
On an overcast October day, I am walking the backstreets of Paris, looking for lunch with Colleen Dupont, one half of the husband-and-wife YouTube phenomenon known as Les Frenchies. Like her onscreen persona, Colleen is a fun, knowledgeable person, curious and easy to talk to. So it surprises me when she studies the map on her phone, puzzled, and says, “Aren’t you glad I got you lost in Paris?”
I am, actually.
Because, though Colleen makes Paris look easy, as we talk it becomes clear that getting to this place – with over two million adoring viewers monthly and more in the works – this success required her to get lost in a much more profound way. To arrive here, she had to forget everything she knew about herself and begin anew.
Tricia Boutté Does Not
Give an Eff
On singing with the old cats, schooling the young ones, and using joy as your only compass.
“I’m not embarrassed to be walking sunshine,” jazz singer Tricia Boutté said.
And that’s the perfect description for her, with her fierce fuchsia hair, luxuriant nails, and bright wardrobe. She’d cut a distinctive figure anywhere – but in the small Greek village where I met her, playing for the sixth time at the Kardamyli Jazz Festival, she’s especially unique. But it's when Tricia starts to sing that you forget all about the vibrant exterior. Her voice commands attention. It holds you captive in the best possible way. Opening her set with an homage to Billie Holiday, she shone heart-rending new light into the classic Comes Love. Then she said this: “I don’t do anything that doesn’t give me joy.”
Tricia’s music – and attitude – prove her point.
Driving Fast
with Renée Brinkerhoff
She started rally driving at 55, with plenty of near misses. Now she uses fear as fuel.
It was while she was folding laundry that Renée Brinkerhoff decided to race cars.
“I was looking out the window,” she said, “and I hear myself having a sub-conscious conversation. We have thoughts all the time, conversations in our head, like 'I’ve got to go to the grocery store.' This one was, ‘One day I’m going to race a car.’”
Brinkerhoff, a mother of four, didn’t ignore her inner voice. Instead, she followed it, becoming a top rally driver and founding Valkyrie Racing. Her passion for speed has taken her to six continents (more on that seventh in a moment), where she races her classic 1956 Porsche 356 and raises awareness – and money – to fight child trafficking. Along the way, she’s discovered that being different is a strength and that fear can fuel amazing things.