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In this episode of French Insider, Victoire Lester, CEO of Coucou, joins host Sarah Ben-Moussa to discuss the experience of building a company in the United States from the ground up, including Coucou's approach to hiring and training native-speaking French language instructors, its strategy for attracting American customers, and their experience recruiting and managing a mixed-nationality workforce. What We Discussed in this Episode Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you become involved with Coucou? What was behind the founding of Coucou? Where did the idea come from? How does Coucou go about hiring and training instructors? How does Coucou's approach to hiring impact the learning experience? What was it like coming to the U.S. and building a company from the ground up? What motivated Coucou to expand its offerings? What was Coucou's experience during COVID? Where did the company come out on the other side? Can you tell us a bit about the streaming platform being developed by a Coucou founder? What was Coucou's strategy for attracting U.S. customers? Can you speak to the experience of recruiting and managing a mixed-nationality workforce of French and American people? What were some resources Coucou utilized during the last 10 years of growth? Would you recommend companies retain a public relations agency? What's one piece of advice you'd offer a French entrepreneur seeking to launch a company in the U.S.? About Victoire Lester Victoire Lester is CEO of Coucou, a New York City and Los Angeles-based language school offering culturally savvy, native-taught French classes, in person or online. A Paris native, she joined Coucous as a part-time French instructor in 2016 and was promoted to director of operations just three years later. As CEO, Victoire handles marketing, product development, and operations. She was also responsible for Coucou's successful transition to an online program in 2020, which has been instrumental in the company's growth. When she's not helping Coucou grow, Victoire enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, and indulging in her love of wine, cheese, and oysters. About Sarah F. Ben-Moussa Sarah F. Ben-Moussa is an associate in the Corporate Practice Group in Sheppard Mullin's New York office, where her practice focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financings and corporate governance matters. As a member of the firm's French Desk, she has advised companies and private equity funds in both the United States and Europe on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, complex commercial agreements, and general corporate matters. As a member of Sheppard Mullin's Energy, Infrastructure and Project Finance team, Sarah also represents renewable energy companies, borrowers, financial sponsors, portfolio companies, commercial banks and other financial institutions in a variety of financing transactions. Her practice focuses on a variety of transactions in the energy sphere, representing renewable energy companies in project-level debt and equity financings of wind and solar facilities. Before joining Sheppard Mullin, Sarah spent a year and a half studying and working in France, focusing on corporate transactions and commercial contracts in Europe and internationally. Sarah is also committed to pro bono work, focusing on cases involving children seeking asylum or other immigration-related relief. Contact Information Victoire Lester Sarah F. Ben-Moussa Additional Resources Coucou Coucou on TikTok Coucou on Instagram Coucou on Facebook Coucou on YouTube Thank you for listening! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every week. If you enjoyed this episode, please help us get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or Spotify. It helps other listeners find this show. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matter, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.
Have you ever thought of how your country would look if you built it from scratch? In this video, Bob Henderson, father of Andrew, shares his take on this. https://nomadcapitalist.com/ Andrew Henderson and the Nomad Capitalist team are the world's most sought-after experts on legal offshore tax strategies, investment immigration, and global citizenship. We work exclusively with seven- and eight-figure entrepreneurs and investors who want to "go where they're treated best". Work with Andrew: https://nomadcapitalist.com/apply/ Andrew has started offshore companies, opened dozens of offshxaore bank accounts, obtained multiple second passports, and purchased real estate on four continents. He has spent the last 12 years studying and personally implementing the Nomad Capitalist lifestyle. Our growing team of researchers, strategies, and implementers add to our ever-growing knowledge base of the best options available. In addition, we've spent years studying the behavior of hundreds of clients in order to help people get the results they want faster and with less effort. About Andrew: https://nomadcapitalist.com/about/ Our Website: http://www.nomadcapitalist.com Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=nomadcapitalist Buy Andrew's Book: https://amzn.to/2QKQqR0 DISCLAIMER: The information in this video should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Nomad Capitalist can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.
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This month Michael and Laura welcome Toussaint Morrison – writer, poet, musician, lyricist, actor...and more – about his multiple artistic endeavors. Toussaint writes and produces scripts for YouTube, has toured with multiple bands, has written lyrics and music for nearly 200 songs, and participates in slam poetry—among other things. Stop by and hear Toussaint reading and performing some of his work! Toussaint Morrison is an avid mentor for youth, working as a paraprofessional in special ed. classrooms and leading spoken word workshops primarily in middle schools. He is also an Emmy award winning host of PBS's civic engagement web series, America From Scratch. Graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Theater, Morrison now spends his time writing & producing film for majority casts of color. http://www.toussaintmorrison.blogspot.comwww.urbanhomecompanion.com Youtube.com/toussaintmorrison Youtube.com/urbanhomecinema Patreon.com/toussaintmorrison Toussaint is performing a live spoken word show at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 22nd. Toussaint’s Readings: The Fight that Never Was – 12:35 Escaping Nina’s – 28:15 Baby Gots Venom – 44:40 Michael’s Beer Pairings: Miller High Life, Miller Brewing Company – 9:50 Ninja vs. Unicorn, Pipeworks Brewing Co. – 26:40 The Abyss, Deschutes Brewery – 41:38 Interview Highlights: The impact of New Orleans on Toussaint’s writing. – 19:25 Managing time—how does one person do so much? – 22:25 Urban Home Companion and Toussaint’s beef with Garrison Keillor! – 32:10 Influence of Charles Bukowski and elevating the mundane moments – 36:35 How different styles of writing lend themselves to different stories or messages – 50:45 COMING NEXT MONTH: Kathryn Kysar, Twin Cities poet Our theme music is from www.bensound.com.
What if we made "America From Scratch" today rather than 250 years ago? Would 12-year-olds be allowed to vote? What if there were no states? Host Toussaint Morrison joins the PBS Digital Studios family to ask these big questions and celebrate the incredible opportunities represented by our ongoing American experiment. Produced by Rewire as part of the Twin Cities PBS "In It Together" initiative. Today my guests are Josef Lorenzo and Maribel Lopez. I had them on to discuss their PBS Digital Series AMERICA FROM SCRATCH.
In this season one finale of the "America From Scratch" podcast we look back on the first season of the YouTube series with a little help from our friends at the Minnesota State Fair. Host Toussaint Morrison is joined by producer Josef Lorenzo, writer Katie Moritz, executive producer and director of Rewire.org, Maribel Lopez, and series creator David Gillette. What would you change about America if we were starting from scratch today? Watch all 11 episodes on YouTube. And subscribe to the YouTube channel for news about season 2!
With the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's retirement we just had to stop and ask: If we were making "America From Scratch" today, would we elect our Supreme Court Justices? Host Toussaint Morrison is joined by Suzanna Sherry, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, Jacob Hillesheim, Rewire journalist and educator and producer Josef Lorenzo to talk nominations and term limits.
Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom of…private data? As the EU adopts the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, it’s time for us to ask what protections should be in place in the United States. Toussaint Morrison sits down with Josh Cutler, formerly with Microsoft Live Labs and now CTO of Rambl, Jennifer Epperson, editor of Blacks in Technology, and "America From Scratch" producer Josef Lorenzo to discuss the idea that if the constitution doesn’t protect our data privacy rights, should we change the constitution? And what would that like?
Women make up about half the U.S. population – and half of this podcasting roundtable – but gender representation in the U.S. government lags behind more than 100 other countries. Toussaint Morrison, Kathryn Pearson, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, producer Josef Lorenzo, and Joetta Wright, educator, actor and Toussaint’s podcasting partner on “Double Consciousness,” discuss what could be different if we were building "America From Scratch" today and required an even gender split.
It’s a document that is worshipped, challenged and amended, but does it need to be rewritten altogether? This week our panel debates whether it’s time for the U.S. Constitution to be scrapped entirely or just reinterpreted with a modern lens. Host Toussaint Morrison and producer Josef Lorenzo are joined by Marissa Luna of the Alliance for a Better Minnesota and John Hinderaker of the Center of the American Experiment to continue the thought experience that is "America From Scratch."