The SHORT BIO...
Samantha Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a
determined, if occasionally unconventional, at-home French chef. Over the years,
she’s visited many different countries, lived in many places, and
worked many jobs— always on the search for the one
thing that truly excited her. Then, one day, she found everything she’s
been looking for: a passion for the written word and true love. Writing
not only enabled her to open her heart, it led her to southwestern
France, where she’s now married to a sexy French
rocket scientist she met over twenty years ago, a stepmom to two
incredible kids, and the adoptive mother to one ridiculously adorable cat. When she’s not trekking from Provence to the Pyrénées,
tasting wine in American-sized glasses, or embracing
her inner Julia Child while deliberating what constitutes the perfect boeuf bourguignon, Samantha is making her best effort to relearn those dreaded conjugations.
The self-proclaimed princess, Samantha Vérant,
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| and her frog* |
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*Yeah, I know. He's totally my Prince Charming.
Toujours l'amour! Encore l'amour!
AND THE LONGER BIO... Less of a princess, and more of an accident prone adventuress on a budget, I'm a former creative director from the big bad world of advertising. More
rock star than rocket scientist, I met Jean-Luc in 1989 when I was 19; he was
26. That's right, he's seven years older. He wrote me seven letters...and I never wrote him back until twenty years later. We're now married.
Lucky number seven? Jean-Luc's birthday is April 18th. Mine is October 18th. Just goes to show you men really are from Mars, and women, Venus. I've tried to convince him to hire me so I can prove this theory once and for all, but something tells me his projects within the aerospace industry are a bit more serious. Maybe I should read him his horoscope... Right then. Here's the real deal – no moon, no stars, just the honest truth. I swear! I've always been involved in the arts. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, at the age of fifteen I auditioned at The Chicago Academy for the Performing and Visual Arts for voice, got in, but ended up choosing theater as my major. When my family moved to Boston the following year, I stayed involved in the acting community, but thanks to an awesome teacher, art became a big part of my life. A triple threat, I could sing, act (like a clown), and draw. But I couldn’t do all three things at once, or so I thought. Alas, once high school came to an end, it was on to Syracuse University, where I traded in arias and monologues for advertising design. After graduating from Syracuse cum laude, I've worked at some of the biggest agencies in Chicago, my area of expertise promotion. Possessed by an unrelenting entrepreneurial spirit, I used my knowledge of packaging and design to launch two businesses: Samantha Kim/Samantha Mack Handbags, which won Marshall Field’s (now Macy’s) Distinction in Design Award, a placing with the Invent Now! America competition, and were featured on QVC and Sex in the City; and DNA STYLELAB, an online company where users could design their own apparel items, featured on Mashable.com – and a concept almost sold to the Gap. I split my time between my old home in California and my new one in France, where I'm married to my sexy French rocket scientist, navigating a new life in a foreign land, and cooking for two French stepchildren who think McDonald’s should get a Michelin two-star rating. Sigh. |
