Édito

There is a lot of light when you meet Clémentine Sarlat for the first time. Sports journalist on television for several years, her podcast La Matrescence is a great success. A talented and committed woman, this entrepreneur, pre and post-natal yoga teacher, Clémentine took the time to tell us about her routines, what inspires her, her successes and her disappointments too.

Tell us who you are

I am 32 years old, I am the mother of a 2 1/2 year old little girl and soon the mother of a 2nd child. I live in Bordeaux, in the beautiful Bordeaux region. I'm a real slasher as they say today: I'm a journalist, a podcaster, I host company evenings, I'm writing a book, I do media training, in short I have lots of hats and I can do lots of different things. I am also a pre and postnatal yoga teacher. There are quite a few things at the moment, some that I can do during confinement and others that I can no longer do. Basically, I am a sports journalist on television.

I managed to peel away all the layers of people who weren't me to become myself

What is Matrescence?

It is a psychological concept invented in the 1970s by an American anthropologist, Dana Louise Rafael, who died today. She explains the change in identity that one can feel when becoming a mother and all the transformations that this implies, not only physical or hormonal but also in the brain and in the way in which we perceive ourselves and the way we perceive the world. I found this concept because I myself was struck by this matrescence, which confused me a lot, disturbed me a lot. When my daughter was born in September 2017, overnight I had the feeling of being a different person and it's very strange when it happens to us, when we're not prepared. I think that we women who live in the city, who are very little connected to nature, to our feelings and who live a life that is a little too fast where we forget the essentials, becoming a mother brings us back to the essentials, it makes us aware of things that were perhaps buried… all this can be violent because it is rapid. But for me, matrescence is for the best. Personally, it means that I managed to peel away all the layers of people who weren't me to become myself. So good!

What is your morning routine?

Outside of confinement, I get up quite early since I had Ella. I try to get up before her, but she has incredible radar, she knows when I'm awake! I get up between 6 and 6:30 a.m. I try to get off and go meditate for 10 minutes, I have an app to do it because I'm terrible, I don't know how to meditate otherwise. I drink a large glass of water, I take an ampoule of Quinton water, it's saline water to hydrate my brain and it's changed my life to do that. Usually my daughter comes down around 7, so I don't really have time to do much more. On my bad days, I immediately open my phone and check social media; It’s a habit I need to break. It's not easy, we see that we are intoxicated. So I try not to go on Instagram in the morning as soon as I open my eyes, I try to do something else.

Where do you get this routine from?

I had more or less put it in place, but it is true that I have reinforced it since reading the book “The Miracle Morning” and listening to the Deliciously Ella podcast, in which she receives the author of the book. Deliciously Ella has also published many episodes, which I really like, in which she talks about sleep, lots of things to put in place to sleep well and start a day more efficiently.

So it's not at all a family transmission, we can't say that my parents transmitted this kind of thing to me. I read a lot and try to draw inspiration from people I admire. I'm an early riser so I have to occupy my time sometimes! And in the morning, I find that I am more efficient. In times when I get up really early, I can work efficiently before my daughter gets up.

 

It wasn't easy to leave a permanent contract but I did it. From the moment I made the decision, I wasn't afraid at all.

Today you are a woman entrepreneur, can you explain this choice to us?

Many things triggered the fact that I am an entrepreneur today, but basically the arrival of my daughter in 2017 made me change my life in 2018. Very disappointed with the business world upon my return from maternity leave , I made a choice, which I accept today and I am very happy with it. I made this choice at 30 years old. I spent a year in the United States when I was a high school student in an American family and I was very, very steeped in American culture on entrepreneurship and risk-taking. I was also raised by parents like that.

And I think it was at that particular point in my life, disgusted with the company and the way they had acted towards me, that I said to myself that now is the time. I didn't want to suffer anymore, I didn't want to be in unpleasant moments anymore so I told myself that I was going to do things for me. It wasn't easy to leave a permanent contract but I did it. From the moment I made the decision, I wasn't afraid at all. After listening to the Generation XX podcast with Sophie Trem, I understood that others had done it and in the end that happiness was next.

I'm glad I did it. The adventure of entrepreneurship is difficult, you have to have confidence in yourself. I received this confidence from my education. I'm very lucky in that regard, because my parents always told my sister and me “you are capable, you will succeed. You’re taking risks but it’s going to be okay.” I think when that little seed is planted in childhood, it's easier. I'm not afraid of risk, I'm not afraid of what's next.

Does being an entrepreneur require you to have a particular lifestyle?

Yes, but rather due to the fact that I move around a lot and that I am intolerant to gluten and lactose, which forced me to change my eating habits. Yoga has also changed my life in many ways and I find that as we get older we understand things better. We no longer want to eat poorly or be in something where we don't really feel good. I think when you're in your twenties, you have a lot of energy and I think that disappears a little after a while and you wonder how to get that energy back. And there we see that there are a lot of very interesting things to put in place.

How do you find your work/personal life balance?

A lot of difficulty finding this balance because my partner and I are always on the move. This confinement does us a lot of good because we live as a group of 3 all the time, which never happens to us. I'm not the type to take care of myself at all, I don't take much time for self-care but it's something I'd like to do. It's not easy, especially since becoming a mother means we have less time in the day to devote to ourselves.

 

And concretely, what does that mean?

I work from home when I do the podcast. I'm on the move when I go to interview or when I go to the sidelines of the rugby fields. I'm also on the move when I host parties. I alternate periods during which I am quiet with periods where I am never there. Last November I think I spent 3 days at home and it was horrible. But it was important to do it for my work.

Your biggest favorite as an entrepreneur?

Freedom and the fact that I am the only one to make decisions. What I build, I owe only to myself. There's no one to tell me it's good or it's not good. The problem with the journalism I was in is that there are 10,000 bosses, 10,000 opinions and we find ourselves lost; we no longer trust each other. I had lost that self-confidence. Today, I can make mistakes but I learn a lot by making these mistakes. There is not the judgment that there can be in business management, in the French way. My biggest love, ultimately, is making mistakes, learning and moving forward.

Your biggest blow?

A little complicated to talk about but ultimately it's not a hard blow. I was promised to hire me on a project, then the promise was not kept, so it was very hard at the time. And then I had something else in mind that I was heading towards and finally I realized that that wasn't really what I wanted to do or at least I wasn't capable of it now. So I had a big low moment where I found myself saying to myself “what am I going to do?” ". It was around January, February, March 2018 and in the end, I created the podcast! So there is no coincidence. After a big blow, we go back up.

Can you tell us about some upcoming projects?

Develop the podcast thoroughly. I wish I had someone with me to help me, because managing everything alone becomes very complicated. And then my biggest project to come is my second baby anyway, who is arriving in September!

What advice would you give to a woman who would like to embark on the adventure of entrepreneurship?

If we ask ourselves the question of going there and doing it, it’s because the desire is there. If you want to do that and think about it, you have to take the time, it takes a long time to mature a project. I'm honest, I left because it's my character, I didn't know what I was going to do. I had no leads, no money, I had nothing. But I'm privileged in the sense that I have a name in the media, so I have contacts. But I think everyone has contacts in their community. I chose to take time for myself to train myself. I trained a lot. I enjoyed being able to train to be a pre and post natal yoga teacher on parenting workshops and found it to be so enriching.

So my advice is: TRAIN YOURSELF! It does not have a price.

On a lighter note, what is your relationship with the materials you wear?

I love soft and cocooning materials, which offer the comfort of being at home.

A memory with a particular item of clothing?

I love dresses. I'm often in jeans and sneakers, but it's true that longer dresses make me feel feminine and comfortable in my body. No particular memory, just that I love dresses.

Your favorite piece in the PLUME capsule?

The HEUROUS dress and the HOLISTIC knit. My heart balances. Every day, I choose the sweater.

If PLUME wanted to create your favorite piece, what would it be?

A dress! But I love playsuits too!

---

---