"I have often wondered what kind of human being I wanted to be, but never what kind of woman," Mélanie Rungette Lenormand

Every month, April Please asks 10 questions to an inspiring, amazing woman full of character. Our August muse is Mélanie Rungette Lenormand, who is opening up to us. Warning: infectious energy!

1/ Hello Mélanie, can you introduce yourself in a few words? 

Hello April’s... Setting the scene is my passion ... except when it comes to talking about myself, paradoxically. But hey, paradox is a word that suits me quite well. So ... My name is Mélanie, I live in Paris (for now), but I’m a girl of the water, I love blue and yellow, black and white; museums and flea markets, design and craftsmanship, spontaneity and curiosity, exhibitions and aperitifs... I spend my time running - literally - and yet I love taking my time, especially when it comes to people.

Recently I was described as a drop of energy. I thought it was a lovely image and it made me happy, so I’ll repeat it here. Ego trip!

It’s true that I’m quite dynamic and the image of the drop suits me well: I exist on my own, but it’s by having the feeling of being part of and useful to a “whole” that I thrive.

And then the drop makes me think of balance and... well, it works out, I’m Libra rising Libra!

2/ Today, what does being a woman mean to you? What kind of woman are you?

I think being a woman today is above all being free and independent. I had the chance to be raised and surrounded all my life by inspired and therefore inspiring women who had freedom in their DNA. The freedom to think, to speak, to live... It’s cliché, but having been raised by a single mother, I inherited this, among other well-established foundations.

In fact, my mother always says, “I raised you, your brother and you, I didn’t educate you, because apart from the classic say hello, be polite and stand up straight, my only goal was to give you the ability to get by in life” ... My mother is a perfect blend of strength and gentleness, authenticity and generosity, fears and boldness. I saw her all my life repairing what needed to be repaired at home with a hammer while having impeccable manicures. My mother made wooden objects with a jigsaw on which she wrote positive and delicate thoughts. That’s the reference I had. Every year I wish her both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. It makes her laugh, but for me it means a lot.

Yet surprisingly I never really questioned my femininity... As much as I often wondered what kind of human being I wanted to be, never what kind of woman. This questioning came to me gradually as I saw my best friend’s daughter grow up... seeing a little flower grow makes you ask questions, especially what example you want to set for future generations.

I was never very comfortable in my femininity, I think I never defined myself as a woman... my friends call me “brother” by the way!

Today I realized that this was my own way of being a woman. I’m not a seductress, rather the good friend, funny, sporty, too talkative, who has an opinion on everything, who knows how to change a tire, cook, and who wears just as well sneakers, as a cap, as a dress or a Rouje wrap dress. I love this era where it belongs to each of us to invent our own definition of femininity, to invent and reinvent ourselves continuously away from codes and clichés depending on life and its surprises. But beware, as the great Simone says:

“A free woman is the complete opposite of a light woman”

Being free requires being continuously aware ... being connected with yourself above all, but also with your environment, your surroundings ... it’s a form of constant gentle struggle as if every day the page was blank again: nothing is guaranteed when we talk about freedom in life.

3/ Recently you quit your job, followed an interior design course completely opposite to your profession, you live a life at 1000 hours between Paris, Normandy and Biarritz (and Marrakech). How do you feel when you take the reins of your life in your hands with so much passion?

Let’s put it simply that I don’t believe in luck but in energy. In fact, since I only conceive and thrive in a state of passion and desire, I try to be in action. It goes back to what I was saying about freedom: there is nothing that worries me more than a cage...

I loved my job (editor’s note, Mélanie was Director of Social Relations and Ethics in multinational companies) and then ... things changed ... it’s a long story, but I realized that happiness was neither nostalgia or a memory nor a promise, it’s now.

So how do I feel?

Free, determined and alive. My project is maturing and I can’t wait to get started.

After all, let’s not lie, there are days when everything seems possible to me and others where I tell myself that I literally let go of the railing, that I’m crazy and that I’ll never make it. But in those cases, I’ll go for a run, I’ll have a drink and a cheese board with my closest friends and we’re off again. I’m lucky to be incredibly well surrounded. My friends, my brother and my mother are the best part of me.

4/ What would be your 3 tips for a more fulfilling life?

5/ What do you think is a woman’s greatest asset?

Without hesitation: her smile because it says everything about her current emotion.

I think a woman smiles by instinct, reflex, it’s a natural reaction to any event. This is surely due to years - what can I say - centuries of “Smile and be quiet” conditioning!

It’s funny because at the same time I say this I realize that I would have said the same about a man ... for exactly the same reasons: “A guy doesn’t cry”!

Despite everything ... I still want to tell you an anecdote ... well, a conversation with my oldest friend, Audrey.

I was ashamed of my hands after redoing my kitchen: they were full of walnut shells, marks, cuts, my nails were all broken and my joints hurt and she told me “I love it. Because it’s you. Our hands tell what we do, so they are necessarily beautiful”.

When I tell you my friends are amazing!

6/ A mantra or a leitmotif that has followed you for a long time and makes you move forward? 

Hard to choose just one ... I collect them ... After, on each of my notebooks I always write on the first page: “Be the best version of yourself every day and do what you can with what you have”

After my favorite quote is from Desproges: “Open-mindedness is not a skull fracture”, food for thought.

7/ What is the new habit you recently introduced into your life to take care of yourself?

I learned to say no. Without scruples and guilt. Simply saying no by explaining the reasons calmly and factually.

"To be happy is to learn to choose. Not only the appropriate pleasures, but also your path, your profession, your way of living and loving. Choosing your hobbies, your friends, the values on which to build your life. Living well is learning not to answer all requests, to prioritize your priorities. The exercise of reason allows a coherence of our life according to the values or goals we pursue. We choose to satisfy such pleasure or give up such another, because we give meaning to our life. and this, in both acceptances of the term. we give it both a direction and a meaning…"

Seneca (Completed By Montaigne)

8/ What is your latest “leap into the void”?  

To be honest I think I’m still in full flight... I quit my job and I’m working on launching two projects in parallel with the certainty in the heart of the promise of a great blue sky.

I’ll tell you if you’re interested ... ;)

In the first phase I’m launching an agency focused on Dialogue and communication. I’m going back to my first loves: a liberal profession focused on advising organizations and supporting people in their relationship with others but also with themselves. It’s time to really talk to (ourselves), isn’t it?

Another project is also under construction but I’ll talk about that later. Superstition oblige! I can just tell you that it will be about continuing to chat somewhere in a place full of art & objects. My leap into the void happened under an impulse: a desire to talk about what people are and do. Because that’s what’s important! A media outlet will see the light around all this ... It’s called Forme Libre. QED - hehe!

9/ At April Please we also love taking risks that’s why our jewelry is a bit rebellious! In the right place, upside down, mismatched, stacked, twisted... What’s your personal touch, your fashion signature?

I love jewelry, a real Christmas tree. I wear them stacked, I’m often told it’s too much but they each have their own story, they all say something... wearing them gives me confidence. For example, my CSAO bracelets remind me every day that freedom is never a given. I also have a moonstone necklace by Pascale Monvoisin on which the word Love is engraved. The gift from my friends for my 30th birthday ... 

And then ... Since I have my April Please ear ring, I have never taken it off. I remember the day I bought it: a girls’ night at home where everyone talked about their projects and the future...  It’s so me: a discreet piece of jewelry at first glance, a bit cheeky and offbeat, masculine-feminine that goes everywhere! I love its bohemian rebel chic side.

I’m a little blonde, unconsciously I think my jewelry says “there’s character behind the curtain bangs”!

10/ Last question, for you April Please is… 

Two little pearls and a well-tempered brand that looks like them: elegant, fine and discreet jewelry that combines to assert itself leaving room for imagination to find its own combination. 

Jewelry that reminds us that we must beware of discreet appearances because with a stroke of talent they become glamorous, lively, full of character and elegance one after another. Like Emilie & Julia quoi!

And what if in the end it was April Please life: encounters, associations and panache to let all our facets of women full of energies express themselves!