The Dog Walk That Became a Million-Euro Charity - Juliette Clarkin

From Marketing Director in Ireland to Charity Co-Founder on the French Riviera: Twelve Years Building Mimosa, Navigating French Bureaucracy, Supporting Cancer Patients, and Redefining Success After Leaving the Boardroom Juliette Clarkin was a marketing director in Dublin, a boardroom seat, red-eye flights, a good life on paper. Then a string of family losses changed the calculation, and she and her husband packed up their two children and moved to the South of France, thinking it was a trial. Thirteen years later, she has co-founded and run one of the Riviera's best-known charities, and rebuilt a professional life from nothing in a country that did not make it easy. This episode follows Juliette from a corporate career she once adored, through the culture shock of French administration, to the accidental beginning of Mimosa: a conversation with a school mum on a dog walk about a friend's brother going through cancer treatment. That conversation became a gala evening. The gala evening became an association. Thirteen years on, Mimosa has raised close to a million euros for cancer support on the Riviera, built a community for women far from their own families, and given Juliette a second career she never planned for. Juliette is honest about what the move actually cost her: a title, a boardroom, a salary she had to significantly rescale. She is equally honest about what running Mimosa taught her, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it, right down to blowing up the balloons herself for a thousand-person event. Twelve years into the presidency, she stepped back, and talks candidly about what it meant to let go of a role that had become part of her identity. This is a Season Two episode of Living the Dream: Women Reinventing Their Careers Abroad, Stories from the French Riviera. In this episode: – Leaving a marketing director's job, a boardroom seat and a corporate salary in Dublin – The family losses that triggered the move, and the sabbatical that became permanent – Why French bureaucracy nearly stopped the move before it started, and never fully went away – Discovering that a corporate marketing skill set does not fully transfer to the South of France, salary included – The dog walk conversation that became Mimosa, and the gala evening that became an association – Registering a French charity: the accreditation fight and a bureaucracy that could not understand why expat women would give money away – Twelve years running Mimosa, close to a million euros raised, and what it actually taught her about herself – Stepping back as president: losing a title, and redefining what success looks like without one – How the South of France has changed for professional women over thirteen years Help Mimosa: Website: https://www.mimosamatters.org Donate: https://www.mimosamatters.org/donate/ Follow Mimosa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimosa_matters/ Follow Mimosa on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mimosamatters This is the full-length episode. If you would like to listen to a condensed 28-minute version, it is available on Living the Dream – Radio Edition. 🎙️ Living the Dream: Women Reinventing Their Careers Abroad | Stories from the French Riviera Real stories of women building meaningful, sustainable lives in the South of France. https://livingthedreampodcast.com Please follow, share, and consider supporting the podcast: buymeacoffee.com/livingthedreampodcast Music: Kite by Claire Long Hosted by Cecile Liconnet