it struck me the other day. I don’t know how I managed to be so duped.
She was a blogger/influencer. She’s never been anything other than that. I assumed she had some sort of baking/cooking background but nope. Never has.
Manon got a degree in economics, then aged 19moved to London to become an au pair for a year or so. She got a job in software which was a reliable source of income. During this time she was trying to kick start a blogging career, and applying for the likes of The Box in 2015 and GBBO. She got through GBBO and relaunched her blog and a career in influencing from that, circa 2018. Then met and rapidly moved in with her now husband around February 2019.
Around 2018 she became a full time influencer.
she’s never worked in a restaurant, never had any qualifications with food. She’s literally just piggy backed off the reality that her family own a farm and the USP that she’s French. She’s always been an influencer, she posted lifestyle and travel stuff too IIRC. But the food stuff is what’s stuck I guess.
what I find depressing about Manon is that she’s clearly very smart. She has a degree in economics. She worked in software and became a manager in just a few years. She’s a smart woman.
but instead she’s doing the tradwife-but-not-a-tradwife schtick. Cooking with her perfect outfits, styled hair and put together makeup, wholesome meals for her husband and kids. The influencing stuff must be a nice side earner for them, but it’s clearly not a full time job for her. Her recipes/books aren’t spectacular or groundbreaking and they aren’t particularly successful that I can tell. Housewives in the 50s had Avon and Tupperware as their side gigs. Today we have influencers.
in another universe, Manon decided not to prance around a kitchen in her cashmere and headbands making basic tarte tatin recipes and showing off her post partum weight loss while pretending that’s not what she’s doing.
in another universe she followed through with her degree, continued to excel in software and male dominated fields, and was celebrated for her contributions to the tech industry. She’s clearly extremely capable in that regard.
I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes. She was chasing the influencer gig so clearly being a tech whizz held no interest for her.
it’s so hard for me to stomach. On a level, I get that everyone has to follow what they are passionate about. And clearly Manon has done well financially, out of not doing very much. Which makes for a pleasant life.
but damn it irks me to see a female economics grad prance about in her undies before cooking a meal for her husband’s family.
Or maybe she does know and doesn't care.