Marie Eve Gosemick inspired me from the moment I met her. It was her energy, her creativity, and her unusual background. She is the first author I ever got to know on a personal level. And she planted the seed that it was possible, even for me, even for someone working a full-time job, to write a book. To live the artist’s dream.
It is therefore unsurprising that our discussion went in a thousand different directions, starting with writing and the fact that it has always been a refuge for her. Though she rejoices in her role of senior director of strategy at the Cartier agency, her professional journey has not been a linear one. Like many before her, Marie Eve chose to pursue an education that would lead her to safer career options. Her upbringing gave her a survival instinct that has guided her all her life and has lead her, among other things, to learn several languages and to study management.
We know not all artists get to live from their art. She was indeed told on a regularly basis that, should she choose to pursue writing or dancing, she would end up on the streets. So, she preferred to keep both as a refuge to which she comes back over and over again.
A refuge that is sometimes kept secret. Of course, there is a protection of the self in the idea of not sharing one’s art, as it keeps one from being vulnerable. But to not expose your work also means no one can ever take it away from you. So, she reminds us of a simple saying: to be a writer is to write. Whether or not it is done in secret.
It is in secret that she pursued her literary dreams at the HEC library during her studies in business administration, an academic choice made easier thanks to the many scholarships she received upon admission. One of these, the Arts-Business scholarship, which already demonstrated Marie Eve’s desire to combine worlds that were still separate at the time. Another reason that drew her to HEX is there international exchange programs. She wanted to travel, understand the world, learn the languages of the people living in it. These connections help her build a sense of security. She began her career in a agri-food multinational that will allow her to travel (perhaps too much). And even though the idea of going from backpack travelling from hostel to hostel, to first class flights and five-star hotels to implement “new” technologies in the early 2000s can sound like professional success, she missed her artistic side. So, in an effort to bring her imaginative side closer to her expertise, she moved towards creative industries to work on major projects for companies like Cirque du Soleil and Les Grand Ballets Canadiens.
And as live often puts the right things in our paths, she reconnected with a familiar oasis: the dance studio. Sarah Gibson, a former professional ballerina working at the company who was in the process of completing her Essentics training offers to give her free lessons. It’s a training program inspired from ballet that Marie Eve fell in love with. So much so, that she ended up getting trained as a teacher by program’s founder, Miranda Esmonde-White, and began giving lessons multiple times a week. Her practice provides her with a feeling of physical and psychological security that she finds very nourishing.
And so, she donned her title of Business Ballerina.
Little by little, it gave her courage to embrace her creative side. But at the time, employers were only interested in what was on your resume, not so much in your transferrable skills. Herein lies the difficulty of combining different worlds, where the judgement of others can be particularly trying.
She took the leap to work freelance in order to try and combine her various talents herself. She put her energy towards completing her novel, to give life to these characters that have been inhabiting her mind, and to try her hardest to get published. But one thing is certain: when it comes to the publishing world, you often need to be published to get published. You need exposure to gain exposure. It’s easier said than done, but Marie Eve managed to do it. Once her novel was published, she not only had an impressive resume, but also a 200-page portfolio to boot. Her profile grabbed the attention of advertising agencies.
Like many artistic souls out there, she discovered that in agencies, creativity doesn’t belong to the creator, but rather to whoever paid for it. Slowly, writing lost its haven-like qualities. So, she decided once again to readjust and discovered strategy, an expertise that perfectly combines her need of creative thinking to finding innovative solutions, her ambitions to her personality. To her, the job of a strategist perfectly embodies her own professional journey: it’s about shining a light where people aren’t looking.
Like with many who have such an eclectic journey, people are often uneasy with the impossibility to categorize Marie Eve. And even though there were moments where she felt out of place wherever she went, her explorations and turnarounds helped her find herself. She insists on the fact that these big changes have always brought her closer to herself, that she always builds upon what she already has.
And besides, there is only one judge who matters to her: that inner teen who refuses to let her give up on the pieces of her that keep her alive.
It makes you realize how important the uniqueness of each person’s individual journey is. That others’ judgement is not useful, especially when you become a mom during a worldwide pandemic. Even less so when you become a single mother shortly after.
The birth of her daughter shone a light on many things for Marie Eve, including her capacity to tolerate difficult situations. Becoming a mother changed her definition of what is acceptable. It made her transfer that instinct to protect her passions towards protecting her daughter. It made her understand that she had been raised in a difficult setting and decide not to repeat the experience for her daughter. Marie Eve wants to teach her daughter all the things she loves the most and learn from her so much more in return (like the art of sleeping). She wants to teach her child the life lessons she had to learn the hard way through stories, instead of experience.
But adversity attracts vultures. And back-handed compliments. And Marie Eve learned that sometimes, the best form of support is the one we give ourselves by pushing away false saviours who have come to pity and to judge. That village we are all expected to surround ourselves with, especially when raising a child, is best abandoned when infested with toxic people.
Her small family may be unconventional, but then again Marie Eve usually finds her happiness when doing things differently. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t cringe every time she looks at those too happy, white-teeth family photos at the pharmacy. But over time, she is learning to better identify the people who bring real value to her life.
Marie Eve had to find her own way as a single mom, who works a full-time job in an agency, who teaches Essentrics at the Grand Ballet Studios once a week: thorough planning, slightly less sleep (though more than what it used to be), and giving free range to her artistic nature.
Because there is no better to way to find happiness with her daughter than by creating magic together.
Her advice: Alignment. Of words and actions. In recognizing what is important to us, giving ourselves a voice, and living in alignment with our values. Giving ourselves permission to make choices that resemble us and to make our own decisions.
Listen to the full episode here*
*Please note the episode was recorded in French.
Ressources shared in the episode:
Her novel : Poutine pour emporter
Build the Life You Want , Arthur C. Brooks.
Ambivalent relationships A concept explored by Vanessa Van Edwards, who scientifically demonstrates how ambivalent relationships can be more detrimental to our health than clear, toxic relationships. She is the author of CAptivate and Cues, and founder of Science of People.
Domestic shelters: https://www.domesticshelters.org/help/qc/montreal
Julia Lemyre-Cossette 