#4 | Anne-Sophie Vidal, culinary blogger and founder of the CASAVIDA brand
Welcome to POING FORT, the podcast that will give you the weapons of self-confidence. In this first season, 10 guests remove the mask to speak to us frankly about the failures and doubts they had to overcome to achieve their ambitions.
My guest of the day has a journey that is dizzying! Winner of the show “The Best Pastry Chef” on M6 while she is pregnant, author & content creator but also now founder of the kitchen utensils brand CASAVIDA, Anne-Sophie Vidal continues to reinvent herself.
It was his grandmothers who instilled in him a taste for cooking. Alongside her studies, she launched her blog. Initially thought of as a collection of recipes for friends, it gradually grew in size.
While she was pregnant with her first child, she made a decision that would radically change her life by applying for the M6 “Le Meilleur Pâtissier” competition. Selected, Anne-Sophie does not let herself be impressed by the pressure, nor by the competition, she goes for it. The competition which she won hands down was a first springboard in her career.
Two books and confinement later, Anne-Sophie is now seeking to reinvent herself with a new challenge: the creation of CASAVIDA, her brand of practical and designer kitchen utensils.
Margaux: Did you have a role model when you were little, someone you would have liked to look like, a woman or a man?
I already have my mother on the professional level who built a great career in HR at a time when that did not yet exist. I admired the fact that she was a woman of action and that she accomplished herself through work.
I also think of one of her friends, my brother's godmother, who is now at the head of the Carel brand, Frédérique Picard. For me, she was the creative woman. I found her super dynamic, tall, beautiful and sporty. She is one of the models who shaped me.
Margaux: I was going to ask the question about imposter syndrome but if everyone is an amateur (in the “Best Pastry Chef” competition), ultimately, everyone has a chance. Did you, at some point, say to yourself: I don’t have my place?
When I arrived at the competition, I saw that there were crazy levels and I said to myself: am I going to be up to it? On the other hand, I had something that perhaps others didn't have. I was super creative and in terms of visuals, ideas came to me like that. That was my favorite part, thinking to myself: what am I going to do to make the cake different from the others.
Margaux: How was the idea for your CASAVIDA brand born?
I always need to have something, a driving force in life. I had this visceral desire to create my products. Although I'm not a designer, I didn't have imposter syndrome. I was convinced that I was the right person to design these new objects because nothing I liked in everything I saw on the market.
On the other hand, all the financial aspects, going to pitch, adopting an attitude of an entrepreneur who must sell, it is on these subjects that I do not feel legitimate but it is in the process of changing because I tell myself that I I have my place.
Today, I'm really proud of the result because the products really speak to people. I created my utensils with a design, useful and durable angle. I wanted it to be beautiful, because I have this idea that if you have beautiful objects, really practical to use, it makes cooking easier for you too.
Margaux: we met through a stylist friend who was supposed to do your portrait. What was your first opinion on ŌKAN?
I find that ŌKAN corresponds well to the new way of consuming fashion. I also like having strong pieces, and having fewer. Every time I put on my ring that my husband gave me after the shoot, everyone talks to me about it. It's the same thing I look for in the kitchen: a very beautiful object. When you take out your rolling pin on your work surface, people admire it. I enjoy using it as I enjoy wearing my ŌKAN jewelry. We also find ourselves in the DNA of our two brands: design at all costs.
