Coco was born and grew up in Bourges, a beautiful medieval town in the center of France. She loved and completely devoted herself to academics, ballet, and classical piano for years.

​

She pursued higher education in foreign languages and commerce. She got a degree as a commercial translator in French-English and in French-German. She studied in Troyes, in the Champagne area of France, at the Ecole Superieure de Commerce / Institut du Commerce Exterieur, and at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. 

In 1986 she entered and won a students’ contest which took her to a trade show in Los Angeles sponsored by the French-American Chamber of Commerce, with all expenses paid for. Coco was a translator on the show for some French companies, and she met her later-to-be husband there. She went back to France to finish her last year as a student, graduated, got married in 1988, and moved to San Francisco.

​

She worked with her husband for several years until their first child, West, was born. Soon after, they moved to Montana and had a second child, a girl this time, Claire.

Coco loved to be a mother and a true friend to both children. Even though they are now far away from her, she is still very close to them.

Coco has always loved to teach. As a matter of fact, she has been a very busy tutor for years, teaching French, of course, but also math, algebra, English grammar and writing, to groups and to private individuals.

​

In 2008, Coco produced a musical which was the fruit of hundreds of hours of work. It was a very dear project of hers, a tribute to her mother country, to her family, and to the French-American alliance during World War II. She gathered many anecdotal pieces and evidence from war time in France, assembled them like a puzzle, and built the poignant story of a young boy that fled the occupied zone in 1939, struggled, and found America. To her script she added songs, music, and arrangements, and she is hoping that someday the musical will be lifted to some new heights.

​

In 2010, Coco was appointed “Honorary Consul of France” for the State of Montana. Since then, she has been assisting and protecting the citizens of France and is attached to the General French Consulate of San Francisco.

​

When her husband and she became empty-nested, she opened a French restaurant in Hamilton, Montana. She started small, and quickly had to expand as she became popular very soon. Within three years, she was running the restaurant, a French boutique, and a reception hall for special venues. Life was extremely busy for Coco. 

She loved her customers, and they loved her! They would always ask her, “When are you going to teach us how to cook like this?”, “When are you going to give French classes?”, “What do French people do with their fork when they are finished?”, “Talk to us about France; we want to go there!”

​

Coco thought, “Some day, I am going to do all this… I have to make this work”. So, Coco sold the restaurant to a chef from France, and started Voila by Coco!