Expat Entrepreneurs: Kristen from The Kale Project

When I moved to Paris, I quickly noticed a pattern:

All my expat friends had started their own businesses. 

From food to fashion to tour companies, these women had all taken a passion and turned it into something bigger. I was in awe of these women. Partly because I knew very few expats who were entrepreneurs when I lived in Asia (that weren’t in the food & bev industry), and also for I am the opposite of a business person. Economics, logistics, development — doing anything business-related is my biggest nightmare, never mind in a second language and a foreign country!

So I’ve decided to start this series dedicated to expat entrepreneurs who had the guts and confidence to pursue their passions and start a business abroad. For now I’ll be focusing solely on women in Paris, but this will hopefully grow as the series develops.

To kick things off, I’m excited to feature Kristen from The Kale Project. Kristen was one of the first friends I made in Paris, and I’ve been so impressed with her project to bring kale to France as it has seen some tremendous success (in my opinion anyway; she will probably humbly disagree) after just a few months. So many expats talk about not having access to this or that, but how many people actually DO something about it?

Read on to find out how The Kale Project came to be, the challenges Kristen has faced, and how this venture has played into her expat experience.

1. Hi Kristen — tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and what was your life before Paris?

I’m from Pittsburgh and lived in New York for five years before moving to Paris. I worked as an account manager in advertising on blue chip clients like Kraft and American Express. I was an avid runner, completed the NYC 2008 Marathon and enjoyed weekend roof top parties with tequila gimlets, Trader Joe’s pizzas and big salads.

2. Sounds like a pretty good life. So why did you move to Paris?

The cliché question in which I give the cliché answer: my husband’s job. We met in 2009, he swept me off my feet, we married in April 2011 and collectively decided to head to Paris in August 2011. It meant he would travel less for work and we’d have this adventure as newlyweds before starting a family. Plus, he’s from Europe so has family scattered everywhere and we wanted to be closer to them.

3. What was the hardest part about moving to Paris?

The hardest is and always will be the language barrier. But the other thing is when you move to a country, you think you’re open minded and while yes, I’ve of course adapted, I didn’t realize how certain things from American culture were ingrained in my daily habits. For example, I would do most of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods each week at pretty much any time I wanted. And to eat a healthier diet/lifestyle, Whole Foods is a one-stop shop and also a pleasant experience. 99.9% of the time, anything I needed would be there.

In Paris, I’ve had to slowly adapt to shopping at ten different shops at random hours for groceries and I still am not able to find everything I want. And this includes simple things that Americans take for granted, like the leafy-green vegetable kale! It’s a different, slower experience, which I’m still getting used to but feel so fortunate that I have all these wonderful little shops to choose from!

4. So tell us about The Kale Project. Why kale? Why have you dedicated so much time and energy to this cause?

When I realized that kale was not consistently grown and rarely sold in France, through research, I knew that I was not the only person in Paris who loves and misses kale – there was a lot of chatter online about what the French word was for kale and why people can’t find it. So I figured, instead of contributing to the conversation about why you can’t find it, that I would try to bring kale to France – which is how The Kale Project was born.

The Kale Project is an initiative creating supply by working with local, organic farmers to plant the vegetable (currently I have two) and will create demand by distributing to a few Paris restaurants that have agreed to incorporate kale on their menus (currently we have six). The project, which was launched as a blog, chronicles the journey and uses only social-media and blogger influence to create word-of-mouth. When there is product in the fall, I plan to continue the project as a grassroots effort with cooking lessons, sampling and education handouts at markets and restaurants.

Kale is my favorite vegetable and something I’ve eaten my entire life, so I have a personal passion for the leafy-green. It’s the healthiest vegetable out there with high-levels of fiber, more calcium in a cup of kale than a glass of milk, high-levels of Vitamins K, E, B, and C, and is loaded with cancer-fighting antioxidants and amino acids.

Plus, when we left New York, kale was starting to blow-up as a trendy vegetable. So I left a city where kale was on menus everywhere for a city where they don’t even grow it!

Finally, kale is part of the cabbage family (Brassica olecerea) and is indigenous to the Mediterranean/Asia Minor and was first cultivated over 2,000 years ago! It’s just France’s forgotten vegetable that needs to be brought back!

5. What was your biggest fear in starting The Kale Project, and how did you overcome that?

With anything I’ve ever done in life, I always had the fear of, “What if people think it’s stupid?” This is ultimately a reaction to a fear of failure. And to be honest, I have not completely overcome this fear – especially since I would not say the project is successful yet. But when it came to launching or not launching in April, I knew that if I didn’t at least try, I would always regret it and I’d rather live my life being the girl that tried to bring kale to France versus the girl that could have brought kale to France but never did anything about it.

6. What surprises, either positive or negative, have you encountered during the project?

The biggest surprise was that I found two farmers who were willing to plant the seeds (which I’ve imported from the UK). I feel very lucky that the farmers were willing to use some of their land for the initiative.

7. What’s the best part about the project?

Meeting really cool people who are just as enthusiastic about kale as I am. Plus I always wanted to work in or with natural foods and it’s been great that I am now working to bring my favorite vegetable to Paris using my background in advertising. It’s made it something really fun to work on.

8. What’s the worst/hardest part about the project?

I have two answers to this question. The first is my constant battle with the French language. I talk to the farmers a little bit, but really rely on my husband for the more serious conversations – although I’ve done a few tasks where I’ve surprised myself. Just proves that if you really need to do something, you can. The second part that is difficult is that when I worked in an office, I always managed campaigns that had strict timelines and process and with The Kale Project, everything is new and unknown. I’m making it up on my own as I go, so for a Type A person like myself, the lack of structure can be a bit difficult at times.

9. How has The Kale Project improved or impacted your Paris expat experience?

So much of the work I’ve put into the initial phase of the project has been networking and meeting other people in Paris that are into natural foods, community gardening, terroir (eating as local as possible/aware of where you food comes from) and things like that. It’s been so enriching to hear everyone’s experience in Paris and knowing that we’re all working together to help integrate kale from farm to market to fork.

10. What advice would you give for future entrepreneurs in Paris or abroad?

In France, you have the time to think methodically and strategically about your endeavor. France moves slowly and what might take six months in America could take up to a year or more here (or even more!). There are so many amazing stories about other small business owners in France who have succeeded and are still thriving but I think everyone will tell you that in France, patience truly is a virtue.