Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon
Encyclopedia
Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon (born September 17, 1962) is a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
businesswoman and feminist
Feminism in France
Feminism in France has its origins in the French Revolution. A few famous figures emerged during the 1871 Paris Commune, including Louise Michel, Russian-born Elisabeth Dmitrieff, Nathalie Lemel, and Renée Vivien .-French Revolution:...
. She is currently the CEO of the auFeminin.com
Aufeminin.com
aufeminin.com is a French Internet portal dedicated to women's content. Founded in 1999 by Anne-Sophie Pastel, it is now one of the leading websites in its field. According to comScore data, it is one of the 25 most popular websites in France and rivals American women-focused web portals like...
group, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's leading Internet portal dedicated to women's content. Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
went further, calling her company number one in that category. She is considered by Dun and Bradstreet to be a major executive in Europe.
She can be considered a proponent of third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is a term identified with several diverse strains of feminist activity and study whose exact boundaries in the historiography of feminism are a subject of debate, but often marked as beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present...
, due to her refusal to be "locked in a binary world," her "dynamic and combative" personality, her publicly stated admiration of writer Fatou Diome
Fatou Diome
Fatou Diome is a Senegalese writer, known for her bestselling novel The Belly of the Atlantic published in 2001. Her work explores immigrant life in France, and the relationship between France and Africa. Fatou Diome currently lives in Strasbourg, France.-Biography:Fatou Diome was born in Niodior...
, her work in marketing and selling by women and to women, her advocacy of human rights, especially against domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, and her embrace of contradictions and conflict. She is frequently asked to comment publicly on issues of feminism and diversity.
Education and early career
Sauty de Chalon had worked (as of 2004) for Le MondeLe Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, part of Publications de La Vie Catholique, a large media group. Publishers Jean-Marie Colombani and Claude Perdriel selected her to lead their commercial division. Her selection was considered unusual, in part because of her master's degree in law at Sciences-Po
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
, the elite French university. She refuses to be locked in a binary world: "Elle refuse de se laisser enfermer dans un monde binaire." Constance Benqué, President of Lagardere Active Publicité, called her dynamic and combative, in French, "dynamique et combative."
Sauty de Chalon was appointed in December 2004 to lead the Carat France division of Aegis Media Europe, a large marketing and advertising firm. The parent company, Aegis Group plc, is a global marketing communications company headquartered in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, is capitalized at ca. £1.5 billion, and employs almost 16,800 staff in over 80 countries. She was quoted as saying that 2005 was both "best year of my professional life," and "the worst year of my life." In January 2006, she was appointed CEO of Aegis Media France. In April 2009, Aegis Media replaced her, limiting her role in the to "southern Europe and Belgium."
Current work
Sauty de Chalon hopes to gain revenue for auFeminin.com beyond advertising, to selling products online to women. She is expanding its already "a rare example of a European Internet company that is a world leader in its field." However, there are no plans to enter the American market yet, and will keep her "French worldview." For example, she is against "absolute freedom of speech," instead favoring "human rights."In an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
to the Association européenne contre les Violences faites aux Femmes au Travail (AVTF), a feminist European organization against violence towards working women, she declared her hatred of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
. She wrote to them that:
In December 2010, she was a speaker at the "Diversity management in Europe" conference.
Personal
Her father was a lawyer by training, and was a deputy director of Credit LyonnaisCrédit Lyonnais
Crédit Lyonnais is a historic French bank. In the early 1990s it was the largest French bank, majority state-owned at that point. Crédit Lyonnais was the subject of poor management during that period which almost led to its bankruptcy in 1993...
. Sauty de Chalon has lived in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and owns a house in the heart of the Côte d’Azur. She admires as her role models Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, and Fatou Diomé
Fatou Diome
Fatou Diome is a Senegalese writer, known for her bestselling novel The Belly of the Atlantic published in 2001. Her work explores immigrant life in France, and the relationship between France and Africa. Fatou Diome currently lives in Strasbourg, France.-Biography:Fatou Diome was born in Niodior...
. She is married.
Publications
- Médias, votre public n'est plus dans la salle (Editions Nouveaux débats publics 2007) ISBN 2916962026 (Translated by Google as: "Media, your audience is no longer in your room")
External links
- Resume at JDN Réseau
- Listing at FashionMag.com
- Biography abstract at Who's Who in France (requires 6 Euros fee to view her full biography)
- Listing of articles about Sauty de Chalon at Le FigaroLe FigaroLe Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
newspaper. - Web page at Alex Springer (In German)
- aufeminin.com official website