French Culture Guide is the definitive source for all things French for the passionate New York Francophile.

Alfredo Jimeno Orrego was born in NY. He lived in Chile, in the heart of Africa, and in Europe. A literature and philosophy aficionado, Alfredo has remained attached to all things French since returning to New York in 2010. Alfredo has been a contributor to the French Culture Guide since January 2012.

Brigitte Saint-Ouen is the founder, director, and curator of Gallery 32 Fine Arts. Brigitte’s deep passion for art began as a child growing up in Paris and was fostered by her parents who took her to museums, antique markets and art fairs. In 1989, she started her career as an art consultant in Paris under the tutelage of Wally Findlay. She moved to Wally Findlay Gallery – New York as the Director of Marketing in 1993. After a decade at Wally Findlay Gallery, Brigitte created Gallery 32 Fine Arts to provide a more customized service for private collectors, corporations and decorators. Gallery 32 Fine Arts specializes in European works, contemporary artists influenced by the Impressionist French School, photography and French Outsider Artists. Gallery 32 Fine Arts also offers an array of services including consignment, appraisal, and buying fine estate art from private collectors and corporations. http://www.32finearts.com/ As an active member of the New York City French community with extensive art expertise, Brigitte joins French Culture Guide to help raise awareness of French art and culture events in New York City. Additionally, Brigitte is pleased to give the enriching opportunity to the interns at Gallery 32 Fine Arts to contribute writing to French Culture Guide. Visit our online catalogue: www.32FineArts.com Twitter : Twitter.com/32finearts New blog: www.32finearts.blogspot.com Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/32FineArts

Deena graduated from Washington University in Saint Louis where she studied French and wrote a thesis on subway graffiti. She spent the next few years living in Paris and the south of France teaching classes on politics and culture, exploring the underground art world (this may or may not have included ‘non-sanctioned’ trips to the catacombs), and eating as much foie gras as possible. Her interests include contemporary art, design, poetry, graphic novels, new wave cinema, languages, travelling, the perfect little black dress, astrophysics and steak tartar. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her French bunny Simone Louise.

Though her name is distinctly Italian, Diana has maintained a life long love affair with all things French. (Her maternal grandfather, a professor of French language and literature, inspired this passion early on.) After living and working in Paris for several years, Diana founded Fraiche PR in 2005 and partnered with Jane Peck to launch Fraiche Europe, based in Paris, 18 months later. She is grateful that her work puts her in contact with interesting Francophone companies, organizations, artists, and events. Diana enjoys reading and writing about food, travel, and l’art de vivre à la francaise. Her first article for French Culture Guide appeared in Feb 2012.

Maman, a dedicated, proper French teacher, wondered uneasily how her only child strayed into, of all things, crime writing? French was in my blood, however, and the passion for Paris never cooled. When I worked for a few years for a culinary magazine with a French name, my personal cuisine-and-vin experience came in handy. And Maman seemed satisfied when two articles I wrote about French culture subjects appeared in the New York Times. But, a little push from fate, and voilà – as “E. W.” Count, I ended up writing fiction and true crime about New York City detectives. When I discovered how many of my crime-writing colleagues also had Francophile leanings, my two life themes finally converged: of course I would travel to France again! I didn’t imagine, though, that I’d even get to spend a remarkable day visiting L’Hôtel de Police (Police Nationale HQ) in Bordeaux. The moment will come, surely, when my two life themes merge yet another time – for a story about French police, then and now. And about, of all people . . . Maman.

Fabrice Jaumont is the founder of the 7,500 member social network NewYorkinFrench.net – an online platform that serves the French-speaking community of New York and its extended surroundings. He is also an Education Attache at the French Embassy to the United States’ New York headquarters. He is the co-author, with Jane F. Ross, of “Building Bilingual Communities: New York’s French Bilingual Revolution” published in Garcia O., Zakharia Z., Bahar Otcu G. Bilingual Community Education for American Children : Beyond Heritage Languages in a Global City. Multilingual Matters : New York. 2012.

I am a freelance actress and musician living in New York City. A native of Thomaston, GA, both of my parents were of French ancestry, so I developed an early appreciation for and love of the culture – most strongly when my mother took me to see the films of Jacques Demy as a child. My first article for French Culture Guide was about the French debut of the play, “The Year of Magical Thinking” starring Fanny Ardant and I mainly write articles from the perspective of an American who works to further develop French language skills and find new ways to increase knowledge of the French Arts culture – music, films, theatre and cuisine. Through a variety of mediums – smartphone Apps, dual-language books and just noticing opportunities around NYC, we all have many opportunities to enjoy French culture in our daily lives. I work as an actress in theatre, film and TV in NYC. I am married to Broadway musician, Bill Hayes and we have a teenage son, Olin. When we have the time, my husband and I love to play jazz gigs with our French jazz quintet, Bordeaux Blues (see http://www.myspace.com/bordeauxblues).

Jake Flanagin is the articles editor at French Culture Guides. A Chicagoan by birth, and a New Yorker by choice, he began working with the site in October 2011. He is currently a student at New York University pursuing a degree in comparative literature, concentrating in French and Italian. He has been studying and speaking the French language for several years now, culminating in a recent stay in Paris where he studied at Sorbonne IV. Besides French and Italian, Jake also speaks Spanish, and has traveled extensively in South America. Jake has been published in Condé Nast Travler and Essential Homme magazines, and was previously a contributor to Cityist.com. He enjoys reading and writing about travel, food, books, and entertainment. You can contact him at jmf519@nyu.edu, or follow him on Twitter: @jakeflanagin.

John Bandman is a wine educator for the Art Institute of NYC, French Wine Society, and Sommelier Society.He is a Certified Sommelier and holds the British Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Diploma.

International multi award winning Actress, Director, Producer, Singer-songwriter, Activist. Awarded “BEST ACTRESS” at the NY Independent Film Festival NY/LA 2011, for her work in the award winning film “Only in Paris”. Judi just finished acting in the features “Summer in Province” directed by Christian Lara, shot in Burgundy, France, “The Warrior and The Savior” directed by Salvatore Sorrentino. “Cameraman” starring opposite Pruitt Taylor Vince and ‘Tragedy of a Mother and Son” By Romain Simon. Recurring roles on the “Bold and the Beautiful” & “As the World Turns” has guest starred on “Law and Order,” “Jag,” “The Shield” and “Once and Again”. Upcoming roles include “UNSCRIPTED” directed by Kim Fields and “TANGO SHALOM” written by the Laniado brothers. Judi’s first professional acting job in America was with Woody Allen in “Coop Italia”, a string of TV commercials for the Italian market. She’s modeled in France, Italy and New York, sang in the south of France, next to the Gypsy Kings and appeared in Cologne and Barcelona as a chanteuse. She has performed in more than eleven Off-Broadway original theater productions. Fluent in French Italian and English Judi Beecher’s love for the French Cinema and her dual nationality finds her working between France and the USA. For more info: www.judibeecher.com

Julia Frey is a writer best known for her biography of an artist who also loved to cook: Toulouse-Lautrec, a Life (Phoenix Giants, London, 2006, available on Amazon.com).

Karen Le Billon, PhD, is an author and teacher who blogs on France, food, and parenting at FrenchKidsEatEverything.com. Her latest book is “French Kids Eat Everything: How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking, and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters” (Morrow/HarperCollins 2012).

There is nothing really interesting about my life worth sharing. Indeed, I decided to keep the “mystery” until I turn 50; then I will release my own 750-page biography. This book will either be a success and keep me busy spending my fortune, or it will be a flop and I will disappear out of shame. Because I definitely want to avoid the second scenario, I am going to tell a little about myself, a kind of teaser. I am Moroccan–almost French, but I still need the citizenship to justify this feeling. My assimilation is actually legitimate, based on my French accent when I am speaking Arabic… Anyway, last July, I came from France, I mean Paris (where else?) to NYC in order to finish my studies. For the first time, I feel alive even when I am sleeping. The Big Apple is filled with opportunities, people, events, and stories. New York gave me more than I ever expected, so I decided to share my experience through articles on the French Culture Guide. I first started with an article about Thanksgiving, and since then I haven’t stopped. My only will is to share my personal vision of my life by paying a tribute to Neeeew Yooooooooooooooooork!

Lizy Mostowski studies Creative Writing and English Literature at Concordia University in Montreal, where she is Editor-in-Chief of Soliloquies Anthology. Last year, she was longlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. Her short story, Roleplay, was recently published by Ribbon Pig. Her work can also be found in the latest issue of Headlight (poetry) and in Matrix Magazine (book review). This past summer, she was an intern for Summer Literary Seminars in Lithuania.

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Manon is a freelance journalist who shares her time between Paris and New York. After an Hypokhâgne and Khâgne, she graduaded from La Sorbonne University with a degree in English before flying to New York to study multimedia journalism at Lehman College. After obtaining her Masters in bilingual journalism, she now writes for different publications. Follow her on Twitter @manonpaulic !

Monica Burton began writing for French Culture Guide in November 2011. She graduated from New York University with a double major in journalism and French. Her thesis article in journalism focused on the popularity of French education in New York, but for French Culture Guide, she writes primarily about food. Monica is perhaps best known for her “Eat Like You’re in Paris in…” series, in which she details how to dine on French food for breakfast, lunch, gouter and dinner in a new New York neighborhood almost every week.