Valentine Gatard built 15 years of career independence in Paris as a speaker, coach and host of the Work Narratives podcast. She has just completed a master's in organisational studies at La Sorbonne and is writing a book on workplace narratives and agency.

Valentine explains why French professionals increasingly refuse management roles, how two colleagues fell out because collaboration meant respond immediately to one and think before answering to the other, and why human agency matters more as AI takes over routine work. 

She describes building an agency assessment app on Lovable connected to Supabase, research on narrative agency from Finnish researcher Hanna Meretoja, and her work with the nonprofit Les Emergences on the quaternary economy, a model that recognises every form of societal contribution. 

After 15 years self-employed, she names community as the most important resource an independent professional has.

Wisepreneurs explores how experienced independent professionals position accumulated expertise and build sustainable practice.

Mentions and references:
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
Hanna Meretoja, Finnish researcher, narrative agency
Laetitia Vitaud, future of work author and Valentine's first podcast guest
Les Emergences, nonprofit promoting the quaternary economy

Connect with Valentine: Website | LinkedIn: Valentine Gitard

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