The Portrait of Dreams

Pauline Grisoni

Giving voice to our real aspirations, because making our lives not only fortunate but also meaningful is the way to be truly thankful for the privileges we have.

1. Bio

Creator of the super podcast La leçon, podcast on the art of failure, previously a journalist at Cosmopolitan and author of the book Fiasco: the art of recovering from failure. Ambitious and perfectionist, she has created a format aimed at clearly affirming (to herself first and foremost) that we can all survive failure, that we can throw out our feelings of guilt and discover that we never know what life has in store.

2. The power of a dream

The life I’m living now is my childhood dream. The amazing thing is that I’d forgotten about it for decades. A dream, if it has deep roots, is like that: sooner or later it finds its path. Provided you leave at least one door open. It was in a Barbie diary that I wrote, when I was about six years old: I want to write a book and be on TV. Growing up, however, I was told that doing that wasn’t a real job. And I, who really wanted to be a good girl, convinced myself that a good job, in a good company, was enough. I had a roof over my head, money in my bank account, nothing to complain about. And then my dream became reality.

3. My journey into real beauty

These days I receive offers to pose for photo shoots, to take part in TV shows and to do lots of other things that you wouldn’t normally expect at just twenty years old. The point is that when you rediscover your passion and give it space you begin to emit a strength that casts a vibrant and irresistible spell. Real beauty is born of embracing what you really are, and the journey that I’ve travelled to find this beauty is an intimate one in which I’ve learned to give weight to my aspirations. Without shame or feelings of guilt. True guilt lies in striving so hard to satisfy the expectations of others that we forget to fight for our own.

4. What I learned and won’t let go

For a long time I lived the dreams that other people had for me, belittling my own, doing my utmost to be a “good girl”. I thought it was the right way to show gratitude. There are so many women with extraordinary stories who, from the viewpoint of my comfortable life, I thought had no right to talk about courage. Now I know it’s not true: we not only have the right, but also the duty to give voice to our real aspirations, to make our lives not just fortunate but also meaningful. To have the courage to value our dreams and not the labels that society imposes on us: this is my wish for everybody.


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