I painted with my husband a portrait of a naked Serge Gainsbourg draped with a French flag, and it hangs in our bedroom. I love gritty and dark art like what the German couple Herakut does.

We don't have drama in public schools in France. I had never taking an acting class.

People in fashion treat it as a business... I guess Hollywood is a business, too, but you talk about story: you talk about a more artistic world than in fashion.

I started with commercials - for shampoo, pancakes, insurance, Volvo. I did a Lux soap commercial with Sarah Jessica Parker. And I got a role in an indie film called 'Satellite' that did well in festivals.

The thing I'm most proud of in my career was to be able to help two organizations go someplace that they've never been before. Not many people get that opportunity to do it with one.

I went to the library - and this was before the Internet - and I searched for a career that was creative, would not fall into a routine, involved problem solving and making things. It also had to be dynamic. I came up with special effects.

Three components - education, equality and empowerment - play an important and pivotal role in moving the country forward in every aspect.

So much of my sense of who I am is tied to mothering. When they left home, I fell into a huge, empty, black hole. Your children are grown and your career has slowed down - all the stuff that took up so much attention is gone, and you're left with expansive time and space.