“Music has been a passion since I was eight. In the music school near my home, there was no more room for piano, so I was offered percussion. I never left them again. As a teenager, I discovered rock. I start playing drums, I remember that I had printed out the sheet music for ‘Smell Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana, it was the first song I learned. At high school, I met the girls with whom we would found the group Fallen Lillies, a few years later…
From a DUT to manager in industry
At the same time, I am in a science major in high school, and, attracted by technology, I am moving towards a DUT in thermal engineering and energy, at the IUT Nord Franche-Comté. There are very few girls, three out of 80 students, but I like it a lot. This makes me want to continue my studies in engineering school up to bac+ 5. It will be at INSA Strasbourg, on a work-study basis. I thus joined GE Power, the company where I am still today (since restructured and become Arabelle Solutions, Editor’s note).
Professionally, I started as an engineer and evolved throughout my career. Six years ago, I became a manager. When the group reorganized itself, separating fossil and nuclear activities, I moved towards the second area. I took responsibility for a tool center which takes care of the maintenance of power plants, with around twenty people. Our role is logistics: shipments, returns, inventory management, metrology… I like my job, the world of industry is fascinating and I never get bored.
Two complementary lives
And above all it is completely different from my musical life! At the same time as all this, I continued to play with Fallen Lillies, our hard rock band formed in 2013. This was not always easy, depending on each person’s studies, positions, changes of city, but we have always been driven by the group and its projects. We released EPs, an album, played for the first time at Hellfest thanks to a springboard competition in 2019, but also at the Eurockéennes. We also went on tour in England. And this weekend we will be performing at Hellfest again!
Personally, my goal is not to make a living from music, which would mean becoming an intermittent performer. For that, I would have to have several groups, manage, give lessons… What interests me, in fact, is making music with my friends! And to enjoy my passion. On Friday evening, work stops and the music begins. I love my two lives, and I think they are very complementary.
My manager knows this: when I take leave, he doesn’t ask me where I’m going on vacation, but where I play in concert… These are personal sacrifices, I don’t see my loved ones as much as I would like, but for For me, the game is worth it.
Metal and industry, two worlds with few women
Where these two lives come together is in the few women we find there, in metal as in the industry. At Hellfest, we counted groups with women on the lineup, they are only 7%. Five years ago, it was 3%, there is a little progress, but we are still far from parity. To me, it’s all about representation. The more female role models there are, the more little girls will want to play guitar or drums. In industry, it’s the same: if we see more women engineers and technicians reaching management positions, this could inspire the following generations.
It is certain, there is still a way to go. In my team, at work, everything goes well and I don’t feel any misogyny. It can happen, however. I’ve heard some suppliers ask me if I’m an assistant… No comment »
To note
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