Today I am announcing to you something I am incredibly thrilled about.

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When I started this newsletter a couple months ago, only one thing was clear in my mind : I wanted to write and connect again with you, my readers, in a genuine way.

My story is a pretty classic story, if you think about it. It’s the story of meeting success and not knowing what to do with it because… It was never where we intended to go to in the first place.

But my story is also the story of our times. I started on this Internet journey early on, when the web was still pretty young. There was no money and no fame to be made. Over the last fifteen years the landscape completely changed. You could say I helped shape it. But I also tried to follow the endlessly speeding machine and, like many of us, at some point I feel like I lost control.

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Today, I am going to a totally different place, and I’d love to go there with you.

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Ever since my beginnings, you have always read me, online, for free. In many ways, I was one of the people who contributed in creating that expectation that digital words and art – because there was always my illustrations and photos too – should be free.

Never did I wonder what exactly I was saying about my value as an artist.

Without realizing, as my business was growing, I was creatively shrinking. It took me years to finally understand what I know now. I need freedom. I need to be creative. I need to feel present to the people who are part of my community. Freedom, creativity, connection.

If I am any sort of visionary, I am not the type that can be an artist and a business woman at the same time.

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I thought about letting go of all of it many times.

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Last summer, Emily and I went on a silent retreat. 

I think we both knew we needed a break.

When we came out of it, as I was driving back home, I called her. We both broke down. We decided it was time to change everything – and we did.

We had followed the rules of growth for years and it had left us depleted of our sense of a mission. We decided to get back to the drawing board and create something we would want for ourselves. As always, we wanted to support the people and the projects we love. We wanted a lighter, simpler way of showing, and doing things.

I decided to take a true break from writing for Doré. My texts were too personal to fit in that new editorial line : something felt out of place.

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And I was left with a lot of free time. This time wasn’t always easy, but it brought me back to something that I truly love to do. In March, I started sending you this newsletter.

Immediately I knew I had found my joy again.

And all the dreams I had left on the side of the road during all of these years came back up.

The simple, honest, spontaneous writing I so love.

The genuine, generous exchanges I found again through your emails. 

Your support! Oh my god.

The real desire to know you better.

The idea of creating a space of true sharing with you.

And all the dreams of future gatherings, coffees, dinners and retreats…

All the things we can do when we are in a safe, supportive space. 

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I was talking with my friend Célia one day, and telling her about how happy this new medium was making me.
She said : “Why don’t you set up a subscription?”

I said “Nooooooooo my readers will never want this! They’re going to get mad at me. I am just doing it for the love of it!”

She said “What the hell does that mean? Doing something you love doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value! Why would they get mad at you? I would be the first one to subscribe to your newsletter!”

I said : “Noooooo…”

And then, the idea made its way into my mind. 

I realized – well, she’s right. I do too, actually.

I genuinely believe in supporting the things we love with our money. I subscribe easily today. I pay for content. I’ve realized how easy it is to do, and to unsubscribe too. I love how, with just the price of a coffee, you can be supporting your favorite author, creator, maker…

And I realized… This is actually everything I want.

A smaller community that I can really be present for.

A focus on quality, not quantity. 

On individuals, not numbers.

On great quality of insights and of exchanges.

Thoughtful conversations in a place were we feel equal, and safe. 

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A place that’s just my own.

A place that’s our home.

A place without any type of advertising.

A place without hate.

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I am very excited to introduce you to my new and very very personal project, a membership community where we can connect more intimately, in a safe space.

I AM SO EXCITED.

After you join the community, you’ll receive my weekly newsletter, but you’ll also have access to my new and entirely advertising free space. 

I will do a monthly video where I will answer all your questions.

I’ll also do a monthly “class” with an expert on different subjects that are close to our hearts.

I am also very excited to introduce The Conversation, a message board where we can truly share, in a very intimate way. I launched the beta version with a few friends a couple of days ago and we’re already sharing about books, our careers, rebounder exercises, Botox…

I’ll be on there everyday, and it is also a place for you to ask me your questions directly.

We’ll be like a club, so I’ll organize some real life events, and would love for you to meet in your cities too. 

Honestly the sky is the limit, and I can’t wait to build this place with you.

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Actually, the sky is totally NOT the limit. 

The limit will be the limit : I want to keep the number of members at a place that is manageable for me. So at some point I might decide to cap the number of members. This is not to scare you into signing up right now : it’s more to tell you the spirit with which I am launching this new adventure : exponential growth is definitely not it.

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In a few words, this is my personal project, a place for my intimate insight and stories, and a space to share with you. Just me and you. No team. No adds, no promotions, no affiliate links.

Doré will continue to be a destination for discovering new brands and people that we admire, and it will keep running on the same advertising model.

I am still very involved in the creative oversight – we actually just launched a new Doré Edit that I love, and that is done on an affiliate model. I still crave for beautiful stories on fashion, beauty and lifestyle and that’s what Doré is all about. I’ll be doing an Edit there in the next few weeks!

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Okay, so – I am going to let you go explore. You can go to garance.world to subscribe. There you will find my manifesto and a video I made to explain my project, a little more in depth. And just because you were the ones who started all of this with me, I want to offer you a 25% off of the Yearly membership, that’s easy to redeem, entering that code at check out : GXEM –
It’s valid until Sunday evening. 

My email still works if you have any personal questions, of course!

I am so incredibly happy and excited, and I can’t wait to start chatting with you at The Conversation.

Welcome, welcome, welcome!!!

xo

G
 

PS : For those of you who won’t sign up, this is a warm goodbye for now. 

You won’t receive anymore newsletters – but I’ll still be on Instagram! 

Thank you for being part of this adventure and for giving me the courage to believe that I could create something new.