Florence Chabanois, reeducation-perinee.org
Femmes du Numérique:To begin with, what is your definition of “digital”?
Florence Chabanois:For a long time, that meant websitesfor me. Today, uses are changing: we can no longer ignore mobile devices and connected objects. Digital is everywhere!
FDN:Women, an opportunity for digital. Digital, an opportunity for women. What do you think about it? Why did you choose this sector?
FC :For me, it’s always a concern when one of the sexes is in the extreme minority in an industry. There is indeed too great an imbalance in the digital sector and in science in general. Perhaps because little girls are encouraged more to be wise, to behave, to listen than to take action? As a result, they turn to the professions that go with it.
I chose to work in IT after studying sociology, when I saw that it was a creative profession. I wasn’t necessarily going to have to spend my days in a cellar working like a robot. On the contrary, I’d be creating things and solving problems. I’d be able to create websites with my own two hands! It sounded crazy and magical to me at the time.
FDN:Is being a woman entrepreneur a plus?
FC:Starting my own business opened my eyes to the problems of other web professions. Every day, I worked alongside people in charge of SEO (Google), partnerships, customer relations, designers, etc., but it was only by doing some of their work myself as best I could as part of my project that I really began to understand their job. The fact that I had started a business alongside my job helped me to do my “official” job even better.
FDN:Did you have any doubts, hesitations or difficulties in setting up your own business?
FC:Of course! That didn’t stop me from moving forward, because I had decided beforehand what I was prepared to lose (€50 max, unlimited time). To move in the right direction more quickly, the key is to know that you’re wrong as quickly as possible. With a culture of regular feedback (=I test hypotheses before generalizing them), hesitations don’t last long. The key is to confront hypotheses with reality as quickly as possible, so that you can adjust your aim as quickly as possible when necessary.
FDN:Tell us about your project. How did the idea come about? What needs do you meet?
FC:After childbirth, doctors often talk about perineal reeducation, and even about exercises you can do on your own at home. Every time the therapist asked me if I’d done them, I’d reply vaguely ashamed that I hadn’t taken the time. The truth was that I was already very busy and, above all, that the exercises were terribly boring to do. I fell asleep every time.
Could making this activity fun be useful for other moms too? A few weeks later, I set up a website to test this hypothesis, with a free online exercise. A few months later, I was feeding off stories from moms on the phone or approaching people at the Gare Saint Lazare to design the first version of the mobile app.
In August 2014, the first 100% French app for perineal rehabilitation saw the light of day under the name Perigym.
FDN:How do you defend gender equality in your professional and personal life?
FC:I’m already trying to get rid of my own baggage by not behaving the way you’d expect a girl to behave. I don’t pout, I don’t ask for any gesture of chivalry, even implicit, I don’t say that “it hurt my feelings”, I don’t pose as a victim. So much for the professional sphere. In the personal sphere, it’s more complicated because unconsciously, there are things we accept more easily from a boy than a girl and vice versa. I’m still trying to identify them. For example, if there’s some DIY to be done, the first thing I’ll do is ask my husband to do it, rather than find out how to do it. This is wrong and I’m trying to do something about it.
FDN:And personally, how have you managed to reconcile your professional life with your personal/family life?
FC:Via clear limits. My working hours are classic office hours, then from 11pm until bedtime. I don’t work when the kids are awake or present either, for example.
FDN:What advice would you give to a young woman hesitating to work or start a business in the digital sector?
FC:Getting started. After that, it feels so good that you can’t stop. My second piece of advice for people who are afraid of doing it wrong: don’t tell your friends and family about your project at first. They’re full of good intentions and “yes buts”, which distract us from the real thing and can make us hesitate to move forward. By keeping your project “secret”, you’ll be less afraid of your failures, which are essential to learning.
Setting up a digital project requires so little initial financial investment, it’s just incredible. I set up my project with a starting budget of €50 and a lot of time. Many cloud services make it possible to have very professional services available free of charge on the first levels(mailchimppornewsletters, for example). Even if you don’t know how to develop, blogging platforms suchaswordpresspermize you to build very simple sites. You’ll “just” have to pay for your time when you want to go further with it. The Internet is a goldmine for building your skills in the professions you’ll need to practice. Go.
Biography
Florence has been working on mainstream sites for almost 10 years. To make the rehabilitation business more fun, she set up the Rééducation Périnée project at the end of 2013. This project also represents a playground for seeing the different facets of a company. Today, the websitewww.reeducation-perinee.orggénère40,000 visits a month and the Perigym mobile app has been downloaded a few thousand times.