My name is Gabrielle Visser, I have been living in La Force for 24 years and I have been in France since 1983.

My husband and I both grew up in the Netherlands. During my time as an Account Executive at an international publishing agency, I came across him as a creative freelancer.

When he had left the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Amsterdam, he wanted to make paintings. He didn’t want to be a commercial artist, but you must live and therefore you must make money.

After a while, we decided to start a publicity agency of our own because that meant liberty to refuse work that you didn’t like. It turned out to be a huge success. We discovered that the responsibility became too much when our company had 40 employees. So, we sold the agency and moved to France with our 2 baby daughters.

We started in Brittany, and it was wonderful. A few years later we moved to Ile de France, and we loved Paris. An artist likes to move a lot and so we went to La Dordogne because of the beautiful light. I decided to continue my laws-study at the Open University, and I did several voluntary activities. After 47 happy years together, my husband went ill and passed away. It was a challenge to keep going by myself.

After a few years I decided to continue voluntary activities and became secretary of Bergerac Accueille. At an Assembly General I met a member of the Dordogne Ladies Club International, Chantal Carlin, and she proposed me to come to a coffee-morning meeting in Bergerac. I became a member and never regretted it. I find it interesting to meet other people with different nationalities and life-experiences. I became aware that the DLCI is involved in many activities likes helping new members and achieve several social objectives. I’m looking forward every month to receive the DLCI Magazine to see where we are going for lunch. Thanks, DLCI.