Justyna Simmons sat down with Damian and Angela Boulart – an expat couple from New York now living in Paris – about their journey so far as entrepreneurs.
Watch the full interview or read below to learn how to start a business in France as an expat:
- Why Damian and Angela decided to move to France
- What inspired their business and future plans in Paris
- Surprising differences between doing business in the U.S. and France
- What they love about living in France
- Cultural shocks, language barriers & “bilingual personalities”
- Social life and making friends in Paris
- How Your Friend in Paris supported their move and setup
- Their advice for aspiring entrepreneurs moving to France
Why Damian and Angela decided to move to France
Angela and Damian’s move to Paris is a mix of life goals and love story energy. Angela, a French-American “third culture kid,” grew up between Spain and the U.S. and always felt pulled toward France — even though she’d never actually lived here as an adult. Moving to Paris wasn’t a random leap; it was a long-held personal milestone.
For Damian, a proud New Yorker, the move was a big identity shift — but an exciting one. He learned French during their college years to connect with Angela’s family, and over time France became part of their shared life plan. They had visited Paris multiple times to see her family, but they were fully aware that knowing a city as a visitor and building a life there are two very different adventures.
What inspired their business and future plans in Paris
Before Paris, Damian was working as an actor in the U.S., landing commercials alongside major names and building an entertainment career. As the industry shifted and the “Hollywood chase” started feeling less sustainable, he began widening his professional scope. A key turning point was his YouTube channel, which helped him develop a strong voice in communication and community-building.
In Paris, that evolution became the foundation of their business. Damian leverages his platform and personal experience living with multiple sclerosis to work with pharmaceutical clients who want to better understand the patient perspective. His work is mission-driven, community-focused, and already gaining momentum — even in their early months in France.
Angela brings the structure. With a background in museums and administration, she naturally stepped into the operational brain of their new venture. Their business, Washington-Boulart Administration and Communications, reflects exactly that balance: Angela handles the admin and strategy side, while Damian leads on communication and client-facing work. For Angela, freelance life is new — and doing it in France adds another layer of “first time” energy — but it also gives her space to redefine the next chapter of her career with more autonomy.
Surprising differences between doing business in the U.S. and France
Their biggest early discovery? French bureaucracy is real — but not necessarily evil. Damian felt the classic expat shock: the right office, the wrong time, the missing document you didn’t know existed. The system can feel like a puzzle where the rules are revealed one step at a time.
Angela, however, sees the hidden beauty of it. She found French business processes surprisingly structured and well-documented. Compared to the U.S., where guidance can feel fragmented, France offers clearer official frameworks — even if you still have to provide paperwork in suspicious quantities. In their view, it’s a system that can be demanding, but at least you can see the path to success.
On the client side, Damian’s takeaway is refreshingly human: people are people everywhere. The key is understanding the local rhythm and adapting your approach inside the cultural framework. Angela adds that French professional culture leans more formal, and those rituals of politeness — especially the sacred “bonjour” — genuinely matter. The tone might feel more elaborate than American directness, but it’s part of how trust and respect are built here.
What they love about living in France
One of Angela’s favorite things is seeing how French lifestyle values show up in real life — not just in stereotypes. August truly slows down. Evenings and weekends are protected. And the structure of daily life feels almost collective. She was especially struck by the rhythm around lunch — the way restaurants close after a certain hour because society actually pauses to eat.
Justyna echoes this love of predictability and community routine, especially as a parent. The shared social schedule — snacks after school, park time, dinner rhythms — creates a calm sense of order. Damian appreciates the deeper philosophy behind it: structure gives you something to lean on… and something to step away from when it’s time to just be human.
Cultural shocks, language barriers & “bilingual personalities”
Damian’s main challenge is language — not the basics, but the nuance. In English, he can shape tone effortlessly, from humor to precision to persuasion. In French, he sometimes feels boxed in by vocabulary limits and the high-stakes formality of social codes. He defaults to being “overdressed linguistically,” choosing formality as a safer entry point while he builds confidence.
Angela, who’s trilingual, believes language genuinely shifts personality. She feels more extroverted in Spanish and more cautious in French, partly because French social formality can influence how freely you express yourself. She also notes a cultural difference in social pacing: in France, friendships tend to build more slowly, and jumping from casual acquaintance to spontaneous coffee can feel surprisingly bold.
Social life and making friends in Paris
They’re still early in the social integration phase, but they’re observing the differences closely. Damian sees friendship-building as deeply tied to language mastery: once he has more command of French, he’ll feel more confident navigating humor, familiarity, and the subtle social “levels” that shape relationships here.
Angela highlights an unexpected upside of living in Paris: it’s a global crossroads. Friends pass through, old connections resurface, and long-lost acquaintances suddenly turn into “Wait, you live here too?!” moments. This creates a unique social layer — part local roots, part international flow — that makes Paris feel like a city where community can grow in surprising ways.
How Your Friend in Paris supported their move and setup
For Angela and Damian, getting professional help wasn’t a luxury — it was a sanity-saving strategy. Between the language barrier, daily settling-in tasks, and the mental load of starting fresh, they wanted one core piece of their new life handled correctly and efficiently: setting up their business.
They reached out to Your Friend in Paris and quickly felt supported by a team that knew the system inside out. Their consultation with David was a turning point. Instead of defaulting to two separate setups, he identified a smarter structure for them as a couple and guided them toward a more cohesive solution. The speed of execution surprised them — the initial paperwork moved quickly, helping them launch with less stress and more clarity.
For Damian, the biggest value was trust and relief. Having experts handle the foundation meant he could focus on clients, community, and growth — the parts of the business where he brings the most impact. He describes it like having a team in a game: everyone does what they do best, and success becomes a shared effort.
Angela’s highlight is empowerment. With the business officially in motion, she feels ownership over her career in a new way — not just supporting Damian, but building something alongside him that stands on its own. Together, they’re now thinking beyond setup and into vision: the one-year plan, the two-year plan, and the kind of clients they want to help as they grow deeper roots in France.
Their advice for aspiring entrepreneurs moving to France
Damian and Angela’s story is a reminder that moving to France as an entrepreneur isn’t just a paperwork journey — it’s a personal reinvention. They arrived with experience, curiosity, and a clear desire to build something meaningful together, but also with the very real awareness that settling in, understanding the system, and launching a business at the same time can feel like juggling blindfolded.
What made the difference for them was clarity, structure, and support. By working with Your Friend in Paris, they didn’t remove the reality of French bureaucracy — they made it manageable. Instead of getting stuck in administrative quicksand, they were able to focus on the heart of why they moved: building a sustainable life, creating real impact through their work, and growing into this new chapter with confidence.
Now, with their business officially in motion and their community slowly taking shape, they’re moving from “first steps” into “long-term vision.” Their next focus isn’t just becoming established in France — it’s becoming truly integrated, intentional, and anchored in the kind of professional life they want to live here.