“During my youth, I got all of Fontenay drunk with pastries, so it was a source of pride to open my shop here”

“If I am a pastry chef today, it is largely thanks to Simone, a neighbor in the neighborhood, with whom I started making cakes when I was little. The first one I made with her was, I think, a yogurt cake. We also prepared cakes, fruit tarts and family recipes. It fascinated me that with just butter, sugar, eggs and flour, you could make so many things. It was magical, it took my mind off things.

My family is of Malian origin and I grew up in the city, in Vincennes [Val-de-Marne], with my mother, my father and my four brothers and sisters. When I was 7 years old, we were expelled, temporarily housed in tents, then the Red Cross installed us in prefabs in Fontenay-sous-Bois, where we stayed for several years. It wasn’t easy, I didn’t like being indoors, so obviously I spent a lot of time hanging out outside. At school, I was turbulent, things didn’t go well.

I left school at 14 to do a pastry qualification and realized that I loved it. A year later, I began my apprenticeship in large houses, I was a clerk at the Hôtel Lutetia, then at Ladurée. It was difficult to get a contract in a good establishment, so I did temporary work to be able to work in prestigious kitchens like the Prince de Galles, Le Train bleu, and Café de la Paix. I traveled, worked in London, at Club Med, went to Mali, came back and ended up getting a job as pastry sous chef at Drouant, working with chef Emile Cotte, where I stayed until ‘to Covid-19.

Interventions in colleges

In the meantime, I had resettled in Fontenay, I have ties here. It’s a city that, against all odds, made me who I am today. During my youth, I got all of Fontenay drunk with pastries, so it was a source of pride to open my shop here three years ago. We are robbed every day. We have a great clientele, who sometimes come from far away for our Paris-Brest, our Paris-Bamako (made with peanut paste) or our Coco Djambo, which is a sort of West Indian Mont-Blanc revisited to suit the tastes of my country. . It’s my signature and my happiness.

With the success of the store, I was able to buy a house in Mali for my parents. I have a lot of projects there, including a twin structure with France to train young people. There are many of them follow me on social networks, they tell me that I am an example, that I inspire them and make them want to do things. I do a lot of speaking engagements in colleges and I tell myself that, if, in France, there are lots of young people who ask me, I must also be able to contribute in Africa.

Simone is still there, in Fontenay-sous-Bois. She sometimes comes to the store and often I bring her little cakes to her house. She is my mentor. I hope I could be a Simone for other young people. »