#jolgen1

>Lilou Fournier was born in a small, picturesque French village, the only child of an ambitious French Vietnamese father (Pace Fournier)  and a warm, Afro-Caribbean mother from Guadeloupe (Pearl Fournier). Her childhood was filled with the comforting smells of her mother’s island cooking and the disciplined routines of her father’s rigorous standards.

>Growing up in such a household wasn't easy. Her mother’s easy laughter and generous heart contrasted with her father’s strict, unyielding nature. Their home was vibrant but never fully at peace. As an overachiever herself, Lilou felt the weight of her family’s expectations, yet she also inherited her mother’s belief in the joy of simple pleasures.

> From an early age, she found solace in the kitchen, enchanted by the warmth of the oven and the promise of sharing something delicious with others. Her parents wanted her to follow a more ‘respectable’ or ‘professional’ path; law school, the family’s pride. But Lilou knew her heart belonged to the bakery.

> At 18, weary of the constant push and pull, Lilou took the biggest leap of her life. Using money she had carefully saved over the years, she moved out to Nordhaven, settling in a rundown house once owned by a grandparent she barely knew. It wasn’t much, but it was hers; a blank canvas where she could build her own legacy.