Simply put, Peggy Frey is “curious by nature and by trade, and has been trading on this for the past 15 years in service of women’s magazines, notably Madame Figaro” but also a “messy, curious, hypochondriac, optimistic, nostalgic, helicopter mother, enthusiastic, happy, scared” who tries to keep it together. On Instagram, a new-to-her playground where her imagination runs free to her great pleasure, we also found out that she is “Mother of Nazes”, a title far cooler than that dragon thing Danaerys had going on.
The most significant fight you've had in your life?
Not to compromise on my life as a mother. I quickly felt that I wouldn’t sacrifice my motherhood to a professional career. Letting a nanny take care of my kids would have frustrated me. I don’t judge those who do it, it’s just that I had an inner belief that it wouldn’t sit well with me. But that didn’t mean snuffing out that curiosity that moves me and pushes me to share things. That meant making choices: refusing positions, forgoing climbing up the career ladder, forgetting about writing for this magazine or that newspaper, taking risks. So I built my own job, one that gives me the freedom to let my curiosity run free AND be at the school gates at 4.30PM. It may sound a bit silly or mundane but it’s the biggest challenge of my life. And I have to admit, I’m very proud of myself.
Are we all a mix of shadows and light?
People tell me my energy is contagious, that it radiates. That fills my little heart with joy. The truth is that I’m very nostalgic. I live in the past a lot, and sometimes, that gives me the blues. My solution is to blast Whole of the Moon at full volume and we’re off again!
The moment you reveal your strength most vividly?
When I’m true to myself, despite external pressure. The other’s gaze can sometimes derail you. Outside malevolence can lead you to doubt. It can also damage you. You need great strength to resist and not forget yourself. The key? Instinct. That’s ultimately our greatest strength, and a voice I learned to listen to.
Everyone has a statement guiding their path. What's yours?
Things never happen by mistake. My mantra has always been MAKE IT HAPPEN. You have to give yourself the means to your ends, to draw out luck and go get what you want.
Mind Upload is the beginning of our heroine’s story which will be revealed in september. If you could augment yourself, what abilities would you expand?
I would love for our retina to record everything from birth, a bit like a hard drive. My ultimate dream would be able to play back this or that day. I would no doubt go back to an evening of August 1993. I was 16, I was on holiday with in the South of France with my whole family. I hug my father. Happiness. And wham, here comes nostalgia again.
Enchantress, witches or simply magical thinking: if you could reshape the future with the wave of a wand, what would you do?
To be honest, every night, at the same time (give or take), I dream of having a magic wand. Not to redefine the future but to take my make-up off at the snap of a finger. I know, I’m so basic! Fuck the future anyway. So says the nostalgic one.
Never give up: What would you say to your best friend or child?
Never give up a good cheese fondue! You should underestimate the simple pleasures in life.
The best?
“Is yet to come”, don’t you think?
