It takes a village.

And when that village is a castle, it takes a strong team of amazing people.
Since May this year and for another few months, this dream team at the Chateau has been composed of Kyra from Germany, Jeanne and Salome from France.

Many of the residents passing through the Chateau as guests are often intrigued about the Community Manager roles and enquiring about them. That is why we decided to ask the girls directly, to share about their experience running a french chateau full of digital nomads from all around the world.

FINDING COLIVING

If Jeanne and Salome knew each others from before, the french friends and Kyra took different path that all led to the Castle.
Exploring the new found freedom the pandemic gave to many employees, Kyra jumped from coliving spaces to coliving spaces for a while until the idea of opening her own started to ticlke her. That is why she felt it would be very good experience to start working for a coliving instead.
Salome our in house Yogi was looking to teach yoga as a volunteer and a way to continue being nomad when she discovered coliving, an entire new world and community! For Jeanne it was the idea of easily meeting new people that attracted her as she was already a bit of a nomad.

A WEEK AT THE CHATEAU

It may have taken a few weeks of adjusting and tweeking but this 3 women team is now a very well oiled machine.
Salome hosts yoga classes 3 times a week for the residents, takes care of some of the lunches (residents can add on), social media, the pick ups during the weekends and groceries once a week.
Kyra runs weekly activities such as skillshares,  movie nights and game nights, as well as the occasional extra grocery trip. She also helps out with accounting and operations works such as bookings and customer service.
Finally Jeanne is in charge of the weekend activities and the french breakfast on saturdays and the Sunday Crepes (for all residents).
Of course they are all constantely communicating and supporting each other in these and many of the other tasks that living in a chateau brings, daily.

Even though they organise so many events and activities,  they also welcome and allow space for residents to come up with and bring to life their own ideas and events, making a stay at the Chateau a beautiful co creation!

LIVING IN AND RUNNING A  COMMUNITY

Salome, Kyra and Jeanne all find their work very rewarding: to be able to connect with people deeply and see the residents open up, share and dare to be vulnerable with each other is giving them a sense of accomplishement. Through their carefully currated events (family meetings, day trips, skillshares, meals, workshops…) they manage to provide a space for intimacy that encourage people to feel safe and experience more together.

Of course, these positions come with their share of challenges as well. People tend to expect a lot from the on site team and it takes time to encourage and nurture participation and pro activity from residents. In addition, the space is also very demanding. A 12th century castle takes a lot of work to maintain and there is not a dull day at the Chateau!
Finally, the biggest challenge all girls agree on is finding the right balance between personal and professional life. When you live where you work and you are passionate about what you do, it is easy to forget about your own needs. Something they are learning to work on.

After months working together they now feel stronger than ever and trust each other completely.
This experience is impacting them personally as well, making them reflect on their goals, lifestyle and next project or destination.
Will Kyra start her own coliving? And if so where?  Will Jeanne’s passion for bringing people together turn into a new career? Where will Salome host her next yoga retreat?
We cannot wait to follow this dream team’s journey!