“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Sharon Santoni

An interview with Phil La Duke

Don’t pay attention to accepted wisdom — some of my best business ideas haven’t followed the traditional path.

As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Santoni. In 2010, at the age of 50, Sharon Santoni made the decision to reinvent herself. With no training or experience in business or technology, the self-proclaimed “housewife” discovered the world of blogging and began her own — My French Country Home. To her surprise, the readers came rolling through. Recognizing that sharing her passions made others happy — and understanding the power of a sizable audience — Sharon leveraged her blog and started an international, multi-faceted company that to date reaches 2M+ across media channels. Today, Sharon runs a luxury subscription box service, elevated French tours and a bimonthly magazine born from her original blog with her small, dynamic team located on both sides of the Atlantic.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?