Valentine, 26, bookseller, 1,600 euros per month: “My mother passed on to us a worry about money”

I earn 1,636 euros net per month, and around 1,700 euros when I work overtime. I work forty hours at an independent bookstore in Paris, where I did my apprenticeship. I retrained after the Covid-19 pandemic, like many others. Before that, I went to drama school and did quite a few odd jobs. I was in sales. I worked at La Poste as a full-time mail carrier, but with shifts, so I could continue to do castings in the afternoon to land roles. When the health crisis broke out, everything came to an abrupt halt artistically. Getting back on the road was very hard. I did a bit of amateur theater again, but I came to realize that it was no longer my path.

I tried the admission process at the Ecole de la librairie, in Maisons-Alfort [Val-de-Marne] , in the Paris region. I was accepted to do a professional certificate, in alternation, over two years. Working in the book sector had already been in the back of my mind since I was little. I had told myself that, if the theater didn't work out, I would like to become a bookseller. As a child, I read a lot. My mother had me subscribed to Disney albums, which we received every month and which I devoured. We also went to the library very often. Reading was the refuge I could build for myself. It wasn't very nice at school: I was bullied, so I read to escape. The theater was my second source of escape, the one that allowed me to reach out to others.

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