"The Lazy Frenchie in LA" Aurélie Hagen's favorite instagrammable places in a guide

Contrary to what her blaze suggests, The Lazy Frenchie is an explorer, an epicurean … and Belgian. Aurélie Hagen, of her real name, has just released her second guide published by Lannoo The Lazy Frenchie in LA: Lifestyle Guide for Instagram Lovers, available since Monday, October 14 (on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fnac, but also in local bookstores like Book Soup).

He finds himself in the shelves (and Amazon baskets) one year after the one on New York, the city of heart of the author. Unlike traditional guides, that of Aurélie Hagen does not bombard its readers comments. She shares her favorite photographs (a brunch she loves, a cute coffee, a cactus florist, street art, a perfect community garden to read, but also dozens of colorful doors that she immortalized with her smartphone …).

Each cliché is accompanied by a legend of hashtags and its location. Each place is listed on neighborhood maps. "With colorful photographs, I wanted to show a dynamic and fun pop image of the cities".

This dapper Belgian landed only at the end of 2011 in New York, after finding a job as a production assistant in a company that organizes fashion shows. "It taught me how to work in the American way, and it also opened my creativity"she admits. But the insufficient salary pushes her to change jobs, her green card – obtained by marrying an American – opens other doors for her. Aurélie Hagen then begins to give French lessons, but soon realizes that they lack playfulness.

In 2015, she created the blog The Lazy Frenchie, to offer a French learning "lazy" way, through small texts of its composition on the lifestyle. "Needless to say, I dropped into writing", she recalls, also becoming a writer for blogs (like Caroline Receveur's, Team Paillettes and Huffington Post). In parallel, she multiplies the articles and photographs of her favorite places, which she publishes on her blog. To convince a publishing house to publish its guide. "Here, people without a network or a literary background, manage to have opportunities. It motivated me. "

The second guide, on Los Angeles, is related to a lifestyle choice. Her husband, a lawyer, also wrote a book that was selected for serial adaptation. An opportunity that drives them to move to the city of angels in 2017. Not knowing the city, she decided to study Google Maps, before going to explore a neighborhood. "In this guide, there are my 300 addresses tested and approved, a majority in West Hollywood where I move a lot"she explains. For her, Los Angeles was not as easy to do as New York: "It's a city where there is less spontaneity, which is more difficult for tourists to understand." It's a "City so chill that it's disconcerting. You have to spend time, let yourself be carried away, it's a real lifestyle. "

Collaborating in parallel on a documentary about responsible fashion with a French woman, she now aspires to work on different literary projects, and why not on her initial idea, learning French.