It’s A Wonderful Life at the Paris Flea Market

Today’s episode is filled with excitement and holiday cheer as Toma Clark Haines, CEO of The Antiques Diva & Co,  visits with long-time associates, Danielle and Jean Pierre Pelletier, giving Jean Pierre a spontaneous (yet official) on-air promotion to Chief Operating Officer – realizing the title is long overdue. Christmas means family, and, as part of Toma’s “found family,” Danielle and Jean Pierre have been working with the company for a decade bringing excellence and enthusiasm to clients wishing to have the Paris Flea Market experience.

Danielle’s official title is the Director of Trade Operations, and she has been the lead Paris guide for The Antiques Diva and Co for ten years. Her passion and love for antiques and specifically the Paris Flea Market are ringing in at 50 years. She has been haunting the flea market since she was only seventeen, a student with no money to make purchases, but with eyes planning for a life in antiques. At twenty she began purchasing small items at the Paris Flea Market and has been hooked ever since. She brings every bit of that experience and passion with her as she helps clients find just that special thing they are looking for.

Toma asks Danielle to describe her job and the passion is self-evident. “I have the best job in the world. I am so happy to live the life I have now. I love my job for the fact that I go to the flea market every single weekend of the year.” (Unless she’s on holiday, of course.) “I love to take clients. I love to speak with clients, to make them laugh, to make their acquaintance and make friends. I have very good relationships with the vendors, with the clients, and a very good relationship with you, Toma,” Danielle says sweetly, and this truth is an understatement. Danielle quickly clarifies, however, “When I say ‘I’ I mean we. Jean Pierre and I do everything together.” Another understatement would be to say what a much loved fixture this couple is at the Paris Flea Market.

Jean Pierre shares joyously at how the vendors greet them at the market, many who have become old friends. “‘Come In!’ They say. ‘We drink!’ And of course I never refuse them!” Jean Pierre laughs merrily. Toma asks Jean Pierre to explain what he does, and Toma is unsurprised to hear him say, “Well, the main thing is to try and follow up with what you’re doing and kind of sweep behind and tie up the loose ends. From the start, I contact the clients, tell them what we’re doing, and put them in relationship with the guides, follow up with all the bad accounting work that has to follow and make sure that everything is well oiled and works well for everybody.” Toma laughs and says, “In short, J.P. lassos a tornado!” Which happens to be appropriate as he is the only French cowboy she knows. Toma, who is originally from Oklahoma and grew up on a ranch with a father who is a cowboy, was most delighted when she met JP and Danielle and discovered an unexpected season in their life was running a large ranch in Calgary, Alberta. The couple lived in Canada on the ranch for fifteen years and continued to travel between Canada and Paris, France for another twenty. 

Toma’s initial fear before meeting JP and Danielle for potential employment through a trange and fascinating set of events (that you will have to listen to the episode to be privy to!) was that they would be “too French” - -not having enough experience with the North American market. “It is important that my diva guides understand the local culture, but they also need to not only speak the actual language of our clients (who are largely from the United States) but also the mental language of our clients, as well. Danielle and Jean Pierre as native Parisians with a passion for the Paris Flea Market not only filled the French culture bill but also had a clear understanding and ability to relate to the company’s North American clients as well,