Despite having followed my own career path, without any help from my father, I know that I owe him and his teachings almost everything I have managed to create. Therefore, even if I want to talk about myself, I can’t help but mention Maurice Mességué and the influence he has had on my life.

I was born on 13 February 1956 in Paris, the last of three children from my father’s second marriage. After studying at the Saint-Exupéry High School in Versailles, I started working at the Laboratoires des Herbes Sauvages and so as not to feel I was getting preferential treatment, I started at the bottom. I prepared packets of herbs for sale by correspondence and my wages were the lowest of all. After a year, I dared to ask for a pay rise; in reply, my father suggested I replace the company’s night watchman for six months as he was off sick. So during that period I «theoretically» never stopped working, though to tell the truth I used to sleep at night instead of checking the premises.
Over the next three years I managed to work my way up through the company ranks, finally becoming manager of the Purchasing Department and then later European representative for products sold under the Maurice Mességué brand name.
I had to check sales and shop orders and orientate them on purchases depending on their customer base, recommending products created by the Laboratoires. Thanks to this new activity I was able to travel and discover just how much interest there was in wellness and natural therapies and how it was growing. Above all, I was able to test my interpersonal skills; I liked to talk to people, discuss their problems and maybe help solve them. When I realized the strength of my leanings, I decided to follow my father’s footsteps, even if I later built my profession in a different manner to his. I was not looking for quick contact with my patients, but wanted to build a real relationship with them. I felt the need to listen to their problems and understand what they wanted because I have always thought the difficulties of life and solitude are much more harmful than real pathologies. I knew I had not inherited the diagnosis skills of my father, but I was sure I could do a good job using herbs to treat common illnesses caused by anxiety and stress, precisely because I knew how to listen. My father was happy about this, but…. Well obviously, there was a but. In fact, there were two; before tackling the profession on my own I had to graduate and do lots of practice.
Therefore, I enrolled on a herbal medicine course at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Siena. I knew only four words in Italian, but all there was to know about herbs; so much so that I managed to graduate in just two years. At that point, all I had to do was put into practice the skills and know-how I had acquired. My father organized the best possible training for me - 40,000 check-ups in two years and above all, not even the sign of any wages!
My father checked up on my progress and results constantly; the herbal shops and perfumeries I visited periodically sent him detailed reports and even included the names of patients I met and all the information he needed to check if I was really doing my job.
After this demanding training period, I felt ready. In Germany I was lucky enough to meet a person who offered to set up a wellness centre in Baden Baden using my method. With a contract in hand, I flew to my father’s in France. On the one hand, I wanted to know what he thought and on the other, I was pleased to be able to present the first project that was all mine. It seemed like a good offer and I was due to return to Germany the following morning to formalize the agreement.

That evening we had important guests at dinner and my father wanted to introduce them to me so he invited me to stay; the guests were Giorgio and Nara Mondadori. During the evening we talked about this and that, but also about my plans and the centre I was about to open. At that point, Nara Mondadori asked me how she could change my mind and make me decide to stay in Italy; she had an idea for a similar project to mine and given the long-standing friendship that linked her to my father, she would have been happy to realize it with me. Sometimes life is strange - it offers you opportunities you had never dreamed possible precisely when it seems you have found your way. In any case, after that dinner I had a new contract - which was even more favourable than the German one - to open the second Maurice Mességué centre in Italy at the Grand Hotel Cap Ampelio in Bordighera. It was 1985 and the decision I took that evening would influence both my future professional and private life.
The start of the adventure in Bordighera was extremely difficult, but unforgettable, especially as it gave me the chance to meet people that over the next twenty years would work with me and contribute to the success of the centre in Bordighera first and the centre in Melezzole later. I never rested, working non-stop until midnight to draw up the programmes for the following day, returning to Mougins where my family lived - at the time I was married to Laurance and had a son, Maxime - sleeping a few hours and then rushing back to the centre to prepare the decoctions that had to be ready for early morning.  
It was a hellish six months; I became stick thin and the oversize fashion of the time certainly didn’t help. The centre had started working at full capacity, our clients were happy and despite the hard work, I was happy too because I had just met Patrizia who would become my second wife.
Yet as time went by I realized the facility in Bordighera didn’t really mirror the idea I had had for a health centre, for my health centre. I began to look around and consider suggestions made by some of my clients and… the opportunity arose to move my centre to Melezzole. My life was about to take another twist; my old work team was about to move to Umbria, my second son Michael was about to be born and a new adventure was about to begin.