EasyJet Inflight Magazine - January 2007

French Caribbean-born Parisian Carole Fleurival offers visitors the chance to discover more about the city’s black community through her specialist shopping tours, cooking classes and meals with locals of African heritage.

 
 
Upscale Magazine - December 2006
 
We meet the lovely Carole Fleurival of Voyageur Noir Connection (voyageurnoir.com). Voyageur Noir offers visitors an immersion in “black” Paris via a black designers safari and an up close and personal look at Afro-French culture.
Carole leads us to Xuly Bet’s boutique, where the sporty chic aesthetic catches my eye. Close by, Kate Mack’s Red Space store has Beyoncé’s music on blast— an uptempo accompaniment to her slightly gothic, very feminine designs. There’s also Odette Bombardier jewelry, which includes necklaces made of human hair and spiked leather rings.We go outside and walk on rue Montmartre where we check out such chic, friendly spots as Les Petites, which has fabulous, frothy dresses, Jack Gomme’s colorful handbags and the mother and daughter fashions in Comptoir des Cotonniers. We slide into Kiliwatch, a fabulous vintage shop with fashions from the last three decades just before the doors close.

 

Secrets of Paris - October 29, 2006

Even though I've been here for ten years, Carole showed me some amazing little shops and fashion boutiques I had never visited before. She knows when all of the private showroom sales and designer trunk shows take place, and can even introduce you to many of the city's black couture and prête-à-porter designers in person such as Sadio Bee, June and the artist Arnaud Ponthier, and turban designer Frédérique Gentil Debaz. Carole is my favorite kind of guide -- after the first hour you forget she's a guide and just start thinking of her as your own friend who knows all of the best addresses in town. Her English is perfect, and her tours are open to anyone interested in black culture. You can also purchase tour certificate as gifts for friends.

 

 Where To Go Next! - October 6, 2006

Voyageur Noir: The Black Connection In Paris

Paris can seem pretty white to visitors of color. But it needn't be, thanks to a new program that's a bridge linking all cultural backgrounds to black Parisians. It's the Voyageur Noir connection. Aptly named, the connection's hosts share African and Caribbean ancestry with their guests, but enjoy different lifestyles as people of color living in France.