Annie-Claude: The girl that was passionate about breakfast, fruits and life.

Passion has a way to find its way into people’s life. Annie-Claude St-Jean developed her passion out of strawberries and mangos. After deciding to offer handmade presents on that peculiar Christmas for friends and family, she didn’t know, while cutting riped fruits, that she was building what would soon become an adorable company.

A jam company made out of fruits, love and family.

I interviewed the owner of the jam company Dimanche Matin in her new kitchen while she was wearing a mango spotted apron and laughing in between two cooking steps: It’s a meticulous process to make jars of happiness.

Taste her Pear, Maple & Vanilla jam and you’ll be seduced.

But here’s what she had to say about passion…

Define Passion:

”Are you talking about Passion fruits, perhaps because I adore fruits? Hum, it is hard to put this into words…It is indescribable; you just know it when you are passionate. It’s from within… You know?”

Annie-Claude thought for a long time she was a passionless person. She was good in everything, but nothing at the same time because she likes everything. Ah life struggles! As she was changing job often, feeling she was not good enough, and dealing with stress, she realised she wasn’t thrilled by these jobs. Even though being a security agent or flight attendant can seem trilling enough, she needed to create something.

‘’Life is too short to be always looking forward to your holidays.’’

Creating stuff, being surrounded by family and friends, listening to music while cooking till dawn, meeting inspiring and cool people and most importantly being exited to wake up in the morning; there is her passion!

Dimanche Matin is her passion. Or maybe is it breakfast?

What’s your passion?

‘’Breakfast is my passion, well, making breakfast is. To pleasure people and myself! But nothing complicated, I’m not a food genius héhé! But it’s more about inventing new things.‘’

How did your passion evolve in your life?

‘’It evolved in becoming something concrete.’’

Annie Claude has never stood out in something as she was a lover of everything, but creation brought her there. She became passionate about something and shined with Dimanche Matin! Finding her future career was like trying to solve an arduous puzzle, and never could she have planned that her career would take shape in this way. But it is now something meaningful she built on her own.

What inspired you?

‘’Benjamin Button!!!! I always dreamt to live the life of people that have many lives. I mean, he did everything, boat and sailing… I was envious. Life is short and it is hard to do everything you want.’’

For her, it’s important to never be afraid and to be able to admit it if you are not at the place you should be. It is okay to start all over, move in India for two years or do whatever!

What if your passion is not your passion anymore?

‘’It’s like my baby; it would be the death of a lifestyle, a part of my life, but to experience something new. I already have 150 ideas of what else I could do. And I think discouragement is normal but you always need to do a distinction between a bad phase and the end of a project.’’

What does taking a flight means for you?

‘’Do not be scared, take a deep breath, close your eyes and run right toward it. Whatever happens, the best you can do is to try. ‘’

What would you tell to someone who is scared?

‘’That it’s normal, but it’s often more of a fear of being scared then a real fear…That’s what’s scary! When you are submerged in it you are not scared anymore.’’

As she talked, she tells me that she once read something that really helped her. A saying that to overcome fear, one must think about the after, because there always is one. You are not going to die from your fear and after you’ll be fine and feel able to accomplish anything.

Do you regret dropping everything to follow your passion?

”I will never regret, nor will I regret what I had before. You know every little piece of your life is what leads you to where you are now!”

So even though she sometimes misses being on a plane, where she could see thick white cotton-candy like clouds as she was looking at the window, she is happy to be where she is today.

What is the worst that can happen if you take a flight toward your passion?

”Many people will try to break you, but when you see that it worked, you gain in strength.”

She also thinks there is nothing bad that can happen, because if something unfortunate happens, it is only to lead you somewhere else. As she said: ”it’s not the worst it’s the best!”

What do you tell yourself when you get discouraged?

”Sometimes, I don’t tell myself anything and just cry. Then I tell myself that I will leave it all for a desert island… In the end, seeing this possibility calms me, so I decide to stay and stop crying.”

In a way, moving abroad means she would need to move her family and friends with her- or else she would miss them too much- and then start a new company over there. As it is way more complicated than facing her discouragement, she thus stays and makes jam as she listens to Hawaiian music!

Should you pursue your passion if you are alone in the world?

”YES!!!! Go ahead and the satisfaction will just be greater when you succeed.”

Annie-Claude was granted with a lot of support from her family and friends, and needed it, but still suggests going ahead if you are alone in this. In the end, you have the one and only opinion that truly matters in order to make your passion come into bloom.

Any closing remarks to add?

She was adorably annoyed by that last question, but here are some of her closing remarks:

”Close your eyes, think about your secret hidden dream, give yourself a deadline…and do it!”

”Better OUPS then IF”

”Thank you to my family and friends, if I’m gone tomorrow, I’m in Hawaii!”