Anaïs Olmer is the founder of Chez Bogato, the first Parisian pastry shop entirely dedicated to bespoke celebration cakes, which in fifteen years has become an institution for afternoon teas, birthdays, and brand events. A former art director in an advertising agency and a graduate of Penninghen, she earned her professional pastry certificate at 30 and translates her graphic design background—a love of color, drawing, and playful shapes—into biscuits, shortbread, and cakes that are as beautiful as they are delicious, rejecting the label of mere "cake design."
She has built a festive gourmet home, where each cake is conceived as a support for visual storytelling and shared joy, and today leads a team combining pastry chefs and project managers in communication, styling and photography.
• Can you give us a portrait of yourself as a person and of the professional environment in which you work?
I'm a 50-year-old woman with two children, and I started my own business, Chez Bogato, in 2009. It's a pastry shop specializing in custom creations. Since then, I've remarried, and my wife and business partner is Audrey. The pastry shop moved to the Marais district in 2020, and we opened our coffee shop at the same address in 2022. We're a team of about 20 people, including 18 women, and sometimes my children help out 🙂
• Have you ever felt confined to a "woman's" role? How did you react to or circumvent this?
Honestly, I don't really feel it because I've never accepted it. But it still happens, especially with people I don't know and in predominantly male professions like delivery drivers, construction workers, etc. I don't know how to get around it, so let's just say that it's usually pretty direct. I don't think it's necessarily the best solution, but I don't know any other way.
• What gesture, piece of advice, or phrase from another woman still supports you today in difficult times?
I'm not sure I've really made any progress in dealing with difficult times… I cling to strong, imperfect women who go through life with panache and who last – Catherine Ringer, Virginie Despentes, Françoise Sagan, Martha Stewart – and I tell myself that I have to fight a little too!
• In your field, what are the invisible barriers you still encounter as a woman?
I didn't choose to build my team of women; it happened quite naturally because I only received applications from women. People will try to tell us it's a coincidence… not at all! The men in this sector have no respect for women and don't want to work for them, with them, or value their work.
The other reason is that women don't have much to look forward to in male-run pastry shops. At best, they have to fight three times harder to advance; at worst, they are harassed. They know this and naturally apply to female-dominated environments where this issue doesn't exist.
• How do you reconcile your personal life with your professional or creative ambitions?
The father of my children helped me a lot by looking after them when they were little while I was setting up my business. Now I'm in partnership with my wife, and my children are 20 and work with us from time to time, so everything blends together and I'm very happy with it.
• What would you like us to stop asking women… and finally ask men instead?
Everything! As Virginie Despentes says, "it's not about contrasting women's small advantages with men's small gains, but about blowing everything up."
• If you could change just one concrete and immediate thing to improve the lives of women in your neighborhood and city, what would it be?
Ha ha, ban stilettos and fake nails!!!! Freedom and power begin with freedom of movement! And for this liberation, women need no one.
• Which young woman or girl in your circle gives you hope for the future, and why?
My daughter! She's a feminist like her mother and has freed herself from the need to please men or become a mother. She sometimes finds Audrey and me outdated or conventional, and that makes me happy!
Text: Katia Barillot
08.03.26
