When she learned at the age of 10 that you couldn’t study to become a writer, Cécile Bontron decided to be a great reporter instead. With her secondary school diploma in hand, she left Montpellier for Lyon and then Strasbourg, where she studied political science and journalism, enriching her studies with regular trips abroad. “The major appeal of these schools was their required study abroad – one year in Melbourne, Australia, and three weeks in Uzbekistan, where I learned that I could manage all alone in a foreign country,” she says.

Ever since, as soon as she has a bit of money and some free time, she sets off to conquer the world, carefully preparing for her trips and the stories she plans to write. Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom and South Africa offer greater opportunities for exploration than mere sightseeing. Sometimes, however, a simple round trip isn’t enough. Cécile wants to return to southern African to delve deeper into an issue that she was only able to glimpse the first time: she wants to more closely observe the flight of health-care personnel from areas ravaged by disease.

AGE: 28 I PASSIONS: travel, sports (handball and running) and James Ellroy. I LIFE PHILOSOPHY: live fully every day. I GOALS: to work as a foreign correspondent for a French daily or weekly publication. I FAVOURITE NEWSPAPERS: Le Monde, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, Géo and Alternatives Économiques.