This is Maryline Demandre
Maryline is 45 years old and is from Champagne, in France. Even if this sounds very glamourous, she prefers the cold but sunny winters of Quebec rather than the rainy and cloudy ones back home. After she graduated in International Business, she got a job in Montreal. It was supposed to be a one-year experience. Maryline just celebrated her 20th anniversary in Quebec last June.
Maryline is the one the one behind Invasion Cocktail and funnily, she has never worked behind a bar. Now you might wonder how she got to be the one behind pretty much the biggest cocktail event in Quebec. Well so did we. The story goes as follow:
When she moved here, she worked with a firm and was promoting French wines. This got her in turn to organize a yearly event called Apéritif à la Française. It was an event showcasing French gastronomy, wines, spirits and cocktails. And it was a big event. They were hosting 1500 people every year in June, and she was hiring many people specialized in the industry. At that time, she hired people like Fabien Maillard, Sam Dalcourt, JP Gauthier, etc. What were first strangers quickly became friends and that is how she got into the world of cocktails.
Eventually, she became acquainted with Pierre-Olivier Trempe (who is the one behind Made with Love) and together they got the idea of creating a cocktail week for Montreal. She left the company that employed her for 10 years and the security of her job (being a mother of two, this was not a decision to be made lightly) and decided to jump in the unknown and put together Montreal’s first cocktail week: Invasion Cocktail.
A little bit more...
The three words that describe her best:
determined – positive - gatherer
One thing she has yet to achieve on her life bucket-list:
To see the world. She has travelled to many places but definitely not enough.
One thing she has achieved on her life bucket-list:
She had two children and became an entrepreneur.
The most magical place she has ever visited:
The Machu Picchu Inca Trail. A four days hike, the marvellous mountains, the star glittered sky. To think about the fact that Incas walked there before you, you feel very small.
Her life moto:
Focus on the positive. Many things happen to us during our lifetime, but we have to focus on the positive.