Photo by Eliesa Johnson Photography
Zoe Francois for Evereve
Most days, you’ll find Zoë François in her sunny Minneapolis kitchen with a snappy apron tied around her waist, her signature curls pinned up, and great music playing. While cakes bake and mixers whir, she whips off pirouettes, sampling cookies for her latest cookbook and chastising her poodles. There’s laughing. A lot of laughing. This is a woman in her prime, doing what she adores, and her joy is as irresistible as her pastry creations.
But her playful ease (she danced through most of this photo shoot!) does not mean it was easy getting here. Her seemingly overnight success is backed by more than 30 years of hard work, taking big risks, and kicking fear to the curb.
You had a rather unconventional upbringing in Vermont. How did it shape you?
I grew up on a commune where we truly lived off the land. We created everything ourselves. As a result, I dressed and ate differently than other people, and when I realized it, I rebelled against it. I wanted to be from the suburbs and have a dad who wore suits to an office. But instead I had a dad with long braids who tended bees! Eventually, I came to see how cool my upbringing was. I had to have the rebellion, though, to fully appreciate and integrate it into who I am now.
Your gorgeous gray hair is an Instagram star! How does it feel to be a “grombre” role model?
Hysterical! I think it’s a great sign that the tide is turning toward seeing gray hair as beautiful. I myself have never felt sexier, more beautiful, or more capable than I do right now. When my husband and I were on our honeymoon in Paris, we saw a woman with gray-white hair in her 50s, and she was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen. She was so elegant, sophisticated, and confident. I didn’t feel any of those things at 23. I couldn’t wait to be her age. When I got here, it did not disappoint.
I’ve loved watching your success explode recently. Besides the French woman, what made 50 the magic number?
Well, my kids graduated from high school. That freed up time and creative space.
And also, I didn’t want “not trying” to be my legacy, so I started to say yes to things that terrified me. My criteria now for accepting new projects are: If I trust the people, if the project interests me, and if the project scares me, then I tend to say yes. I probably say yes too often, but it comes from a place of having said no for so long that now I open myself to almost everything.
Why is TV the next step in your career?
It was Andrew Zimmern’s idea. When we first worked together many years ago, he was just going into TV, and he said, “I see you doing this.” At the time, I was too new and afraid. But when he brought it up again a couple years ago, the timing was right. By then I had years of teaching under my belt, and I had published several cookbooks. And of course, the deciding factor was that I trust Andrew, it was an interesting project, and it was scary. It met my criteria for saying yes.
So many people are inspired by you—where do you turn for inspiration?
With the TV show, I get to go out into the community. We’ll visit a baker or an apple farm and come back and create around what we saw. It gives me so much energy to collaborate with and learn from makers.
How did your Evereve experience go?
When I got to the store, the stylist sized me up and brought me things I wouldn’t have thought to choose for myself but that were perfect for me. When I put something on that I could move in, I would dance around the store. That’s how I knew it had to come home with me.
On François: Blank NYC “Left on Read” jacket ($128), Beyond Yoga Spacedye All Day Flare pants ($99), and Jeffrey Campbell “Complete” mules ($140) from EVEREVE, evereve.com
This article originally appeared in the September 2022 issue of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine as part of our series, The Foreword, presented by Evereve.
