She is a board member of the L’Oreal personal care company and a renowned French author. Since she was the only child of Liliane Bettencourt, the majority shareholder of the company. She inherited her mother’s riches right after her demise in 2017. Bettencourt is also the manager of her family’s foundation called Bettencourt Schueller Foundation which according to reports, possesses over 700 million dollars in assets. Currently, she is acknowledged as one of the richest individuals globally. In fact, the famous Forbes Magazine ranked her among the top 20 wealthiest female multi-millionaires. Although she is mostly known as the president of the world’s biggest cosmetic company, she also has an active career in the writing industry. As an author, she has published several books on topics of spirituality.
Birth and education
Francoise Bettencourt was born in Neuilly Sur-Seine , France on 10 July 1953. Her father, Andre Bettencourt, was a French politician and her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, was a successful businesswoman. Francoise received her education in a Catholic institution whose actual name is not well known. She earned herself a degree in international Jewish-Christian relations and Greek mythology studies. She eloped with Jean-Pierre Meyers, the grandson of one of the rabbis who was brutally murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her marriage led to the birth of two children who have been raised in a Jewish tradition. One of her children is a board member of the family’s company.
Bettencourt’s writing career and life as a billionaire
Many people have pointed out that Francoise Meyers is an extremely spiritual individual. This can be attributed to the fact that she has published numerous pieces of literature on the correlations between Jewish-Christian and Greek mythology. She has also published more works about the tribes of Israel, The family tree of Adam and Eve, and Catholicism.
As a billionaire, Francoise has managed to keep a low profile and has excellently managed her family’s fortunes. After her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, passed away, she left her with a multi-billion estate. Her mother had a net worth of more than 40 billion dollars and was among the top 20 richest individuals in the globe. When her daughter inherited the fortunes she became one of the richest women alive.
Controversies
The Meyers family found itself in a petty controversy in 2008. A French photographer named Francois-Marie Banier was accused of exploiting Liliane Bettencourt for thousands of dollars. According to Francoise, the photographer was deceiving her mother who was by then weak mentally. It is said that the photographer received gifts such as life insurance policies and other items that cost billions of dollars. Consequently, Francoise sued the photographer but surprisingly her mother defended the accused claiming that he was a good friend of hers. Unfortunately, the issue ruined the relationship between Francoise and her mother but after a while, the problem was solved.
Important advice from Francoise Bettencourt
One of the vital pieces of advice Francoise tells people is to value their time and always put a price tag on it. She always emphasized that the greatest resource people had was time and it is the only valuable commodity that cannot be brought back. In many business conferences, she advised young businessmen and women to fully comprehend the gravity of time to become top-level executives in their entities.
Another important piece of advice that most people would remember her for is staying curious and sticking to what you know. She always advises businessmen to stay curious into knowing what is currently popping up in their respective fields and be smart enough to continue being consistent in what they know. The other crucial advice from Francoise Bettencourt Meyers is to learn how to control your thoughts. She says that most of her life lessons came from defeats, failures, and numerous setbacks. She discourages people from having negative thoughts and being overwhelmed by them saying that as humans we have the power of eliminating negative thoughts and replacing them with positives. Clearly, she is a testimony of a person who has managed to conquer their negative thoughts and maintain their mental health.
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