Priyanka Kohli has always loved to explore new places and meet new people. During her childhood in India, she would visit her grandmother’s village, where she loved talking to the townspeople. That desire to explore brought her to Paris, where she’s worked in grocery stores, as a nanny, and at her own real estate firm. When she’s not running around the city, she visits climbing gyms in her neighborhood, flips through fashion magazines, and pays homage to her Indian roots with her tried and true rajma recipe. We spoke to Priyanka about the life event that led her to Paris, her community of cats and caring neighbors, and how she has stayed connected to her spirituality in a new place.
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on her morning routine
I wake up around 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. Then I have my coffee, or sometimes just warm water. For the past month and a half, I’ve been taking a French class. The class is online, and it’s every other day starting at 9:30 a.m. I like it because it’s a one-on-one session with the teacher. It lasts about two hours.
I also try to do yoga every day. When I can, I do it in the morning, but if I can’t, I’ll catch up later in the day or even in the evening. After that, I prepare my lunch and eat.
on her impulse to explore
I’ve always had wanderlust. In my childhood, I’d go to my grandmother’s place, which was in a village, and I’d walk around that village. There was nothing to do but I loved to go there because there were farms and a river and in villages, people talk to each other. They’re easygoing. When I went back to the city where my parents lived, it was more of a routine: go to school, come home. We hardly went out anywhere. I always wanted to go out and explore new things. I think that's what brought me to Europe — I’ve been fascinated with Europe since I was a child.
on growing up in india
I grew up in Amritsar. I have one younger sister. She works in IT — she’s quite the tech girl — and lives in Bangalore. I had a younger brother, and we were really close, but unfortunately, we lost him in an accident.
I went to college in Chandigarh, a city in Punjab, and I worked in Delhi. Paris was always at the top of the list of places I wanted to live. But I never imagined I would come here. It was a dream, but it was not an imaginable dream. I imagined that I would stay in India.
on her love of fashion
I studied fashion in college, and then I studied apparel manufacturing technology, so I was focused on designing and technical things.
I used to watch the fashion shows on TV and collect magazines. My dad had this lottery shop in India, like the convenience stores we have here. He used to sell magazines. So I would go there and take different magazines and go through them and it was fascinating. My parents wanted me to study something in science but I didn’t want to. My parents were strict initially, but after my siblings and I achieved things, they evolved, and they let me pursue a fashion degree. I'm lucky that they changed their minds and were supportive.
on her decision to quit her job and move
I never planned to come to France. But when I lost my brother I was devastated. I was mourning, and it was the worst phase of my life. I was quite sick because of that. I was completely bedridden. I was not doing anything and my parents were quite worried that they would lose another child. I had severe depression, I was crying all the time, and I was taking so many medications. I had a severe fluctuation in my hormones and it caused cysts in my ovaries. It was very painful, but my doctor was smart. He said that he could do surgery, but it could affect my ability to have kids in the future, and I didn’t want that. So we treated them with medication — I was patient, but it was painful for some time. It was all too much.
My best friend encouraged me to change my atmosphere. She thought it might help. So I thought, ‘Okay, I'll go to Europe.’ At the beginning of 2019, I left my job and this journey began. I started searching for schools, thinking I’d do an MBA or something. I asked my parents if it was okay for me to go and study somewhere, and they said okay. I think they were okay with anything because I was kind of dying. Eventually, I started to feel better, but it took a very long time.
on her early days in paris
In the summer of 2019, I came across a few colleges in Paris that were in my budget. I studied luxury brand management. It was consistent with what I had studied previously. The program was one year long. The first few months were very nice. We even went on a class trip to Italy. My life changed after I came here. I met so many new people. Everything was going well and then suddenly COVID came. They instituted a lockdown and then opened up again, and then it was lockdown again. I was like, I will die inside. I didn't come to Europe to stay inside. I wanted to see Europe. I was stuck. And then I started finding some part-time work that allowed me to leave my house. In August, the lockdown was lifted, and then I found a part-time job in a shop.
I thought it would be easy to get into the fashion industry here, but it was not. The fashion industry in Paris is quite closed off. I thought knowing English would be fine because everybody speaks English in the fashion industry. But I think they want people to speak French, and that's fair. They're not demanding something extraordinary, but it's very competitive. I know French, but I’m still trying to become more fluent. I’m also taking courses to improve my communication skills. If somebody was in front of me I could talk to them, but I was not good at approaching people in written communication.
on the jobs she’s had in paris
I started working at a grocery store that I used to frequent. The owner was Sri Lankan so I just talked to him and asked if he needed anyone to start working part-time. And he said I could join in, so I started working there from around 3:00 pm until 9:00 pm. It was fine for a while, but then I started seeing these people who were selling hashish around that shop. After that, I wanted to get out of that place. I was looking for a proper job anyway, and then I got one. It was a Digital Marketing Manager job at a company. I worked there for around a year and a half. And I started nannying after seeing the owner of a nannying company post somewhere on the internet. I contacted her and she was so sweet.
When tourists, especially from America, come here for long holidays, they need a babysitter. Her business is the solution. At first, there were very few girls in the company in the Paris region, because she was living in Italy, which means that the work was mainly in Italy. Paris was an expansion. She told me I could work for her part-time.
The job is so nice, because my office job had me working with just four or five people, and French people don't talk much, unfortunately. I was so excited to take this job because Americans love talking. You can talk about yourself, and you get to know their stories. And I love kids. I'm the eldest in my maternal family — I have so many cousins and they are all younger than me. I mostly nanny in the summers, because that’s when tourists come here.
on how she got into real estate
I was doing my job, and then I had a flatmate who was also my friend. He already knew many students so he thought of doing a business providing accommodations to international students who have difficulty finding a good and affordable place to live. I thought it was a good idea. We started researching that while I was doing my office job, and then we registered this company. There was so much paperwork, and he was not willing to learn French, but I am. We always wanted to do it together, but he also really needed me. I didn't think I would leave my job to do this but ultimately I had to because he couldn’t handle everything on his own. I decided I would leave the job and if I needed to, I would go back, or get a similar job somewhere else. But then we started doing this full-time, and between real estate and babysitting, I never had to go back. And I went from having a student visa to having a business visa.
I’m versatile. It's not very difficult for me to juggle my schedule and shift things around. But this is also possible because my business partner helps out a lot. If I’m prioritizing other things, he steps up.
on finding a home in paris
I have spent enough time here now to understand the people. At first, I couldn't understand them. For example, greeting everyone when you walk into a room was a bit different for me. And I liked it. We’re saying hello to everybody we know or don't know, it doesn't matter.
I know so many people in my building just from saying hello. Even the guardien is so nice. I was in India for three months and when I came back and he saw me, he said “Where have you been? I haven't seen you for a long time.”
In India, when I’m at my parents’ house, it’s fine. But outside there, it's kind of challenging for me. It's quite a complicated system there. For example, we don't have social security or anything like that in India. Not everyone pays taxes; there are loopholes in the system. There are government hospitals and you can go and get your health checkup, but overall the medical infrastructure is not good there. There is a lack of doctors, a lack of facilities, and a lack of funding. It’s not like that in France. Job opportunities are harder to come by there, too. You can imagine, with 1.4 billion people. There’s so much competition. And education is not free — there are government schools, but they struggle with funding, infrastructure, and facilities. And there’s corruption too. Either you work inside the system or you just quit.
“I still dream of pursuing something in fashion. I don’t really read physical magazines anymore, but I subscribe to a lot of online magazines. I was thinking of starting something online, like selling t-shirts. I do have designs, and I used to like to draw. I have tried reaching out to some existing brands online, but it didn’t work. And I don’t know how to approach them directly. If I got the chance, I would definitely work with a brand. But every time I think of selling something, the first thing that comes to my mind is that it should be sustainable. That’s the only thing that’s stopping me. Otherwise, I would have started it already. It’s something the industry overall needs to work on. We are ruining the planet. I know it’s difficult, but I think if we start taking little steps, we can make a change.”
on dating in a new city
Now I know French people — how to talk to them, how to approach them. In the beginning, I felt like French people were cold, but now I think they are quite social. They might not be your long-term friends, but you can socialize with them whenever you want.
I’ve met some people through the apps, but it’s kind of hard to trust people you meet online. I once dated someone I met through friends — he was kind, but carried a lot from his past. He often said that just being with me made everything feel better, which was touching, but also a lot to carry. I’ve come to understand that emotional healing is something each person has to take ownership of. We can support and care for each other, absolutely, but we can’t be the sole source of someone’s peace, especially when we’re still navigating our own journey. It’s important to recognize our limits — love isn’t about fixing someone, it’s about growing alongside them.
He had this idea, maybe rooted in past experiences or cultural norms, that people often cheat in France — and because of that, he sometimes assumed I might too. I remember thinking it felt a bit unfair and immature. It’s hard when someone projects old fears onto something new, especially when all you want is to build trust and move forward.
on creating community
In this phase of my life, I’ve met so many friends. I chat with the people in my building when they’re around, too. I tend to be quite adaptable — I naturally try to find common ground and connect with the people around me. I have a climbing group and I go out with them. I’m trying to figure things out.
I’ve also created community with my cats. I adopted my cat Piteau from the organization La Spa. It's quite renowned in France. And the second one, Tokyo, I adopted from a lady in my building who has a small animal rescue organization.
on what she brought with her from india
I’ve collected most of my decor in Paris. Most of the things you see here are from antique shops. I have visited some in the north of Paris, in Saint-Ouen. And there's another one near Sausses. I like to visit the stores and find something small.
I didn’t really bring anything with me from India other than cuisine. I brought so many spices with me when I first landed in France. We have this mixture of spices called garam masala. It has cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, dried ginger, nutmeg, and so many more spices that I don’t know the English names for. I love cooking. I cook almost every day. I'm vegetarian and I like almost every vegetable. My favorite thing to make is rajma, which is a dish of red kidney beans.
I brought some clothes with me, too. The clothes I brought from India are mostly summer clothes because we don't have very long winters in India. My mom just knits me little sweaters. I think my style has changed a bit here. Now, I wear these very long coats. And I like oversized clothes. My style is kind of a mixture of everything. I'm open to wearing anything. Some people like to wear a kind of uniform; like, some people only wear hippie clothes. I’m not like that. Sometimes I'm hippie, sometimes I'm quite formal.
“What keeps me going is that I want to stay in France. And I know that if I want to stay here, I have to work on myself. For example, I need to learn the language so I can talk to people. I downloaded Bumble BFF and I met a few girls there, including a friend I go climbing with. Now we are good friends.”
on canceling plans
Sometimes I'm in my bubble. I love staying on my sofa and chilling and playing with my cats. Especially in the winter. I hate the winter. I’ll get a message from my friends asking to do something and I’ll say I have to work. I just bail on them. And then later I regret it. It's not good. I really love social interaction. I go through phases — sometimes I'm super excited to go out and sometimes I'm dead.
on becoming a more outgoing person
During and after college, I became more bold than I was in my childhood. I was a very shy child. You wouldn’t believe it. I was a completely different person than what I am today. I was the student in the class who was hardly visible. My teachers complained to my mom that I just chatted with one girl and they didn’t see me socialize with other kids very often. But then I went to college and things changed. I met people with different personalities and they impacted me in a positive way.
on her beauty routine
I don't understand applying so many things to your face in the morning. I just wash my face with face wash. Sometimes I don't even use face wash. I feel like it makes my skin so dry. I do use this one sunscreen from Uriage — it's kind of a moisturizer and sunscreen in one.
For my hair, I have this blow-dry roller kind of thing. It blow-dries and it curls. I found it online. I had no hopes for it, but it’s working well. I also use this color-protecting cream.
I do my own threading. For makeup, I just put on some blush and concealer and a little bit of lipstick and mascara. I love mascara. I have foundation and other, heavier makeup, but I don't use it every day. Once in a while, if I'm going out to a nice bar with friends and I feel like I want to take some pictures, I put it on.
on her relationship to hinduism
I still practice Hinduism here. Whenever I go to the temple, I'm a different person than I am elsewhere. I go there for peace and calm, so I prefer not to talk to people. I’ll sit there for an hour or so to just calm myself.
There was a festival that we celebrated recently, for Shiva, the destroyer. He’s my favorite. He sacrifices. He has no fancy clothes. He's always wearing a leopard skin or tiger skin. He meditates most of the time. He's a giver. He’s not materialistic. The purpose of the festival was to celebrate his marriage. In Hindu mythology, Shakti is Shiva’s other half. They say the whole universe is there when Shiva and Shakti come together. The universe is a combination of male and female power, and they reflect that power. He's the universal truth for me. Everybody has some kind of belief and for me, it's him.
priyanka’s favorite spots in paris
I love the lake here — Lac de Créteil. Whenever I have time I go there, especially in the summer. I’ll call my friends and we’ll go; it’s just a 10-15 minute walk. I like Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, Montmartre, and Forêt de Fontainebleau.
