Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Planiol.
Hi Jennifer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I remember the night before my first French class in 8th grade. I was so excited and all I could think was “I’m gonna be good at this.” I really wanted to be able to speak another language, but French in particular.
Turns out, I was right. I was good at it. It came easy to me and I enjoyed it. And so it became my college major. I attended Longwood College (now Longwood University) and was on the gymnastics team, which they axed after my sophomore year, so I transferred back closer to home and graduated with my bachelor’s degree in French from ODU. I got my master’s degree in education there as well and taught French and Spanish for a couple of years before making the family decision that I would stay at home with the children. I did that for a number of years and loved that time in my life, but when it was time for me to return to the workforce, my teaching certificate had lapsed, and I was going to have to go back to school for something. I had always wanted to go to law school.
So I took the LSAT and applied. And I got in. Within 6 months of deciding to apply, I was seated in a giant auditorium with my new 1L classmates. Less than two months later, I turned 40.
Three years after that, I graduated, took the bar exam (passed the first time!) and took a job as the attorney for the local sheriff. Several years passed and I was recruited to a law firm where I had interned during law school. I practiced family law for a few years, but as one might imagine, that’s a TOUGH area of law to deal with every day. Turns out, getting people divorced is not nearly as fun as one might think. It’s people at the worst times of their life—and as their attorney, it’s exhausting. I really wanted to do something different, so I did a little deep dive on myself about what I wanted to do.
Sometime soon, we should talk about the fact that by this point in my story, I had met a very handsome Frenchman (French military officer) and locked that man down. I’ll come back to that though. 😉
Let’s keep going with the self-evaluation and my professional prospects: Language person. Lawyer. Word nerd. Contracts seemed like a logical focus for me. I worked as a contracts administrator until the company I worked for went under. Like 6:30pm-Friday-night-email-to-everyone-in-the-company went under. “Your employment is terminated as of today; your benefits expired yesterday,” read the email. GREAT.
Discovered the email on a lovely Saturday morning in spring and dropped my husband at the airport 3 hours later for a week-long work trip. Had a scheduled massage, so I got a good rubdown and came home to spend the week alone, as I like to say, “decompressing and reassessing.” I did apply for some corporate gigs, thinking initially that I would need to return to working for the man. But did I really? What else could I do?
My social media presence as “thewifeofafrenchie”—which, prior to Christmas day of 2025 (the day I made my first post on TikTok, at the behest of my son), had been exclusively Instagram—had been gaining some traction and I was steadily growing my following. I had started posting more often, and by year’s end, I was posting daily. Since I really enjoyed doing it, I made it my new year’s resolution to post something – SOMETHING – every day, whether it was a reel or a post or maybe just a story. Something.
I’ve kept that resolution and have grown my following on Instagram alone from 444 at the end of December to over 20k today. I have over 7500 followers on TT and am closing in on 10k on FB, despite being completely off of FB for 10 years. When Meta noticed I was posting consistently on IG, they encouraged me to cross-post on FB, with the promise of money opportunities as part of some secret society (Fast Track Creators, I think it was called). I’m still on the waitlist on that one. *cue eye roll*
But I also had this law degree and bar card in my pocket and was hoping to make something of that as well. I opened an LLC, called it RedPenJenn, and started networking to spread the word about me and my new venture. At the very lowest level, it’s document review services. I thought, “surely there are companies who need contracts help, but on a less-than-full-time basis.” Surely. Or “there are people who want me to put eyes on their marketing materials (website pages, brochures, menus, social media posts, internal and external communications, etc) to ensure correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, and coherence before distribution, right?” Or “here and there contract review, issue spotting, redlining, and negotiation support…” Surely.
That’s been going slowly (but surely), but hasn’t become anything near full-time, so I continue to network, to create content, and to consider all options for my new life.
Let’s get back to that handsome Frenchman, shall we? His next-door neighbor was a good friend of mine; David brought Frenchie to the pool/ club where I was a member one fateful Father’s Day. He says, “have you met my French neighbor?” and I looked at the man that would become my husband and my long-ago French knowledge all came rolling back into my brain… “non, mais bonjour! Enchantée, monsieur!” and with a shake of the hand, our destiny was fairly well sealed. Within a couple of years, I became the wife of a Frenchie IRL and thewifeofafrenchie on socials.
The focus of my socials started more with English grammar lessons (your vs you’re; their, there, they’re; loose and lose; hyperbole, that sort of thing) and then I started throwing in some French language and culture and that is more where my audience came from. I still do some English grammar, pronunciations, language quirks, and that sort of thing, but I get a lot of content ideas from the French people and life around me.
So that’s me currently, balancing two sides of one me. The RedPenJenn half is still looking out for contracts to review or marketing materials to clean up, because that JD did not come cheap or without a LOT of hard work and I’m not ready to totally let it collect dust. But many days, you will find me recording (and sometimes re-recording and re-re-recording) to enlighten 35 thousand strangers on how to perfect that authentic French “r” sound, the fact that “niche” isn’t pronounced the way they might think it is, or why the first floor may not be the same “first floor” as in their native country.
It seems that eighth grade me was onto something… it just took me a little while to figure out exactly how to use it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth road? Does anyone get one of those? I sure did not.
I’ve been divorced, endured job change and loss, been an “older” student in a room full of twenty-somethings, and dealt with health issues in both of my parents… not the smoothest, but I’m really happy where that bumpy road has led me.
I’m still trying to figure out the income aspect of my content creation journey (or of any part of the journey post-jobloss), so that’s not the most fun part, but I have faith and confidence and hope.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a lawyer, words are my jam. Words have meaning and “must” does not mean the same thing as “may” or “will” or “shall.” (Don’t get me started on “shall.”) I help individuals and businesses make sure their materials (comms, websites, menus, social media content, etc) are correct for grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, coherence… that sort of thing. I also review and redline contract language for potential issues/ problems (issue spotting) and help with negotiation support.
On socials, most basically, I create content about language. I break down things like pronunciation and grammar rules, and I talk about French culture in a way that’s approachable, a little funny, and (because I used to teach it) actually correct. It’s just my mug on a screen, and a little lesson, with some captioning and fun additions as appropriate.
What I think sets me apart is that this isn’t a persona I built for content. It’s truly just simply my life. I have a background as a French teacher, a law degree that makes me borderline obsessive about precision with words, and a French husband whose culture I adore and enjoy learning more and more about. When I post about a French expression or a grammar rule people get wrong, it’s coming from real experience and I try to share my knowledge in a way that’s not condescending or patronizing. I do try to throw in humor and sarcasm sometimes, but I like to keep it light but right.
I’m also proud of the consistency — I made a New Year’s resolution to post something every single day, and I haven’t missed one yet. That discipline (and the engagement I commit to with my followers as well) is part of why the account has grown the way it has. And next up is figuring out the monetization. But for now, it’s really fun and I very much enjoy it.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
My best resources are the people around me. I heard niche pronounced “nitch” twice on tv one weekend and BOOM. Content. We went to a dinner party and were bringing an app–let’s take something quintessentially French and talk about it: a bowl of radishes with butter and salt. The wedding we attended in Paris last summer? There are some interesting and marked differences in American and French nuptials. Let’s share that! When my in-laws come to visit, I get tons more ideas. It’s the people and experiences I have as a lover of French and a Frenchman’s wife that really allow me to grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://redpenjenn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewifeofafrenchie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewifeofafrenchie
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1hrqViXKGdBsa9er8imWgQ (thewifeofafrenchie)
