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BOOKS BOOKFUNDING PHOTOGRAPHERS MAGAZINE ABOUT
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Photographs and texts by Steve Siehl
Narrative by writer Nesrine Slaoui
Forewords by Nathalie Riond (HEC Stand UP) and Mercedes Erra (BETC)

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“A story of women who learned to turn contempt into leverage, difficulties into drivers against inequality, and their legacies into mobilizing forces.” -Nesrine Slaoui.

While inequality continues to weigh heavily on women's trajectories, the HEC Stand UP program—led by HEC Paris and its foundation—was born out of the conviction that no ambition should be held back by gender, origin, or social background. Since 2019, this program has provided free support to thousands of women on their path to entrepreneurship, helping them gain autonomy and build financial independence.

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Listen the Podcast - Puissantes by HEC

"I dream of a world where barriers are broken down and women's entrepreneurial spirit is finally unleashed. The thought of this half of humanity becoming an ‘economic powerhouse’, beyond everything it already is, fills me with joy. At a time when we are chasing every last point of growth that could wipe out debt, it is truly time to try, everywhere. "
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- Mercedes Erra
President & Founder of BETC

Thirty of these women crossed paths with photographer Steve Fiehl. Thirty faces, thirty life stories that illustrate the power of entrepreneurship as a lever for emancipation and reinvention. Contrary to popular belief, these portraits, taken between Île-de-France and Marseille, paint a mosaic of today's French society: diverse, resilient, and optimistic. A visual and narrative tribute to those who dare to invent new futures, against all odds.

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“To all those who recognize themselves in these faces, and to all those who are still hesitating: may this book be an invitation to believe in your own strengths, and proof that the future of entrepreneurship also lies with women.”
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Nathalie Riond
Pedagogical Director of the HEC Stand UP program
About HEC Stand UP

Empowering women to realize their potential and achieve financial independence: this is the raison d'être of the HEC Stand UP program, created in 2012 and revamped in 2019. With an innovative teaching approach focused on taking action, HEC Stand UP supports women over a 10-week period to help them develop entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to start their own business or find a more skilled job.

Free for participants thanks to the support of sponsors, the program is open to all women with no prerequisites in terms of qualifications or experience, but particularly those in vulnerable socio-economic situations.

Convinced that entrepreneurship can be a real lever for inclusion, HEC Stand UP has supported several thousand women across France since 2019.

Since 2019, more than 5,000 women have been sensitized to entrepreneurship and nearly 2,000 have been certifiedHEC Stand UP

About HOPES

This book was realized as part of the HOPES initiative, carried by HEC Paris and the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, recognized as a public utility foundation since 1987. This strategic partnership supports social entrepreneurship as a lever for inclusion and transformation, through the actions of the Centre d’Entrepreneuriat Social de HEC Paris and its programs such as HEC Stand UP. The partnership also fosters new research on social entrepreneurship within HEC Paris, recognized worldwide as one of the best research institutions in the fields of economics and management.

LUNCH NIGHT IN PARIS

Launch on December 17 starting at 6:30 p.m. HEC Alumni Hôtel Le Marois 9 Av. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 75008 Paris

LUNCH NIGHT IN PARIS

Launch on December 17 starting at 6:30 p.m. HEC Alumni Hôtel Le Marois 9 Av. Franklin Delano Roosevelt 75008 Paris

Steve Fiehl
Steve Fiehl is a former entrepreneur who trained in 2018 at the International Center of Photography in New York and has since devoted himself to social photography projects exploring questions of fragility and resilience through intimate portraits. His first project, Resilient Souls, an 18‑month immersion in New York City homeless reintegration centers, was exhibited in 2019 at the International Center of Photography Museum and featured in several American photography magazines.​

Back in France, he works in parallel on several multi‑year projects. Passeurs, devoted to end of life and featuring sensitive portraits of people with very serious illnesses who speak about their relationship with their approaching death, was exhibited at the United Nations in Geneva in 2022. Puissantes, which explores the paths of women entrepreneurs from neighborhoods in the Paris region and Marseille, has been exhibited since 2023 in the Hall of Honor at HEC and will be the subject of a book published by Hemeria in December 2025.

Les Hérauts de l’Océan, a series of portraits of leading oceanographers and environmental activists expressing their anger and determination to save the oceans, was exhibited on the banks of the Seine as part of PhotoClimat in September 2025. Steve is currently collaborating on long‑term photography projects with several associations, including the Salvation Army, Jesuit Refugee Service (asylum seekers), and Solenciel (supporting people exiting prostitution).

Nesrine Slaoui
Born on May 3, 1994, in Morocco, Nesrine Slaoui is the author of several books (essays, novels) and a documentary filmmaker. Her first book, Illégitimes, established her unique, powerful voice, whose personal and poignant narrative has been recognized as an accurate and moving reflection of the experiences of thousands of young people from immigrant backgrounds, caught between two worlds.

She is also a columnist, presenter, and reporter for France Télévisions, and regularly shares her views on social media platforms with a loyal and engaged audience.


This project is supported by
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Book Information

ISBN 978-2-490952-73-1
Format 24.5 cm x 31.5 cm
128 pages printed on Munken Lynx 150g creative paper
Screen-printed cover
Hardcover binding
Printed in France and bound in Italy
Retail price: €39 including tax


Editorial direction
Sarah-Noëlle Madani (HEC), Brigitte Trichet (Hemeria), and Steve Fiehl
Graphic design : Lætitia Queste
Image processing and printing :Printmodel, Paris

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