Caroline Popovic (EN) : Journaliste, Elegance comportementale, adaptabilité professionnelle

Lara Valentin
Hello, in this episode today I will receive a very important personality from the Caribbean personality. I'm thrilled to accept to join us in my podcast.
You are one of the famous and the most recognized Caribbean journalistic voice.
Why ? because of your nationality, because of your accents and your career.
I don't want to use huge but awesome. So
Everyone here in Martinique, know your voice. We've been listening to you for years.
You thought has a lot of value lesson. First of all,
having a successful career is possible, even if you are a foreigner. And thank you
for
Building some things new is achievable if you try to truly believe in yourself.
I'm talking about the magazine, Cari.
For me, neither your gender nor your nationality were a weakness.
In fact, they were powerful assets. The perfect adjective to describe you from me is
possibility.
Can you introduce yourself? Please for my audience. Okay.

Caroline Popovic
Hello, my name is Caroline Popovic. I am a journalist with Martin Clappormier and I specialize in subjects in the Caribbean. That's what I've always done for the past 30 years now that I've worked at Marcia 1st,
which was before it was Arifah. I used to travel quite a lot in the region.
We used to have before COVID, you know, we used to have planes that would take you everywhere. I used to do a lot of my own shoots,
my own stories overseas, but since 2021 stopped. I have
I don't work there anymore. The magazine continues, but I'm not with it anymore.
Even though I do continue to work for the web. And they decided to keep me on
doing Caribbean subjects because basically they've found that nobody else is doing the work that I'm doing and it makes them stand out from the other media.

Possibilities. That's the word you use to introduce me, possibilities.
You know, it's very difficult to be an immigrant. I don't know if you've ever had to be an immigrant. When I came here,
I got a few days' work with RFO.
I was not permanent right away. They said that my accent was no good, but the way
I spoke French with the accent wasn't, yeah, they didn't like it. And I, to this day,
30, more than 30 years, 30 years later, I am still the only immigrant there. So
I'm not too sure about possibilities, but it's a very interesting experience for me.

It was. I think I was quite spoiled in most of my career.
I have things, I had things quite easy, you know. And when I came here, things became very hard.
Okay. Question of language, question of showing that I had something to offer, because people could not understand how I could be a white woman from St. Lucia. I had to be a metro, or I had to be a becky.

Okay. Now, I don't fit into any of those boxes. People like to put you in a box.
They tend to like to do that. So it's taken quite a while for people to understand that.
They have white people in the Caribbean, and I'm one of them, you know, and that I belong to the region.

I also had to learn French. When I came here,
I thought I could speak French. In my English-speaking schools, I was always first in the class in French.

I was doing subjects in English, and then the need came for me to start doing French.
I was very lucky. People looked over my texts for me.
Journalists would look at my text. To this day, they still do it because I wanted it.

It's very important. It's a journalistic thing. Somebody has to read your work before you publish or before you broadcast. Even if it's your own language.
Even when I was working in English, I had somebody come along and say, well, that's not clear. You need to be clear, that's not the right word. Very professional. But that's what I've always done. So I still do it today.

I had some very kind technicians. You know, the sound editors, when I'd go to edit my stories in the sound booth,
They would say, no, no, no, no, no, you have to pronounce it this way. So you're not a note.
Oh, they were fabulous. I mean, they were fabulous. And sometimes they would say, no, just do it all over again.

And while my accent was not, did not have unanimity in my workplace,
the audience loved it. Yes, I know. They love the originality of it. It would capture people's attention.

And, but I found that out much later because I was always traveling.
So when I stopped traveling and I started meeting my audience,
I suddenly realized that they actually quite like what I was doing.
So that was extremely important for me that the audience understood and enjoyed my work or didn't enjoy it.
And then we would have a discussion as to why they didn't like it. But, you know, they watched.

Lara Valentin
For me,
it's strength for you, your accent. And all what you did to be there,
to be able to share with people what you have to share. Information,
your point of view, or things you live, experiences. So from everything,
I said, you know, journey.

I know while I try to show people the Caribbean from one of us .
So with the accent, like you said, it's something we can interest people and say,
”oh, it's different. Perhaps I will learn something.”

Caroline Popovic
Yeah, people used to laugh.
They used to enjoy it.
You used to have a good laugh.
I said, oh, look, it's Popovic again, you know.

Lara Valentin
So do you know what is soft skills? I think you tried to explain it to me once and I'm still not sure what it is.

Caroline Popovic
Soft skills, it's like a power,
a social power you have. For example, empathy,
knowledge about communication, knowledge about posture, how to manage people around
you, how to deal with people slowly And with,
we can talk about Polishness, you know.

Lara Valentin
Okay. Elegant. ,
with elegance, without rudeness.

Caroline Popovic
I see.

Lara Valentin
Okay. So, for me,
you have a love of this. For example, adaptability.
For, like I said, empathy, your capacity to be,
yes, to handle and to manage interculturality between St.
Lucia and French Caribbean islands. Our culture are different.
But you moved in, you dive it.

Caroline Popovic
I think so. I think you have to just understand people really. It's people. It's not just.
Yeah, it's people. You worked on it.

Lara Valentin
I did. You worked on it.

Caroline Popovic
But it's people. We're all just people, you know. And we have the same concerns for our children, for our professions,
for our security. We all have the same. We all have the same concerns. You know, I think when you get down to basics, that's what it is.

But a different way to hack, perhaps. I think it depends on who I'm talking to.
Like, I will not talk to a mom and her children the same way that I will talk to a politician.
We will not have the same kind of conversation.

Lara Valentin
This is an asset.

Caroline Popovic
Everybody, . Well, I guess so. Or understand this.
Well, I guess a lot of it is learned on the ground as well.

I mean, it's hilarious. When somebody is in power, they don't want to give you an interview.
But when they are in opposition, they're running after your microphone.
I mean, it's really a bit of a joke.

And I have a soft spot for moms and kids generally.
So I always have a totally different approach and for kids and for young people.
I have a, it depends on who I'm talking to, and that dictates my manner,
the way I ask the questions, but not everybody likes cameras,
or not everybody likes to be interviewed or photographed.

You have to understand that, you know, somebody comes and puts a camera in your face.
It's quite intimidating.

Lara Valentin
Yes.

Caroline Popovic
You have to make them forget it, have a conversation,
and make them forget it so that they will talk to you quite naturally
because that's what I want in any case.

It's your own professional posture and it's important to be able to adapt yourself
in your own environments.

Lara Valentin
Yeah, which can be a changing one.

Caroline Popovic
I mean, if you're covering an election and everybody's excited and there's a lot of noise, that's one thing.
If you're doing something in nature, environmental subject,
it's a whole different, it's a whole different approach.

Lara Valentin
Do you think it's easy,
yes, do you think it's easy now in 2025 to do that?

Caroline Popovic
I don't know.
It's been a while since I've, like I stopped covering politics, because politics in the Caribbean had become a very violent thing.
And I was, I was verbally attacked by politicians from the platform.

Lara Valentin
Even if you tried to?

Caroline Popovic
No, well, I would go to these massive meetings, you know, where you'd have like 5,000 people, and then they would see me coming, and they would say, they would point at me and my cameraman or whatever, and start saying things, and they know what they're doing, but people are very excited, so you don't know what people in the crowd are going to do, you know?

I think the last election that I covered, I told the cameraman, we are not going to be on the road after dark.
We are going to be on the road driving.

Lara Valentin
You're in the caravan?

Caroline Popovic
Oh, absolutely.
People just tend to go a little nuts.
They tend to just get a little crazy around election time.

But I don't miss it.
I've done so many that I don't really miss it.

Lara Valentin
So I will ask you if it's important for you and if it's a lever in your sector but clearly you explain something you explain your experience and you have bad experiences so hopefully you are able to not really to evaluate this is good this is not this is we need to get
We need to get out here. We need to leave for.

Caroline Popovic
Yes. We need to leave.
No, I've had times when I just said to the camera, I'm leaving discreetly.
This is, this is not good.

But it's been rare because what I do, it's been rare.
It's been rare. It's been rare.

And it's normally because I haven't done a proper preparation, you know, or things just happen.

But, you know, it's all right.
I mean, we've been okay.

Lara Valentin
Yeah, no, we've been okay.

Caroline Popovic
I've been into some really crazy places where you don't go.
But I prepared, you know, there's a whole system that you put in place.

You don't just walk in anywhere.
They don't know you, especially where the camera.

I contact people who are from the area and I say, this is what I want to do.
There's a lot of groundwork that you have to do before you even start shooting, a sequence.

You know?
People have to know who you are.
They have to know who you're coming.
They have to know what you want.

And once you stick to those roles,
and once you are with somebody who will give you, who says, you know,
the reason why you are there.

Lara Valentin
You ask me to explain what is soft skills or give you image and now you give me an image to help you because now you talk about professionalism you talk about emotional understanding because when they are in this crown perhaps they will be excited or perhaps not,
and you have this ability to...

Caroline Popovic
It's been a long time I've been doing this.
To balance between, okay, I have to do it because it's my job.
Oh, no, I have to be careful about that and step back a little bit and do it differently.

Lara Valentin
Oh, absolutely.
Oh, that's a soft skill, is it?

Caroline Popovic
Yes. I think that's a fundamental skill.
Not whole, but it's a part of.

You talk about the Caribbean,
but I mean, even in Martinique, there are places where you just don't show up and start shooting.

There are some neighborhoods, there are some areas, there are some cartier, where they want to know what you're doing there, you know.

Lara Valentin
They are in there, I'm sorry.

Caroline Popovic
Yeah, and I mean, they're suspicious, their my fian, they are, you know, they want to know what are you up to?
What are you trying to do?

And that's everywhere.
They protect themselves.

Lara Valentin
Yes, they do.

Caroline Popovic
And you have to understand that.
And they protect themselves in a way that people might feel as aggressive, but it's not.
It's just a manner of acting.

Not as always.
No, but I mean, yeah, sometimes you just have to give up and just say, well, there's no point.

Lara Valentin
We talk about about negative parts, but could you share with us a positive anecdote about elegance?

Caroline Popovic
Well, you know, the last, when you're out there, you're not well, you know, because I don't do, I don't do any presentation.
I don't like it.
I don't like presentation.
I like to be out there meeting people.

So elegance,
I don't know what you mean by elegance.

Lara Valentin
Elegant behaviors, for example, you talk about mom and kids.
When you did your report, did you have experiences who made you smile or touch you positive?

Caroline Popovic
I don't know.

I mean, and a smile, if you want to talk about a smile, if you want to talk about a really happy occasion.

Lara Valentin
Yes, because my question was about an anecdote where behavior, your elegance play a decisive role in your career or in your life.

Caroline Popovic
The way you act, the way I act, I don't know.
Some people say I'm you know people some people think I'm too intense.
They think I'm angry a lot of the times because I do have a very intense kind of…

Lara Valentin
For me you are talkative and it's something very positive for me.

Caroline Popovic
That's another problem but not everybody likes talkative.

I think, I think the…
And I didn't, I wasn't very elegant doing it.
I was running to get the interview.

It was Usain Bolt.
Usain Bolt is a person he's like walking sunshine when you meet him.
It's like the sunshine is just coming off him.
He just radiates something.

And I interviewed him when he had broken all of the records in Berlin.
It was Hitler's stadium.
And they had Jesse Owens first and then they had Usain Bolt afterwards and Usain Bolt four by four by one hundred meters.

And everybody said to me that I'm not going to get the interview.
And how do you think I'm going to get the interview?

And I said because I'm a Caribbean person just like him.

And I interviewed him when he came to Martinique when he was 19 years old and nobody had heard about him.

And I got the interview.
And I got my interview standing.

He had just received a check for having broken the world record and his gold medal and I was standing just behind the metal podium and I got 10 questions and I had to do my 10 questions.

Oh yeah and I was standing in Hitler's podium you know what I mean the whole importance of the occasion and there was this kid who didn't know that he could run fast like that yes but you know he just ran fast.

And I was asking him these questions.

I have that photograph.

And I just saw him.
And you know when people radiate, he just radiates.
That's what he was doing that day.

And that was great.

And none of the other foreign journalists could get a word in.
And I got it, you know?

And you know, everybody has a feeling in Europe from Little Martinique, so you don't really count.

And there we were, a little Martinique.
We got this interview and it was great.
It was just great.

It seems true. Thank you for this sharing.
So I understand that it is difficult for you to, because you are in the move, you do things, and I think you don’t realize all the soft skills you have. But I ask you because it’s one of my questions in this podcast: how do you cultivate or transmit this etiquette, for example, in your personal life? If you have to give advice?

Caroline Popovic
I don’t do that. I don’t… yes, give advice. So to be with people, to help them, give them a hand, what I’m doing, I don’t… I think it depends. Because not everybody’s receptive. And if they’re receptive, then we understand each other right away what’s going on, you know. We don’t really have to explain too much, and it goes very quickly, especially on the professional level.

Oh yeah, I mean, there’s some young girls coming up there who are really good, and they enjoy it. They enjoy the exchange, me asking questions of them. And I admire their rapidity. I’m older now, so I’m a lot slower. But I know a lot of stuff. They’re starting, they’re quick, but I think they express themselves after your meeting, for example.

And we’re going to have an equal discussion, and we’re going to get the job done, you know. We’re not here for any personal reasons. We’re here to get the job done, and this is how we do it.

Lara Valentin
So the second one to describe you now, for me, is efficiency. You have to do things clearly, with efficacy.

Caroline Popovic
Well, I think so. I think in the professional, in the workplace, I think you really do have to put a lot of your emotions and your susceptibilities aside. It wasn’t always the case with me, but I have learned to be extremely logical.

So I am informed about work laws. I mean, I know how to protect myself now. The French system, the way the French work… I mean, in St. Lucia, we don’t have trade unions, syndicat. We don’t have that. People could do a lot with me. It’s much harder to work in the island because we don’t have labor laws. You just exploit people, you know. It’s really tough.

And I didn’t know that all of these protections existed. And I used to feel very vulnerable here. So one of the things that I have been informed about is that you do have protections and you can function like this. And people have to respect you in the workplace. It wasn’t the case.

So now my whole outlook professionally has changed, and I feel very secure doing what I want to do. Because, I mean, you go to St. Lucia and they’ll fire you, you know. They don’t like the way you looked at them, and it’s like, well, leave. So it’s different here.

I mean, I really have a very good, healthy situation in my workplace. And I can say no. And I can refuse. I can decide to do things. Otherwise, I have a lot of support. That’s something that I learned.

So I have been able to be very intelligent and very, you know, Cartesian, very correct and procedural. And it’s great. It’s great.

So my attitude now is it’s not about who I like or who I don’t like. It’s about, look, we’ve got this thing to do. Let’s organize ourselves and let’s get it done.

It’s a beautiful journey, how to grow. Exactly. It’s nice being 65. When you’re 65 years old like I am now, it’s like, in a certain way, life is just beginning. It’s quite interesting actually.

But even if you don’t… is it you teach the young generation how to do that quickly? Like you say, well, I’m not going to tell them what to do because I just show them? No, that’s the worst way. We’ll have a discussion about it. Let’s talk about what you’ve done there. And let me ask you this question: did you think about that? Did you think about that?

I’m not going to tell you how to do anything. It’s a way to change, in a way.

Yes. In a way.

And you know, like I said at the beginning of this podcast, you are important for us.

Lara Valentin
Thank you.

Caroline Popovic
That’s very sweet. Thank you so much. That’s so nice to hear.

Your voice for us. Even if we don’t know your face, we don’t remember your face, your voice is one of ours.

This is what people tell me. Yes, I remember.

It’s extremely important for me to hear that. That’s true. Because I was always in action. I was just, okay, so I have to do this. Let’s get this done. I never really bothered with that. I just said, I’ve got to do this and I’ve got to do it properly.

And I’m glad it worked.

People stop me sometimes. And then we’ll talk about the politics in the Caribbean. And then I had a fisherman stop me, on the road, my work, who decides whether they like it or not, if they agree or not. Well, then let’s have a discussion.

So that’s always been my priority, is respect. Because respect, for me, is a very important word. It’s massive. I want to be respected, so I have to respect the people who I come into contact with.

Lara Valentin
A soft skill.

Caroline Popovic
Again. A soft skill. But that’s it. Respect is a soft skill, is it?

Yes. The capacity to understand why it’s important, how you can act to respect people and preserve that respect at the same time. It’s learned. It comes with age. It’s experience.

So that’s why this fisherman knew he was able to talk with you.

Well, sometimes they’re not sure how to approach. But once we get going, we warm up, and the discussion happens.

And frankly, I’m not liked by everybody. And I don’t mind that either. Not everybody has to be for everyone.

At the end of the day, if I look back on my day and ask myself, did you do your best? Yeah, I did my best. Even if I made mistakes. I couldn’t have done it any other way.

I don’t want to be too hard on myself anymore.

And it’s not just me. It’s the cameraman, the sound engineer, the editor. Television is a collective effort. Even on the web, it’s still collaborative.

I don’t need stardom. I don’t need to be “the person”. That’s not important to me.

It’s respect. Respecting what the cameraman does, what the editor does, what everyone has learned to do.

We might not like each other, but we have to respect each other.

Lara Valentin
I agree.

So now, give me a value or a sentence that you would like to share with OR.RA.

Caroline Popovic
I said this to somebody the other day: the dogs bark, the caravan passes. Just follow your road.

There will always be noise. There will always be people saying something. Just keep advancing.

If you’re clear with yourself, discuss with the right people, and keep going.

Otherwise, it’s just noise and distraction.

Lara Valentin
Thank you.

Caroline Popovic
My pleasure. Thank you.

Lara Valentin
No, it’s perfect. Because here in this podcast, it’s a place to share what you’ve lived, what you’ve experienced. And it’s important for my listeners to understand that elegance and behavior matter, whatever your job is.