My name is Minali-Bella Xavier and I was born in Cameroon in 1975.
My mother is French from Strasbourg, she is a psychologist who did her study in Paris.
My Father is from Cameroon, he is and economist who did his study in Germany.
I grew up in Cameroon where I had a very nice childhood until fifteen years old.
My parents decided to move to France because of political instability.
We arrived in France in 1990 in a small village in Poitou Charente : I was a teenager happy to discover so many new things, including my French family!
Quickly, I had new friends and a lot of fun with moped and pub and girlfriends...
In 1993, my parents opened a computers shop in Niort.
I started to study music, classic piano in 1995 and two years later jazz saxophone. The same year, the president changed in France and for the young generations it was very important because we knew only one president since 14 years : Francois Mitterrand. The economy in France was very bad and there was already a lot of unemployment. I was always fan of every things technical and computer related, helped my parent with the shop. I started study musicology in university of Francois Rabelais in Tours in 1996. That year, I discovered a lot of writers of the German roamantic literature : Herman Hess Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, Sweig...It has changed me deeply. I moved to Toulouse in 1998 to study in a jazz school and finish my university musicology graduate then I started my first jazz quartet as leader in 2000 : Bantoujazz. I've been a professional musician during 4 years and I leading several bands gave me the knowledge to be a commercial :
- contracts with manager
- seeking for gigs : festivals, pub, theater etc...
- negotiation for musicians wages
- communication for the bands
- etc...
Internet was wellconnectected and I started to use it as musician and bandleader; I quickly understand the powerfull of this tools and finaly in 2001 I built my first website. A few months later, I built my first web design company dedicated to cultural (music and art in general) on line services : OMKA (outils multimedia & kulture associe).
May 2002, I moved to Netherlands for one year where a had a job in a cheese factory....great experience and lovely people.I was working in the same time as a web designer freelance or subcontract during 2 years for several Communication agency in Toulouse.
Back in France for few time and I moved to Mayotte (Indian Ocean Islands ) where my older brother was since 8 years. I wanted to built a webdesign company there but the island was not developed enough for Internet and had to go back after 2 months. This experience was hard but good for me: I understood a lot of things at that time.
2003 I met Julie Sorin and we've been together for five years but...
I closed OMKA because the market was not ready yet for the artistic field.
2003, I worked as a project manager in an communication agency (full time job) : IMARIGE COMMUNICATION.
2004 I felt that market for e-commerce was ready in France. I decided to build my own web agency : ROUGE - GRENAT dedicated to ecommerce. The company grew up very well thanks to a good commercial work and good offshore subcontract network.
End of 2006 Julie finish her master in law in Toulouse University but there was still too much unemployment in France. She went on holiday in Australia in 2001 and wanted to go back, therefore we have decided to move to this beautiful country. I sold my company to follow a new life. Today, I'm not in relationship with Julie anymore, that's part of life, isn't it?!
Present day : I live and work in Brisban, love this city and the lifstyle here, I always travel with my saxophones...
Dates to remember :
1975 : born in Cameroon in Yaounde.
1980 : we moved to the English side of Cameroon in Buea
1985 : my dear father's father dead
1985(end) : i had big car accident in Douala: 2 months hospital
1986 : first trip in France to visit my mother's father
1990 : move to France in Fenioux
1993 : my parents open their computers store
1995 : drive licence - start music , discovering all great musicians...Chopin, Bach, Mendelson, Coltrane, Monk
1995 : discovering Lao-Tseu and the Tao Te King philosophy
1996: Francois Mitterrand dead...a whole generation loose a leader!
1997: Travel in Europe, Germany, England...discovering a lot of fabulos scholars : Freud, Nietzsche, Hermann Hess, Barjavel, Wells, A. Huxley
1998 : Moved to Toulouse and discovering south French culture : I adore it !!!
2000 : Travel to Spain and discovering Spanish culture and music.
2000 : meeting & traning with Denis Badeau, a great pianist and pedagogue
2001 : First Jazz quartet as leader: Bantou Jazz - also World trade center 9/11...no comment!
2002 : Move to Netherlands and travel to Luxembourg, Belgium, England, a lot of fun...
2003 : Back to Toulouse one of my favourite spot.
2004 : Starting my company ROUGE - GRENAT : webdesign & e-commerce - Travel to Madagascar
2005 : Travel to Portugal, nice country and so lovely people...recommended
2005 (end): meeting Alain Alexanian, a great French Chef who changed my mind
2006 : Travel to Cameroon after 16 years : emotions with good old friends and family...
2007 : meeting Jacques Attali (scholar) after reading his last book. Great experience!
2007 March : move to Melbourne - Australia
2007 July : move to Brisbane - Australia
2007 November : Sart a job with www.alive.com.au as project manager/ Web design.
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