Dare to Know: Michelle Raimo Kouyate Works Hard, Plays Hard

We're all familiar with the deceptively simple adage, "Do what you love; love what you do," but when was the last time you spent your Saturday night writing performance reviews just for kicks? For Michelle Raimo Kouyate, the President of Production for Sony Pictures Animation, the line between “work” and “play” is about as blurry as they come. “I still see movies for pleasure all the time!” enthuses the production powerhouse, who has made a career of workshopping films from Chocolat to The Smurfs 2. “I actually pride myself on the fact that I can turn off the hyperanalyzing executive switch and let myself be enveloped by the experience.”

Michelle is no one-note wonder, however: “I am so lucky that I love what I do, but family life is incredibly important to me. In fact, I’m a little bit of a soccer mom,” she shares conspiratorially, citing her seven-year-old son as her primary hobby outside of work. And don’t even try to tell Michelle that her rich home life - part of which unfolds at her family’s vacation home in West Africa - needs come at the expense of her career. “I think spending time with my family actually makes me better at my job,” she muses. “There’s no need for me to be working to the exclusion of all else.” Just goes to show that a woman successfully juggling work and life doesn't only exist in the movies.

—Emma Aubry Roberts