Raised in the convent of the Dames Trinitaires, she entered the Conservatoire in 1879, where she obtained a first prize in acting, then the Comédie-Française in 1881. In 1888, after she married lawyer and deputy Georges Laguerre, she left the stage and started to frequent political and journalistic circles. She was introduced to journalism by publishing her first articles in La Presse, her husband’s newspaper. It became a passion, and she later entered Le Figaro where she created the "Courrier" column.
In 1896, Le Figaro sent her to cover the International Feminist Congress, but she refused to write the article: "[They] had asked me to write an article on the feminist congress that malicious obstructions, jeers and heckles from students were noisily bringing to public attention. So I went to the Société savante where the congress was held and I was struck by the logic of the speech, the legitimacy of the demands and the mastery, […] of the president Maria Pognon. I refused to write the critical article for Le Figaro. But the idea came to me to offer women a weapon of combat, a newspaper that would prove their abilities by dealing not only with what directly interested them, but with the most general issues and offer them the profession of active journalism."
She then left Le Figaro and founded La Fronde in 1897. The newspaper was exclusively produced by women (management, editorial staff, typography) and the articles dealt not only with women but also with any subject related to current affairs: politics, literature, sports, finance, and with the Dreyfus Affair, having firmly committed themselves to the Dreyfus camp.
In 1931, she donated to the city of Paris all the documentation she had on women's history, thus creating the 1st French feminist documentation office which she voluntarily directed until her death in 1936.
@ Adama Toulon - Julie Henry Poutrel