Vicky Tiel: From Paris Couture to Farm Life — Elizabeth Taylor, Coco Chanel & Choosing Happiness

Georgette Beck welcomes legendary Paris couturier Vicky Tiel to the Junk to Jewels™ Podcast for a conversation that moves from a Parsons School rejection to a couture empire built at the heart of Hollywood glamour. Vicky shares how she arrived in Paris at twenty with a dream, a best friend, and a lace mini dress — and how that dress caught Elizabeth Taylor's eye and launched a twenty-five-year friendship.

The two swap stories of a legendary dinner with Coco Chanel, who made both women promise to create a perfume — a promise that led to Elizabeth Taylor's bestselling fragrance and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, and to Vicky's own perfume, complete with a bottle she hand-sculpted herself. Vicky opens up about decades of jet-set living, celebrity and royal clients, a difficult divorce, and the transformation that followed when she married a Key West fisherman, moved to a quiet farm, and gave up drinking and smoking for good, thirty years and counting.

Throughout the episode, Vicky returns again and again to one message: happiness is a daily choice. From dressing-room confessions to lessons Elizabeth Taylor taught her about kindness and generosity, from faith to the healing power of nature, Vicky's story is a masterclass in turning what felt broken into something beautiful — proof that it's never too late to choose joy.

Episode Chapters

00:00  Welcome and Introduction

01:48  Health and Empowerment

02:11  Parsons Rejection to Paris

04:10  Early Hustle and Money Rules

05:51  Elizabeth Taylor Connection

08:31  Coco Chanel Dinner

10:53  Perfume and Creative Leap

12:55  Farm Life and Sobriety Reset

16:27  Farm Life Reset

17:20  Junk To Jewel Question

17:52  Happiness Is A Choice

18:04  Dressing Room Confessions

20:08  Elizabeth's Lessons

21:34  Paris Days And Fashion Shift

23:53  Self Worth And Healing

25:13  Faith And Helping Others

26:38  Beauty Therapy And Jewelry

27:22  Perfume And Believing

28:05  Marlon Brando Tea Date

28:26  Stay Happy Closing

Vicky Tiel Contact

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicky.tiel.2025

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vickytiel/

About Your Host — Georgette Beck

Georgette Beck is an author, podcast host, lay minister, mentor, and Founder & President of Bella Healing Hearts Foundation. Her book, Junk to Jewels: A Journey from Brokenness & Despair to Beauty & Delight, won the International Impact Book Awards (Inspirational/Transformational category) and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2025 Royal Palm Literary Award Competition with the Florida Writers Association.

Book (Junk to Jewels): https://a.co/d/0etqV85U

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgette.beck/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgetteBeckWriter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgette-beck-7a659387/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/GeorgetteMBeck

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@georgettebeck9168

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