Daisy de Plume
Founder and Creative Director
Hailing from NY’s West Village, Daisy de Plume moved to Paris in 2004. As the daughter of an art historian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a second home to Daisy as a kid. To keep her focused – and quiet! – Daisy’s mother created games with art, some of which had monetary incentives. Blending such aesthetical hoverings with entrepreneurial reward planted the seed of THATLou (Treasure Hunts At The Louvre) early on. Braced with a degree in art history and a past in print publishing (Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveler, where she still contributes articles), writing up the treasure of the Louvre and injecting a bit of light-hearted interaction with the collection and camera was a logical next step. Within a year of starting the company (2012), Daisy was commissioned with an Impressionist hunt across the Seine to the Musée d’Orsay and by 2015 the British Museum had her hopping the pond — broadening the company name to THATMuse. Thus rolling all the THATs into THATMuse, standing for Treasure Hunt at the Museum. Next up? Going home: either THATMet or THATVat (Daisy went to boarding school in Rome, and The Vatican is as much in her heart as The Met) might just be in the cards! Daisy met her Argentine husband and business partner, Hernan, in Paris where they had their two culturally-confused, trilingual boys, Storsh and Balthazar, in 2010 and 2015.
Hernan Souto
Director
Trained to be skeptical (a lawyer), Hernan Souto was initially doubtful of his overly-enthusiastic, ever-optimistic American wife’s business idea (the fact that there wasn’t an actual “business plan” was a sign), but ended up getting roped into THAT whole affair. First he cleaned up the THATLou books (what books?!?) as a favor, then as a one-off he translated a hunt (a native of Buenos Aires, he’s fluent in Spanish, French, English and Italian); eventually Hernan joined his wife full time, when in 2014 they got a 150-person (American teenagers) commission to build THATRue in the Latin Quarter. Reluctant to get involved in content work, his facility for languages sometimes drags him back: He also built THATRue Marais for another 100 teenagers (this time Venezuelan) with Daisy and Storsh trailing after to inject a bit of silliness. Content aside, Hernan predominately remains the CEO and man-behind-the-scenes of THATMuse, Ltd. ensuring that the company runs smoothly in both Paris and London – and that we have numbers in those books!
Anna Verde
Head of Bookings
Hailing from Palermo, Anna has enjoyed the multi-cultural and artistic atmosphere left behind by the many civilizations that conquered Sicily over centuries & millennia. Throughout her childhood her large family of 6 (she’s one of 4, all born within 5 years of each other!) travelled & explored museums regularly, shaping her life path and studies. With archaeological excavations in Italy & Greece under her belt and braced with degrees in Classical Archaeology (Undergrad at UCL, Masters from Oxford), Anna took on no small role as president of the Italian Society of UCL. Leading more than 300 Italians in London for two years, Anna’s organizational skills were tried and tested. In September 2019 Anna joined THATMuse, which married her worlds of art, history & creating events (with an injection of museum fun!), where she has taken the helm of developing an Italian market. Starting with the launch of our first Italian hunt in London, Anna is also working alongside Daisy in expanding our museum maverick fun to include Bella Italia!
Craig Methven
Head London Greeter
Craig hails from Fife in Scotland and studied English Literature at Edinburgh University. He has been a tour guide for almost a decade, starting with Edinburgh’s Old Town and underground Vaults. He now leads groups across London and through the British Museum, Natural History, National Gallery and Tate Modern. He has also worked in museum education for several years as a teacher at the Museum on the Mound, Benjamin Franklin House and The Chocolate Museum. He runs his own theatre company Back of the Attic (backattictheatre.com) making shows based on true historic stories, most recently The British Antarctic Expedition and their discoveries now at the Natural History Museum, where he can often be found researching bizarre and buried stories from the past.
A jack of many trades and history buff, Craig is our Chief Museum Greeter in London as well as contributing his expanse of museum trivia to our blog and social media campaigns.
Annie Caley-Renn
Content Strategist & Blog Editor
Annie first joined the THATMuse team as a Louvre greeter in 2015, while studying at the University of London Institute in Paris. After learning the ins and outs of the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay over the next year and a half, she took the helm as Head of French Operations from 2016-18. In 2018, she was delighted to combine her two greatest loves by creating THATMuse Harry Potter, a Harry Potter-themed treasure hunt on the streets of Paris. Annie left Paris (and THATMuse, briefly!) in 2018, to go on a belated, extended 6-month honeymoon with her husband, Scott, working as a freelance content writer along the way. She was delighted to return to THATMuse part-time in 2020, as our Content Strategist. Annie works from her home in Yorkshire, and can be hired as a freelance writer and content marketer on her website. When not working, she can usually be found consuming books by the dozen, performing kitchen experiments, and annoying her husband by taking too many photos.
Bryan Pirolli
THATNat Creator
Bryan is a journalist and academic who has been working in travel ever since his first internship at Condé Nast Traveler in New York. Since then, he has contributed to Time Out Paris and CNN as well as various travel guides while living in Paris. He has also given countless guided tours with various companies while completing his PhD at the Sorbonne. When he moved to London, he and Daisy hatched a plan for THATNat after Bryan casually mentioned an obsession with dinosaurs and all things related to natural history. The collaboration was a way to blend his research and tourism experience with the creatures beloved from his childhood. And his adolescence. And, well, his adulthood, too. He never misses a history museum when traveling, but the Natural History Museum in London is one of the world’s best, in Bryan’s humble opinion. He is excited that THATMuse has embraced this Temple to Nature – after all, Mother Nature is a fairly competent artist, right up there with Monet and Caravaggio, right?
Raelene
Musée d’Orsay Consultant
Originally from Down Under, Raelene has a degree in fine arts and environmental science, and a background working for the Australian Government. In 2002, a posting at the Australian Embassy realised her dream of living in the City of Light. The spell cast, it wasn’t long after returning home that Raelene was packing her bags to return, and she has now spent most of the past 10 years in Paris! Raelene discovered THATLou in 2013 while searching for a special way to celebrate her husband’s birthday. She quickly commissioned Daisy to create a customised hunt just for him, and was thrilled to recognise a kindred spirit. It wasn’t long before Raelene began working with Daisy, organising THATd’Or hunts at the Musée d’Orsay. When not in Paris, Raelene can be found daubing her own ’masterpieces’ in her beachside studio south of Sydney.
Barbara Brink
Graphics Consultant
Barbara Brink has been an (Australian-Swiss-Brit) expat in Paris for more than 20 years. Multi-talented & wearing many a chapeau, Barbara is the director of an award-winning architectural practice Morrison Brink Stonor Architects, as well as consulting at UNESCO, and teaching at Paris’s LISAA school of Interior Design and Architecture. Lucky for us she bikes up, down and around town, because she also keeps a stunning photographic blog called BBONTHEBRINK: Paris, a Visual Feast. You can see Paris through the lens of her eye on this website (the night scene au Louvre is particularly lovely). Barbara designed THATLou’s Kid Pack as well as being our graphic consultant over the development of THATMuse.
Heather Crew
Technical Assistant
Heather first came to THATMuse as an intern while studying abroad with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in London, spending her semester designing the THATMuse site you’re using right now! With backgrounds in both history and computer science, Heather has also worked in financial technology. When she’s not debugging code, she’s probably hiking or planning her next ski trip.
