The Team
Marie Lemeunier
Executive Director
David Woods
Operations Manager
Anatol Rennie
Customer Service & Webmaster
Messan Lawson
Customer Service, Certifications Manager
Hoorieh Rezasoltani
Customer Service
Lobarkhon Ibragimova
Cultural and Communications Project Manager
Karen Johanna Casallas Acero
Teacher
Aymeric Legrand
Teacher, Youth Programs Coordinator
Julie Nolot
Teacher & Education Manager
Adèle Arpin
Teacher
Pauline Le Bot
Teacher
Germain Malumalu
Teacher
Adèle has taught at Alliance française since 1997. She is an independent educator. She has worked for a number of years at all levels of language training in the public and private sectors, including creation, roll-out, coordination, and evaluation of training programs. The aspect she finds most satisfying is working directly with students, for whom she creates interactive and relevant activities that focus on students’ needs in the real world. She is tirelessly committed to her work. She speaks French, English, and Spanish.
Karen, 26. She taught French at the Alliance Française of Bogota and also taught Spanish in France, in middle and high school. Passionate about traveling, it is not the first time she comes to Winnipeg. She came by the capital of Manitoba 6 years ago, for the Francophonie of the Americas Young Ambassadors Forum. Curious, she is always looking for new activities to enjoy during the winter.
With a business background and a passion for Language Arts, Messan is involved in numerous cultural and educational activities with the goal of promoting the French language. It's this same passion which has led him to the Alliance Française, where he's been an administrative assistant since 2016. In his spare time, he reads, and participates in cultural and sporting activities.
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Pauline comes from Brittany, in France. She loves crepes but also teaching French. After spending some time in Scotland, Latvia, and France, she arrived in Winnipeg in 2018. She likes cycling to work and she is learning how to skate.
Aymeric comes from Nancy (France) and has already worked in Kansas City (USA), Riga (Latvia) and Melbourne (Australia). Passionate about soccer, Aymeric is a world traveler.
Marie moved to Manitoba in September 2019. Originally from Paris (France), she grew up in the Grenoble area, in the French Alps. Marie spent 10 years working and studying in Montreal, QC , so she's no stranger to the Canadian rigorous winters, nor all things maple syrup. Working in the field of international cooperation since 2005, she has worked and studied in various parts of the world: France, Canada, the UK, Morocco, Oman and Bahrain. She has a passion for discovering new cultures and meeting people. Bilingual in French and English, Marie has also studied Arabic, and is always looking for opportunities to fine-tune her language skills. At the helm of Alliance Française, she intends to lead the organization with a special focus on promotion of cultural diversity and eco-responsible initiatives.
Germain hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a specialist in French, he taught from 2007 to 2015 at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre in Windhoek, where he dealt with a wide variety of students, notably civil servants and diplomats. He joined the Alliance in 2015, having arrived in Manitoba with his wife and three children. He took advantage of his first winter here to become our resident curling expert.
After obtaining her Master’s in French as a Foreign Language in 2001, Julie decided to start her career by working abroad, and so spent a year in Maastricht (Netherlands) as a French Language Assistant in a primary school. Then, she worked in a language centre in Dijon, France for seven years, teaching French to employees of foreign companies based in Burgundy. She arrived in Winnipeg in June, 2008 (with her cat) to join the Alliance team. As Teaching Coordinator, Julie handles requests for private courses and distance learning, among other duties. Born in Troyes (Champagne, France), Julie has many passions: cooking, creative pastimes; her “heart will go on” for a certain well-known Canadian chanteuse…
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Anatol is an avid student with diverse interests. While he holds a Bachelor of Jazz Studies, he is currently pursuing a degree in Physics and Computer Science, in the hope of combining his passions. He first learned about Alliance française when his parents were taking classes there, and eventually got the chance to join the administrative team in 2013. Among other things, he contributes to website and graphic redesign for the Alliance. In his spare time, he listens to and composes jazz, gets a little too involved in politics, and goes in search of colourful bowties.
Hoorieh joined the Alliance team in February 2019 as an Administrative Assistant. She came to Winnipeg in July 2018, and began her Ph. D. in French Language and Literature at the University of Manitoba. She obtained her BA in French Translation in her home country, Iran. Subsequently, she studied at the graduate level and she received her MA in Translation Studies. She is the author of a Persian-language book published in 2018 on the subject of Children's literature and translation challenges for this age group. Fluent in Persian (Farsi), French, and English, Hoorieh has also learned Arabic at school and she is really interested in learning different languages to become more familiar with other cultures. She loves to work in a team and with people from different cultural and social backgrounds. Her passions are cooking, reading novels, watching movies and documentaries, learning languages, and participating in cultural activities.
David joined the Alliance team in 2006 as an Administrative Assistant. He had previously worked in administration within the Francophone community of British-Columbia (his home province) --, as volunteer and occasional employee. Since coming to Manitoba, he has married a Prairie Francophone, is involved in his community, and is raising three little Manitobans.