Board of Directors

Mary Leighton

Mary Leighton is a founder and now board member of Language Partners BC. She has happily seen it grow from a pilot Arabic-English exchange program to an abundant organisation. Mary was born in Vancouver but has lived in other places including Saudi Arabia and Turkey. In other parts of her life, Mary has worked as a teacher and as a political organiser. Her favourite thing about LPBC is the good spirit of the people involved.

Jenna Hassan

Jenna (she/her) is a learner/teacher of English, French, Arabic, ASL, and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. Though her ancestry is Lebanese/Indian/East African, she grew up in North Vancouver on the unceded traditional territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Jenna finds delight in the language learning process and was thrilled to be elected to the Board of Directors for Language Partners BC. She is eager to connect with members and participants who learn/teach other languages! When she is not working as a language consultant with Where Are Your Keys?, you can find Jenna hiking the trails of North Vancouver where she lives with her tiny black cat, Minnow.

Michelle Kaczmarek 

Michelle is from the U.K. and has lived in Vancouver since in 2015. She is a PhD Candidate and Sessional Instructor at the University of British Columbia's School of Information, where she studies community-based repair groups. Michelle is passionate about finding creative ways to support diverse languages and cultures. After participating in the LPBC Arabic-English exchange in Summer 2016, she decided to volunteer to support the program. She was the Systems Coordinator for Language Partners BC for 5 years before joining the Board of Directors.

Grace Lee

Grace has been a facilitator with Language Partners BC since May 2017, and has led language exchange programs at Little Mountain Neighbourhood House, Masjid Omar Al-Farooq, and the Ajyal Islamic Centre. Grace is a linguaphile and polyglot; she completed her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at UBC, and is currently working on improving her proficiency in Japanese. Grace enjoys catching up with program participants every week, sharing snacks with them, and hosting potlucks in her home. Grace is delighted to help build community in Vancouver and welcome newcomers to Canada!

Eliza Preiswerk

Eliza is a seasoned facilitator and new Board member. She’s enjoyed meeting and connecting with people through LPBC over the years and the sense of community this organization fosters. She currently works in tech in an educational capacity. She’s an avid language lover, having grown up in Switzerland and completing her bachelor's in Hispanic Studies. In her free time, you can find Eliza adventuring in the forests of BC, handcrafting cards or letters for loved ones, or snuggling her cat Merlin.

Kathryn Stewart

Kathryn is a middle school teacher and works with neurodiverse students. Kathryn has lived and taught in Indonesia, Turkey and Australia. She loves the connections facilitated by sharing language and is excited about the future of Language Partners BC!

2023 Facilitators

Adrian Wong

Adrian was a facilitator at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House. He also volunteers at House events and on the Board, so is delighted to help bring together more of the community to connect over language and culture. Adrian is from Ireland and has been working as an architect in Vancouver since 2014.

Past Team Members

We are so grateful to all the people who have contributed to Language Partners BC!

Jake Czerpak, Emily Glass, Nada Alnajjar, Farah El-Afifi, Tom-Pierre Frappé-Sénéclauze, Anne Hales, Maryam Khezrzadeh, Eman Mostafa, Amira Mustafa, Tracy Strauch, Franny Varty, Mu Yang, Nathalie Buu, Yi Lin Huang, Vince Lok, Marie Shuman, Laura Stewart, Emily Tsang, Wing Wu.