Meet AFMSP

The mission of Alliance Française Mpls/St Paul, an independent chapter of a worldwide organization, is to serve our community by promoting the use and appreciation of French language and cultures through language classes, cultural programs, social events and information resources.

Our vision is to build a community of people passionate about francophone culture in all its global diversity, and want to become–through high-quality native language instruction along with authentic and exciting cultural activities and social events–the indispensable destination for all things French!

Join Us!

History

Founded in Paris in 1883, the Alliance Française promotes French language and culture. Worldwide there are over 1,135 chapters in 138 countries, with 130 chapters in the United States. The Alliance Française is the largest cultural network in the world. Each Alliance Française is governed locally and is operated as an independent, non-profit, non-political, non-discriminatory organization.

AFMSP Yesterday

The Alliance Française began in Minnesota in the 1920s with a small group interested in the language and culture of France, led by University of Minnesota Professor Jacques Fermand. By the 1950s, our local chapter had around 100 members. On October 29, 1975, the chapter was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the state of Minnesota. Today, the AFMSP has more than 1,200 members and over 900 students annually.

AFMSP Today

Every month, the Alliance Française hosts many cultural events for French speakers and Francophiles of all ages. Monthly activities include film groups and book clubs of varying levels of French. We also have a club for high schoolers, a young professionals group, and monthly breakfast conversation groups for the community. Additionally, the Alliance Française hosts a yearly Bastille Day celebration, a yearly month-long Mois de la Francophonie celebration, musical events, concerts, lectures, conferences, holiday celebrations and more throughout the year.

Venez nous rendre visite !

We pay homage to the Dakota People, whose land on which we gather to allow us to share the cultural diversity of the francophonie, who were unfairly ceded in the Treaties of 1805, 1837 & 1851. With respect to the past, present, and future, we honor the Indigenous Peoples including the Ojibwe who have cared and continue to care for this land, their connections to it and the vibrancy of their cultures. Thank you for joining AFMSP in welcoming people of all backgrounds and traditions.

For a century, Alliance Française has been promoting French language and French-speaking cultures through language classes, social and cultural events and information resources in Minnesota. An independent chapter of a world-wide organization, our Alliance Française is the 6th largest in the United States.

AFMSP plays a pivotal role in representing the global diversity of the French-speaking world in the Twin Cities and Rochester. Regardless of your language proficiency, nationality or background, everyone is always welcome.

Each year, we host 120 cultural events featuring local and international authors, scholars and artists, celebrating international cultures. In addition to the classes taught at our offices, our programs in schools across Minneapolis, St Paul and beyond, inspire hundreds of children and young adults to become Francophiles and life-long French speakers.

Board of Directors

AFMSP Officers 2024 - 2025

Corinne LAWRENZ, Chair

Carolee LINDSEY, CFO

Romain LORENTZ, Vice Chair

Jonathan VESSEY, Legal Counsel

Allison LINDBERG, Secretary

Directors at large

Gregory ANTHONY
Philip BARNES
Marit FULLER
Simin HICKMAN
Chris HOLDEN
Akshay RAO

Caroline SELL
Mary SCHAFFNER
Scott STANGELAND
Mickaël SUNELL
Sofia TERZIC
Bryn VAALER

Joly Center Staff

Christina Selander Bouzouina

Executive Director

Christina (she/her) was born in Minneapolis and moved to Europe after college. After living in London and Montpellier, she spent nearly 9 years in Marseille, working as an English teacher and program coordinator in lycées and universities as well as several private institutions. Upon her return to Minnesota in 2007, she joined the Alliance Française de Minneapolis/St. Paul where she became the executive director in 2008. Christina was appointed Honorary Consul of France in Minnesota in 2014 and was named Chevalier de l’Ordre de Palmes Académiques in 2015.

Alix Lewis-Sadrant

Education Director

Alix (she/her) is the Education Director at AFMSP. She manages educational programs and staff. She is from NE Minneapolis and returned close to home after living in France for about a decade. She lived in Nantes, which is definitely worth a visit! She has a BA from St Olaf College with a major in French and History and an MA from the Institute of French Studies at New York University. She also completed a degree in FLE (Français Langue Etrangère). She enjoys spending time with her family, running and biking and she also loves the visual arts.

Garance Valentin-Koepp

Cultural Programming Coordinator

Garance is from a little town near Provins, about 2 hours SE of Paris. She stayed in this region until she got her bachelors in History and English. Then she moved to Montpellier to get a Masters in Museums studies. She met a lot of international students during her time in Southern France, and loved sharing French culture with them and learning about their culture! She is a history nerd who also loves singing, hiking, arts, learning about everything and nothing, and who can quote both Astérix Mission Cléopâtre and Brooklyn 99 by heart.

Rachel Joyeux

Development Director

Rachel Joyeux (she/her) is a native of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where she began learning French as part of an Elementary Magnet School language program. In her role as Development Director, she works on the Annual Campaign and Capital Campaign fundraising, grant submissions and sponsorships, and organizes the annual gala and fall fashion fundraiser. Rachel has a Ph.D. in French from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she specialized in Medieval French and Italian literature and researched in Montpellier, Paris, and Venice. She lives in Saint Paul with her husband and son (and two cats), and she loves live music, ice skating, volunteering, playing Minecraft with the family, and traveling.

Juni holtgrewe

Youth Programs Coordinator

Juni (she/her) is from Minneapolis and has a B.A. in French and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. For her junior year at UMN, she studied abroad in Montpellier, France, where she lived with a host family. Upon her return, she conducted a French Linguistics research project on the Southern French accent for her senior thesis. She first joined the AF team as a Cultural Programs Intern, and then continued on as the Youth Programs Coordinator. She enjoys introducing the youth to French and French culture, and hopes to inspire in them the same passion that she had as a young French student in Minnesota!

Brenna Mosser

Office Manager

Brenna Mosser (she/her) is a dancer. She studied dance for three years in London and then three years in France. She currently dances with ARENA Dances and Threads Dance Project, as well as running her own company, Brenna Mosser Dance Works. Brenna loves working at the Alliance! In her role she oversees AF’s gift shop La Boutique and especially its French Corner Bookstore. Outside of dancing and French, Brenna enjoys spending her free time on prairie restoration projects, reading sci-fi novels, and camping.

Damien Sadrant

Education and Technology Advisor/Instructor

Bonjour from Damien! He has taught French at the Alliance since 2011. He comes from Vendée, on the French Atlantic coast, and now lives in Columbia Heights. He studied history and literature in Nantes. In a previous life he was a sailing instructor in Western France. When he’s not teaching, Damien plays guitar, cooks (he is a trained crêpier!) and he loves to fish and garden. He has a passion for language and culture, and absolutely loves grammar :D A bientôt!

Karine Cantin

Adult Education Coordinator/Instructor

Karine hails from Vendée, situated in the northwest part of France. After studying at the Université de Nantes, Karine came to Minnesota to teach French. She started with the Alliance Française in 1992 and has continued to be a key component of our teaching staff ever since. Her love of language and her desire to foster an appreciation and understanding of French culture is apparent in each of her classes.

Jenna thorsett

Administrative Coordinator

Jenna serves as Administrative Coordinator, overseeing the front desk and an array of everyday operations at the Alliance. After years freelancing and working with arts and antiracism nonprofits, Jenna studied in Minneapolis and Montpellier and graduated as an English major. She worked as an English teaching assistant in several rural schools in Centre-Val de Loire, then did graduate work in French literature in Vermont and in Paris. She enjoys her bicycle, browsing the stacks at Wilson library, and occasionally publishes her writing.

Max hollingsworth

Facility Coordinator

Max takes care of anything and everything having to do with the radiant AF building. From changing light bulbs to resolving IT issues, Max is the go-to fixer here at AF. When not reading, bouldering, or playing basketball, Max spends the majority of his free time composing and performing music in the Twin Cities as the head of an independent music/artistic label that he founded while living in Lyon.

Valérie tRemelat

Cultural Programs Assistant

Valérie Hélène Tremelat is a creative person born to a French father and a French teacher mother. She majored in French at UW-Madison and studied abroad in Aix-en-Provence. The area around Mont Sainte-Victoire is where her family is from and is the part of France closest to her heart. With a background in graphic design and previous career in legal and adult education, she is excited to create cultural programs that bring France a little closer to us in Minnesota!

JON LIPP

Part-Time Receptionist

Jon Lipp (he/him) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from Saint Louis Park High School. During college, he studied in Montpellier, France and attended Université Paul Valéry. Later, he attended the Professional French Masters Program at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and interned at a marketing research company in Reims. He has travelled extensively in France and Switzerland and can't wait to retire to the South of France. In his spare time, Jon enjoys baseball, football and hanging out with friends at home.

Ella Kooyer

Part-Time Receptionist

Ella (she'/her) is originally from the small town of Rolling Fork, Mississippi, but moved upriver to Minneapolis where she studied at the University of Minnesota. While fulfilling a language requirement for her dance degree, she discovered her love for the French language and (fueled by her love for the disney film Ratatouille) decided to add a major in French as well. She had a wonderful time studying abroad in Montpellier, France. She loves tarantulas, cooking vegetarian food, studying French Medieval Literature, and knitting. Her favorite French word is 'coucou!'

amanda Hertzel

Part-Time Receptionist

Our French Instructors

MERIEM ALAOUI

Instructor

Meriem was born and raised in Morocco, where she did all her schooling in the French system. She loves the French language and Francophone cultures, and has taught French to preschoolers and college students. After moving to the Twin Cities in 2011, one of the first calls she made was to the Alliance Française to inquire about French resources in MN! She started as a volunteer before joining the teaching team. Speaking, sharing and teaching in French in MN, among a wonderful group, has been a treat. In Morocco, she worked in international business development, then worked in finance, in the corporate headquarters of a multinational pan-African banking conglomerate. She has a BBA with a major in finance and int'l business, from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane and a MS in Information Systems Management from Ferris State University in Michigan. She also holds a certificate in teaching French as a foreign language (FLE). She is passionate about keeping her roots alive, volunteering, and learning.

SARAH ANTHONY

Instructor

Sarah grew up in New Brunswick (Canada) and is of Mauritian and French descent. Although she is an East Coaster at heart, she has enjoyed living in many Canadian cities, such as Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. She has a PhD in French literature from the University of Toronto and has been teaching this fascinating language since 2001. She recently moved to St Paul from Montreal, where she was working at the French Language Centre at McGill University. She loves to share a good meal and laughter with family and friends, travel, dance and, of course, teach French ! Aren’t those the best things in life?

Ama eli boumi

Instructor

Ama (she/her) was originally born in Togo, and identifies as a global citizen. She made Minnesota her home two decades ago after getting her MA in international law from the university of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (France) and BA in public administration from the university of Lomé (Togo). She has served the Minnesota state government in a variety of progressively responsive leadership roles. She is passionate about teaching, curriculum design and is pursuing an educational doctorate at St. Cloud State University. An avid world traveler, Ama loves exploring new horizons and embracing unknown world traditions. As a member of the Alliance community, she enjoys sharing her knowledge of the French and Francophone culture. One of her favorite activities is to share food recipes with her students (of course, the world is a better place when we share a great meal and conversation en français, n’est-ce-pas?)!

Sarah giddens

Instructor

Sarah is from MN where she fell in love with French language in her middle school class. She continued her studies at Washington University, where she studied French, Chinese and the Humanities. Her passion for building connections and communication took her to Kansas City where she worked in marketing and development for a non-profit community health clinic for two years. She followed the call of her love of French to pursue a teaching license and Masters in Education at the U of M, specializing in Second Language Education. After four years teaching high school French, Sarah is excited to continue to grow her teaching skills with the Alliance. When not teaching, Sarah enjoys spending time with her daughter and husband, discovering new books, cooking (and mostly eating) wonderful meals, spending time outdoors, and swing dancing!

Abdel Hamouchi

Instructor

Abdel is originally from Morocco, where he taught English as a foreign language for many years. He joined the Alliance Française team in April 2018, and feels fortunate to work as the host of Alliance Française’s Ciné Club as well as a part of a wonderful team of teachers. He is passionate about education, creative writing and cinema.

Marie-Jeanne Hargitt

Instructor

Marie-Jeanne was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. After receiving a degree in Elementary Education, she moved to Bogata, Colombia, where she taught French in a Swiss school and backpacked through South America. After returning to Switzerland, she did education research with a team of Swiss educators and conducted seminars for teachers. She arrived in Minneapolis in 1982 and has taught at the Alliance Française since 1983. Throughout the years, teaching French to children continues to be one of her many passions, as is evidenced by her work as a founder of the Normandale French Immersion Elementary School, and by her dedication to enriching the children’s programming at the Alliance.

Marie-victoria NELSON-MARTIN

Instructor

Victoria grew up in Toulon, France, where she would visit la Corse every school break; meaning she speaks with a mix of Southern French accents! Victoria went to university in Lyon & Ohio, where she earned her undergraduate diploma. She went back to studying in Lyon, where she received her Masters degree. Victoria is passionate about teaching French to all, she creates and teaches classes for kids and adults! Victoria loves art, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and go on shopping sprees in her free time!

Sandra Vendé Nelson

Instructor

Sandra Vendé Nelson is originally from the Bordeaux region and has been a French teacher for about twenty years. She studied American poetry and got her MA at the Université d’Avignon, focusing on the poetry of Hart Crane. She moved to Minnesota from Southern France in 2001 and has lived in Austria for three years to teach at the French Institute. She has been part of the Alliance Française community for a decade, teaching adults and children. In her free time, Sandra loves to travel, hike, read and write.

Mabel Paredes-Nichtová

Instructor

Mabel was born and raised in the northernmost province in Argentina. She obtained her BA in Translation from Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in the early 90s. Soon after, she moved to the Twin Cities to further her studies, obtaining an MA in Communications from Minnesota State University - Mankato. She has worked in education, translation and interpreting (Spanish-English). In 2010 she moved with her family to Belgium, where she studied French, led a conversation group at a nursing home and volunteered for American Field Service (AFS). Upon her return to Minnesota in 2022 she joined ISLA, where she teaches Spanish and coordinates an exchange students programs. In her desire to continue sharing her love for the French language and culture, particularly Belgian culture, she found AFMSP. Mabel, a social butterfly, enjoys spending time with her husband, traveling, trying foods from different cultures, exploring arts and nature; and when possible loves spending family time with her three adult children.

Alain Perez

Instructor

Bonjour de Alain ! Originally from Cuba, Alain arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 25th, 2014. Having learned French at the Alliance Francaise in Havana, Cuba, he knew that he wanted to become a French teacher to share his passion for French culture and language. Alain is very happy to be part of the team of teachers of the Minneapolis Alliance.

Sandra rellier

Instructor

Sandra is from France but left right after high school in 2008. She attended the University of Minnesota from which, 12 years later, she also graduated with her Ph. D in “Hispanic and Lusophone Literatures and Cultures.” Though her degree is not in French, her dissertation focused on the memories of the Portugese retornados. In her free time, Sandra enjoys playing the sport Squash, spending time with her friends and talking to her family that lives in 3 different European countries.

Francine Roche

Instructor

Francine Roche is from Montréal, Québec. She has lived in Minneapolis for many years and has three children who all live here. Teaching the French language and francophone cultures has always been very close to her heart. She spent more than 20 years working with children and was a Montessori school director and also worked with French immersion programs here in the Twin Cities. She joined the Alliance Française in January 2011 and has loved every minute of it. She loves music and sings professionally in the Twin Cities.

Martine Sauret

Instructor

Martine Sauret was born in Paris, France. She received her Ph.D., in 1991 at the University of Minnesota. She taught at Western Michigan University and Macalester College, MN as an Associate Professor. She studies the relations between writing and space in cartography, art, and literature. She published several books ; Her most recent one, Errances et Cohérences dans les anamorphoses et les Trompe-l’œil : enjeux et pouvoirs de 1470-1600 was published by Peter Lang in 2022. She has written extensively many articles on Renaissance Literature, Early Modern France, and Francophone studies in various scholarly journals.

DELPHINE SHERWOOD

Instructor

Delphine is a French-American transplant, in MN since 2019, originally from N California and SW France (le Bearn and le pays Basque). She has attended international schools her whole life, including 4 years in Paris, where she obtained her International Baccalaureate. She got her BA in history at Vassar College and her MPA at Indiana University at Bloomington and has worked for international non-profits for the past 20+ years, living and working all over the world from Mali to Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Malawi with stints in Washington DC, NYC and Baltimore. She currently lives in downtown Minneapolis with her three small dogs and works for the Center for Victims of Torture, managing their program in Uganda. She is also a certified health coach and personal trainer. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her dogs, reading, shopping and travelling.

Sasha Nicolle

Instructor

Sasha has served as an event volunteer at the Alliance Française for over 10 years, and now has joined as an instructor with over 7 years of experience teaching French to students from elementary school to undergrad. She studied French Theatre at L’Institut Catholique in Paris during her university studies. After graduation with her BA in French Education from Bethel University in St. Paul, MN, she moved to Rennes to teach English and pursued further French instruction at L’Université de Rennes II. Additionally, Sasha has over a decade of experience in International Development. She has supported communities in Haiti, Sudan, and South Sudan on initiatives such as micro-finance, clean water projects, education, and human trafficking prevention. Sasha now resides in South Minneapolis and when she’s not working is often found biking, reading, attempting DIY projects on her home, or enjoying deep conversations with her closest friends.

Audrey marchand

Instructor

Audrey (she/her) was born in St. Louis Park, MN but lived 16 years in France. She completed her Baccalauréat in Cessy, France while also passing her A-Levels through the British School of Geneva, Switzerland. She is currently in her 3rd year of a Marketing Bachelors at the University of Minnesota, while also working as a Student Event Planner for the University. She still visits France frequently as her father and sister live near the French-Swiss border. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, photography and the outdoors.

Patricia Teefy

Instructor

Patricia Teefy is very excited to be the French teacher at the Alliance Française. She is originally from Minneapolis, but has lived in France and California. She has been teaching French language and literature for over twenty-five years from middle school to college students and adults, English as a Second Language, and even a little Spanish. She also speaks or has studied Italian, Portuguese, German, a tiny bit of Japanese, and Latin. Oui, she love languages! She has one son and two cats. In her free time, shes enjoy spending time with family and friends, playing pickleball, doing yoga and fitness, hiking, movies, cooking, gardening, travel, reading, and the outdoors.

Claire chamberlin

Instructor

Born in Minneapolis, Claire Chamberlin (she/elle) earned her bachelor's degree in French and Global Studies from Lawrence University in 2023. So far, she has lived in a Francophone country on two occasions, once while studying in Dakar, Senegal during college and once during her year of teaching English in Montélimar, France after graduation. Her favorite part of teaching at the Alliance is empowering the kids to believe in themselves and their abilities as students of French, and she loves working with students who, like her, are neurodivergent. In her free time, she writes, reads, and teaches herself more languages.