Combining her passion for cultures and communications, Ysabel Viau founded ACCULTURA to provide organizations with sustainable diversity, equity and inclusion solutions. Her mission: contribute to creating a more inclusive world where difference is wealth.

Holding an MBA from the Université de Sherbrooke and a member of a select group of some 800 professionals around the globe with a CQ certification, Ysabel has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur, GM, CMO, writer and cultural awareness trainer.

She has provided communications and training services to local and international organizations in various industries, including technology, design, lifestyle/fashion, publishing and culture, as well as worked in cross-cultural capacities with renowned multinational brands such as Intel, Aldo, Jeff de Bruges and ELLE (Hachette Filipacchi/Lagardère). Also engaged with academia, Ysabel developed a pioneering course incorporating communications and cultural intelligence, which she teaches within the master’s program in International Arts Management at the Université de Montréal’s HEC business school.

The Montreal native reflects the Canadian metropolis’s bicultural and fluently bilingual profile, as well as its global mind. Ysabel’s passion for learning about different cultures has led her to explore over 38 countries in North America, Europe, Australasia, Africa, and Asia, giving her a unique perspective on multiple cultures and global market development.

Equally passionate about writing, Ysabel published Chroniques du Timor, a socio-economic and cultural analysis of East Timor under Un supervision, in 2006. Her debut novel NOMADE: La pour suite d’AméliaKhan (2016)—which she also published in its English version, NOMAD: The Pursuit of Amélia Khan (2017)—was inspired by her many travels.