Born to a Syrian father and an American mother, Emilie has integrated cultural diversity from an early age as a central element of her existence, an integral and formative part of her personality. The languages English, French and Arabic have been the carriers of the different cultures that have accompanied her from the cradle to adulthood. No doubt this particularity contributed to the open-mindedness that led her to teaching, while her atypical background in no way suggested that she was destined for a career in education.