Meet Gizelle F. Rezende

Board table 

I’m warmly greeted with an infectious laugh and reassuring tones when I first speak with Gizelle F. Rezende , English Australia’s new board member. Talking with a complete stranger often intimidates people, but Gizelle chats confidently. This confidence has allowed her to live in different countries and lead Greenwich College as its general manager. But it’s her passion for people that has driven her success and her thirst for understanding different cultures that has compounded these successes.

 

Understanding different cultures and perspectives threads itself through our conversation, which is perhaps unsurprising given Gizelle grew up in the diversity that is Brazil. However, her interest is more than simply being born in a diverse country. Living in four countries: Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and China needs something more, coming to Australia to study Cambridge needs something more and studying in chilly Dunedin, New Zealand certainly requires something more.

 

This range of experiences typifies the international student, and Gizelle is definitely an international student success story. She came to Australia in 1996 as a Cambridge student, studied Commerce at Otago University in New Zealand, which promptly hired her as a marketing officer, then returned to Australia to begin a sales and marketing career which has now placed her at the helm of Greenwich College. Somewhere in there was a stint living in China when she was the Sales Director for the APAC/ANZ region for Embassy English, impressive to say the least.

 

Along this journey, Gizelle has encountered many people who have encouraged her, ‘I had wonderful mentors that gave me a lot of chances to grow’. Critical to this encouragement was trust, something Gizelle sees as essential to developing your staff. ‘Trust was critical in not curbing my thinking’ she says, because this allows you to take a broad idea and layer it ‘into something manageable and deliverable’.

 

Another critical mentor in Gizelle’s life is her mother. ‘She was always a professional woman, very confident, very driven and balanced the act of family and career really well’, skills Gizelle now appreciates more and more.

 

Gizelle also appreciates how fortunate she was to travel overseas when she was young. Through this travel, even at a young age, she fuelled her passion for people and understanding other cultures. ‘My passion for extension of view of different cultures started here and drove me to come to Australia,’ and continues to drive Gizelle.

 

This passion continues in her outlook on the sector and the challenges it faces. The melting pot that is an English language classroom throws up challenges that teachers must prepare for, and there are many professional development resources that can help them do so. But what resources are available for areas beyond the classroom of an English language school? English Australia could play a role in developing resources that tackle the intricacies of customer service in the international student sector for instance.

 

Looking beyond the classroom could also help solve some of our industry’s challenges.  ‘I believe the solution to these challenges is to look at the student experience holistically. It’s not only about curriculum; it’s what we do with them [the students] inside and outside of the class.’ A student who is unhappy with their homestay may bring this to the classroom which then impacts their learning or beyond. The services that we offer to support international students outside of the classroom may make all the difference.  English Australia’s mental health survey may be quite timely.

 

Yet, perhaps the best solutions come from the students themselves, and what motivates them to pack up and come to another country to learn a language. It also means remembering the sheer courage needed to pack up and come to another country to learn a language. So we return to understanding people, that thing that continues to inspire Gizelle, and she reminds me why it is so important, ‘we are in the education industry but the reality is our business is people’.