Michelle Roycroft has worked for almost 25 years as an educator, trainer and coach at the post-secondary, private and corporate levels. She began her academic career in Canada as a lecturer, teaching university courses in Humanities and Cultural Studies before shifting her focus several years later to the American corporate world, providing English as a Second Language, Cross-Cultural and Accent Modification training to expatriate professionals and their spouses. Michelle’s love of traveling, culture and adventure has taken her to more than thirty countries around the globe, including Mexico and China where she lived and worked for a number of years. In 2009 she also travelled with the pop-group, the Jonas Brothers, on their Jonas Brothers World Tour as the language, accent and communication coach for the Wonder Girls, their Korean back-up band. In addition to being a certified facilitator of the unique Cultural Detective cross-cultural training method, Michelle holds a BFA and MA from Concordia University, Quebec, a certificate in English Language Training to Adults (CELTA) from the University of Cambridge, London, and is certified as a P-ESL Accent Modification Trainer by the Institute of Language and Phonology, California (ASHA - American Speech - Language - Hearing Association approved). Michelle’s qualifications have been enriched not only by her exposure to diverse nationalities and the challenges of living and working abroad, but also by her continuing endeavor to advance her own second language skills - French and Spanish. Having also recently commenced studies in Mandarin, she has a genuine understanding of the struggles second-language learners face. At Wiseplanet, Michelle combines her unique skills and experience to train individuals with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, in English language, culture and communication.

Toshi Takano is a Cross-Cultural Consultant and Japan Expert with Wiseplanet Solutions. Prior to his consulting role at Wiseplanet, Toshi had a distinguished 30-year career in the Energy industry at General Electric, where he held a number of senior professional and managerial roles both inside and outside of Japan. Throughout his corporate career Toshi led diverse teams of business professionals from nations around the world and conducted business in numerous countries including, Japan, Korea, Singapore, France, Germany, Taiwan, Austria, Thailand and the USA – to name a few. Toshi’s area of expertise, Japanese-American cultural diversity training, was acquired not only through his extensive cross-cultural experience working for a multinational corporation, but also through the personal challenge of transitioning through two ex-patriot assignments in the USA from Japan. With first-hand knowledge of both Japanese and American culture, Toshi is adept at utilizing both his corporate expertise and cultural savvy to help business professionals bridge the challenging differences in business practices between the East and West. Originally from Japan, Toshi holds a Degree in Engineering from Tohoku University, Sendai - one of Japan’s top tier universities, is a graduate of the Management Development Course (MDC) at GE’s prestigious John F. Welch Leadership Development Center in Crotonville, N.Y., and is fluent in Japanese and English. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia

Heidi Denzel de Tirado has been working as an intercultural communication consultant since 2003, and has conducted numerous cross-training sessions in France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Russia, to teachers, students, and various groups from academia and industry. Christie’s Auction House, Amsterdam, international fashion retailer Claudia Straeter and various teacher training and professional development institutes have been among her clients. In addition to having published a variety of articles on applied intercultural communication, intercultural competence and film, Heidi has also designed and taught courses in culture and language at a number of global institutions, including the Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Freie Universität, Berlin and various European Goethe-Institutes, Germany’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. Additionally, she had an important role in the development of the Goethe-Institute’s globally employed ICC (Intercultural Communication and Integration) training model. Born in Germany, Heidi has lived, studied and worked in the USA, France, Canada, Spain and Russia. She holds a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication and Cultural Studies, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany, and an M.A in Cultural Studies & Intercultural Communication, French & American Language and Culture, Universität des Saarlandes, Germany. Heidi speaks German, English, French, Spanish and Dutch fluently. Heidi currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where she teaches as an Assistant Professor of German, in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Georgia State University.