After traveling the globe six times over, Arun Masand sold his shares in an adventure travel company he founded in Calgary and Toronto and headed out west. His experience as an adventure and expedition leader in the tourism industry has given him a logistical savvy that helps him in the day-to-day running of any team, and as a mountain climber he appreciates any challenge. He is always looking for the latest technology that can help a team be more efficient and productive. He says he will not give up his dream of riding his motorcycle across the Sahara Desert and enjoys sharing travel stories with students, clients and friends.
Arun is an immigrant himself and moved to the west some 30 years ago and later began sharing his tourism and travel experiences with students at a tourism college in Vancouver and Surrey. During this time, Arun Masand also launched his own Business Consulting company and has been consistently helping small and big organizations with their digital development, strategic operations and profitability in a number of fields. As an inveterate believer in education and an active businessperson, he has great passion for sharing his business experience and IT abilities with students from all over the world through informative and interactive lectures and presentations.
Arun is a commerce graduate from the University of Toronto and a Certified Canadian Risk Manager from Simon Fraser University as well as a computer programmer and web developer. His marketing savvy and years of working with corporate entities and fortune 500 companies in the technology and insurance sectors have enabled him to discover the best methods and strategy for gaining the competitive advantage. Arun Masand also served the City of Vancouver as a Police Officer in a former career path and is proud to be a Notary Public in the Province of Saskatchewan and a Commissioner of Oaths in the Province of British Columbia. He is a proud Canadian and encourages any immigration to this wonderful country.
Arun is a people person and develops meaningful connections with his students at Pacific Link College, where he is a contract lecturer on Post Secondary Digital Media and Business studies, and loves sharing his interest on global economies, business and enabling a talent pool for the work force. As an educator, he motivates, and nurtures a love for learning and encourages participation in every course. Respect, honour, hard work and truth are the bywords that he lives by and he inculcates a love for knowledge and a passion for living with each one of his students. One of his favourite Latin mottos which he has carried from his high school years is “Non scholæ sed vitæ discimus” – Not for school, but for life
Mary Esmenda – M.sc., B.sc., PCP – Business Hospitality Management
“Teaching is a commitment, an endless effort to inspire minds and to touch lives”. This has been Mary’s guiding principle for 21 years of teaching Business, Hospitality, Marketing, Accounting, and beyond. She is passionate about it!
Mary completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce major in Business Management at St. Paul University, and received the Program Achievement Award. She started teaching a year after her graduation. As a young Business educator, she was given an opportunity to become a Higher Education scholar, and decided to pursue Master of Science in Marketing. She studied at the De La Salle University, the Philippines’ leading university in Business. Moreover, she took Accounting and Economics courses at Langara College in Vancouver, BC. She is a certified Payroll Compliance Practitioner awarded by the National Payroll Institute in Ontario, and a licensed insurance and investment advisor awarded by the Insurance Council of British Columbia. Her next educational goal is to pursue her PhD.
She taught to culturally diverse students in several private career colleges in British Columbia such as Ashton College, Brighton College, CDI College, Greystone College, LaSalle College, SELC Career College, Canadian College, and Pacific Link College. She also taught in Vietnam, delivering UK’s BTEC Higher National Diploma courses. She also handled several courses in Hospitality and Tourism programs the Philippines.
Volunteering is one of her priorities in life. For her, giving back to the society makes a real difference in people’s lives. She uses her teaching skills to help others. In China, she was a volunteer instructor for English Conversational Skills, and in Canada, she is a volunteer workshop speaker for new immigrants.
Her teaching objective is to enhance students’ knowledge and skills through a combination of theories and practical applications. Furthermore, she makes sure to instill good values and inspire students to achieve their career goals. She always creates a friendly atmosphere in the classroom and give students the freedom to express their thoughts. Her students would describe her as a transformational and charismatic instructor.
Jessica Deol – Childcare Language Assistant
Jessica is a motivated individual who is always looking forward to trying new things. Her experience of working with children and families has taught her to be patient and understand other’s perspectives and difficulties.
After completing grade 12, Jessica took a short course that got her the Early Childhood Education Assistant certification. This allowed her to work in a childcare centre. After receiving the certification, she has been working mainly part-time and occasionally full-time hours at childcare centres. Jessica has gained over 5 years of experience working in a childcare setting with all age groups.
While working at a childcare centre, she completed my Bachelor in Business Administration in Human Resources Management at Kwantlen Polytechnic University along with a diploma in Early Childhood Education at Sprott Shaw College. Being in two full-time programs at the same time came with its challenges but she was dedicated and knew she could achieve her goals. In May 2021, her educational journey came to an end and she stepped into the next phase of her life.
As a child, Jessica always dreamed of becoming a teacher and says that she is truly blessed that she was given the opportunity to take on the role of an Early Childhood Education Instructor at PLC. Jessica believes that a classroom setting is judgment-free and an open ground for everyone to share, ask questions and support one another. She is looking forward to sharing her experience with students and support them to achieve their educational goals.
Melodie Erickson – ESL Academic Support
Living in an increasingly multicultural and multilinguistic society enriches the lives of all Canadians; however, it does not come without its own set of challenges. Being able to understand and respect each other at school or the workplace is vital to one’s success in Canadian society. This is why I am excited to be part of a staff that understands the needs of our students and chooses to work together to help them achieve their goals. My role on this team is to provide ESL Support Classes to students who may require this extra help.
Over the past sixteen years since graduating from my Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education programs at the University of New Brunswick, I have had a wide variety of employment experiences. I taught in international and IB-World schools in Korea, Taiwan, China and the United Arab Emirates. I taught English for Academic Purposes for international students enrolled at Queen’s University and the University of New Brunswick. During that time, I also completed my Master of Science Degree in Multidisciplinary Studies at SUNY Buffalo. However, one of my most rewarding teaching experiences came when I was hired to teach in the LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers) program in New Brunswick. This required me to shift away from teaching in my comfort zone of Academic English to teaching basic literacy skills to students, some of whom, were illiterate in their own language. Knowing that I taught someone to read for the first time in any language was a real honor as a teacher.
I feel that teaching abroad and in Canada has shaped me into the person I am today. I have had the amazing opportunity to teach students from all around the world at various levels of proficiency, in both academic and functional English programs. As we navigate the online learning environment together, I am excited to find myself learning something new each day, as well!
I hope to see you in my class as we learn and improve our skills together!
Iris Burog – Information Technology Communication
Iris Burog finished her post diploma in Human Resource Management at College of New Caledonia. She chose this career in order to continue learning the behaviour and how to deal with different people in the environment as she takes part in honing and leading them for their future endeavours and career development.
Iris has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from De La Salle – Lipa in Computer Science. She has also acquired a Certificate of Completion in Basic HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP in AMA Computer College. She used these achievements to work in a call centre for a year, basically troubleshooting software applications and hardware failure services.
For almost 12 years, Iris was a part of a Learning Centre, a business owned by her older sister. She was a private tutor and at the same time, an online ESL teacher. Over the years of teaching, she was able to find out that not only her passion was in technological sense, but also in managing students in achieving their future goals.
With the experience Iris’ encountered, she was able to find out that what’s more important in pursuing her job was not only about the money, but how she enjoyed and loved her job, and how she can treat the people in her environment. Changing career for her was not that difficult, because she easily got along with finding her passion. This fact was also the reason why she decided to study and work in Canada, so she can have a deeper knowledge or understanding of people’s behaviour, skills, and attitudes in a diversified environment.
Stuart Thom – Business Hospitality Management
Stuart is very excited to be a part of the Pacific Link College Team and looking forward to the future. He brings with him over twenty-five years of experience and training in the hospitality and tourism industry. Stuart started his career in his home town of Ottawa Ontario. Since then, he has been able to work and travel throughout western Canada in Vancouver, Victoria and Langley B.C. across the Rockies and into Calgary and Banff Alberta. As far North as Beaver Creek Yukon and as far South as Isla Majeures Mexico. He is very much a people person and loves to travel.
Stuart is also a graduate of Global TESOL College and had the wonderful opportunity to teach English as a second language in central Thailand for two years. He found he learned as much if not more from his students as they did from him. It also gave him the opportunity to travel around Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Over the last ten years Stuart had been working for Gateway Casinos and Entertainment, and the last five years he was the General Manager of their Match Eatery & Public House Langley location. The Flagship of their newly developed brand. Here he was responsible for the daily operations along with the training and development of team members and Managers for new sights opening across Canada. The most rewarding part of that job for him was in helping facilitate and celebrate the success of these individuals.
Stuart is looking forward to helping facilitate and celebrate your success here at Pacific Link College.