Who We Are

Valérie Berset-Price, Founder and Principal of Professional Passport

With over 15 years of international business development experience as a dual citizen of Switzerland and the United States, Valérie is an experienced consultant, cross-cultural trouble-shooter, international speaker, and trainer. She is the President and Founder of Professional Passport offering practical insights on the essential tools necessary to achieve meaningful and profitable business results internationally.

Valérie has an extensive entrepreneurial background in international business development and cross-cultural training. Over the past fifteen years she has worked for Swiss, Taiwanese, South African, French, Brazilian, and U.S. companies. Valérie specializes in international troubleshooting, cross-cultural mediation, intercultural communication, and international strategies for management executives.

Valérie is a graduate of Swiss International Business School and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is also a North American Small Business International Trade Educator (NASBITE.)

Valérie has had the honor to present her training program at the World Customs Organization Conference in Morocco and at the U.S. Embassy of Santiago, Chile. She is an international business expert for the Huffington Post, a frequent contributor to Training Magazine, the Vancouver Business Journal and other trade publications. She has lectured at Portland State University, the University of San Diego, and Oklahoma State University.

Through her Professional Passport®: Work Anywhere with Confidence curriculum, Valérie provides training that brings the global business world into focus, bridging cultures to succeed in today’s global marketplace.

Valérie is fluent in English, French and Spanish. She resides in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. and Geneva, Switzerland. You can contact her at valerie@professional-passport.com or via her website form.

Your Global Bridger in the United Kingdom, Robyn Spens

Robyn Spens is Director of Professional Passport in the United Kingdom. Our international team of consultants have a broad range of disciplinary expertise, which is fundamental to the global nature of our work. She is part of a team of consultants whom recognize and understand the challenges of communicating effectively in a global environment. Our training specializes in understanding our own cultural behaviours, values and beliefs whilst, providing the skills to successfully engage and bridge the gap with other cultures. We focus on equipping you with the skills to lead, negotiate and communicate across cultures.

Before joining Professional Passport Robyn founded the London based business diplomacy consultancy Montague-Spens. With over 15 year's experience in business development serving a diverse mix of clients in Russia, Asia and the Middle East, Robyn has worked all over the world for Russian, French and US companies. Her background in international business and cross-cultural problem solving gives her the unique ability to get to the root causes of any cultural disconnect.

As a keynote speaker, she has made presentations most recently at the UK Banking Forum and Google, UK. Robyn is frequent contributor to JFW magazine on issues of cultural etiquette.

Her expertise is focused on inter-cultural trouble shooting, and helping people to communicate ef?ciently in dif?cult situations. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as small and mid sized organizations. She holds a degree in law and additional credentials, in International Relations attending both, the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy Brussels, and the Protocol School of Washington.

For additional information contact Robyn at robyn@professional-passport.com.

Your Global Bridger in Canada, Dominique Vaughan-Russell

Dominique Vaughan-Russell is the President and Founder of Vaughan-Russell International, a consulting firm located in Toronto, Ontario, specializing in building better intercultural relationships, resolving cross-cultural misinterpretations, international trouble-shooting, and mediation for companies invested in doing business on a global scale.

Dominique is a dual citizen of Canada and the UK. Born in Calcutta, and raised in Hong Kong, she attended both English and German Swiss International Schools followed by degree studies in California. She has worked, lived and traveled extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

Her comprehensive background in international travel and intercultural relations make her an expert at understanding and communicating with a wide variety of cultures. Her training ability on intercultural communications and cultural intelligence bridge the cultural gaps, resulting in increased global success.

Dominique presents, consults and is workshop facilitator for one of Canada’s largest National Financial Institutions. As well she has presented at the Association of Image Consultants International [AICI] in Tokyo, Roadrunner Sports in San Diego, the HRPA in Toronto, Govig and Associates in Phoenix, and she has been a guest lecturer for ASU Skysong in Phoenix, and an instructor at George Brown College in Toronto.

Dominique holds a degree in Fashion Merchandising from California. She sits on the board and is VP Programs for AICI Canada, and is VP Membership for CC Toastmasters in Toronto. Dominique is co-author a book and has contributed articles to numerous magazines.

Dominique is a certified trainer and "Global Bridger" for Professional-Passport and may be contacted at dominique@professional-passport.com.

Your Global Bridger in Canada, Daphne C. Magna

With 20 years of experience in Education, the Performance Arts and Public Speaking, Daphne is an effective communicator with a vivid cultural intelligence that transcends cultural or industry specific barriers. She is the Founder and President of Chameleon Fresh in Toronto, specializing in cross-cultural public relations, business etiquette, and professional branding for fields driven by mass media and international relations. She is the new Editor of Inside Image, AICI’s international newsletter.

Working in fields focused on global communication, she has a deep understanding of the impact of visual, non-verbal and verbal communication, and recognizes their importance in building rapport and getting one’s message across to various markets. She began her public speaking career at 10 years old saving the Rouge Valley Park in Scarborough, Ontario, and consequently representing her municipality for the Ontario Government. Since then she has been a spokesperson for several NGO’s and charitable organizations such as Youth for Human Rights International, Read2Rap, Power Camp Basketball and Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

Her unique cultural awareness is a distinct advantage, lived and learned through her biracial family, coupled with growing up in one of the most multicultural neighborhoods in the world. Flanked by Greek orthodox neighbours on one side, Indian Hindus on the other, a Native Indian reserve one block away, and the congregation of her “United Nation” of friends every weekend included representatives from Jamaica, Estonia, Indonesia, Greece, Trinidad, Australia and Poland. Her extensive travel on four continents has fostered ongoing cultural research and an invaluable cultural perspective.

Daphne has an Honours BA from the bilingual Glendon College of York University in Toronto, focused in International Relations and Languages, and a certification in Law and Social Thought. She is also an Educational Trainer with Applied Scholastics International. She is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish. Daphne is a certified trainer for Professional-Passport and is one of our representatives in Canada. You may contact her at daphne@professional-passport.com.

Your Global Bridger in Montreal, Canada, Nadia Ferrah

Nadia Ferrah is managing director and founder of DISTINCTION COACHING™. Based in Montreal, QC, Canada, this firm specializes in cross-cultural intelligence, International Protocol and business diplomacy. She is a Consultant, Coach, Trainer, Keynote Speaker and Columnist for Inspiro and Premières en Affaires Business Magazines.

Convinced that global business requires more than ever intercultural awareness, Nadia trains professionals from different cultures to get along better with one another, and helps international organizations in their growth through the improvement of their business practices and intercultural intelligence.

She has over 20 years of experience in human resources, training and education around the world. She grew up in Europe and has lived in different parts of the world including in the Middle East and North America, and she has worked for International companies worldwide.

Nadia holds a bachelorsbach degree in business from the University of Paris XII. She was trained by the leading international protocol school, The Protocol School of Washington and is a certified Global Bridger by Professional Passport.

She is our Canadian representative in Montreal. You can contact her at nadia@professional-passport.com.

Global Marketing Director, Robin St. James

Robin St. James is a technology design and creative media professional with over 18 years experience within management, production and business development.

Robin founded her own company Ilouma Media Design in 2010 where she was intent on leveraging her extensive network (see attached list) to bring emerging technologies into the marketing and advertising arenas.

Robin was nominated for an Emmy as writer/producer and managing the production of prime-time television promotions and reality videos such as "The Making of the X-Files" for Monitor Award winning company, Storm Media Studios. Robin also added web-based solutions when she produced the first webcast for Epic Records and the group Korn.

Prior to adding creative media production to her portfolio, Robin was a successful designer and manager of technology and intranet business strategies for the hospitality industry.

Robin implemented multi-million dollar campaigns for nation-wide corporations such as Century Management and MDS Quantel; and was also one of the first in the US, to install complex intranet technology communications for hotels such as the Regent Beverly Wilshire amongst others.

In 2011 and up to present day, Robin joined Professional Passport as its Global Marketing Director.