Phan Thị Quỳnh Trang (Trang Phan) is the Founder and President of the Canada Vietnam Cultural & Educational Council (CVCEC), a federally incorporated non-profit organization based in Toronto, Ontario. Her work centres on education diplomacy: building trusted, long-term partnerships between schools, school boards, universities, families and public institutions in Canada and Vietnam.
Her path into education did not begin in a classroom. After graduating in Accounting and Finance from the Banking Academy of Vietnam, she started teaching English as a freelance teacher in 2015 and found her calling. She went on to qualify in TESOL, train teachers in cities and provinces across Vietnam with Educap – Australian International TESOL, and earn a Master of Arts in TESOL from Horizons University (France) on a 50% scholarship. In 2021 she founded the Mentoring Program for Professional Development of Educators; her study of virtual mentoring for ESL teachers was later published as a co-authored book chapter (IGI Global, 2024).
She also brought her classroom experience into EdTech and educational publishing with FLYER, Twinkl and the ClassIn Mentoring Program. In 2022 she moved to Canada, where she worked in teacher training and international student pathways. As a mother raising her family in Canada, she saw how easily children can drift away from their Vietnamese language and culture, and how much international students and families need trusted, accurate guidance. That experience led her to found CVCEC in December 2024.
At CVCEC, she leads the Viet Youth Readiness Hub, a youth leadership and civic engagement initiative launched in Toronto in April 2026 and part of CVCEC's project selected for the University of Toronto School of Cities' Leading Urban Change program, and "Trường Tiếng Việt Của Em" (My Vietnamese School), a free online platform for Vietnamese language and culture learning for Vietnamese-Canadian children and families, built by a teaching team in Ontario, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. CVCEC also acts as an institutional connector between Canadian public education and education stakeholders in Vietnam, helping students and families make informed, safe decisions.
Today, alongside CVCEC, she is completing a Graduate Certificate in Government Relations at Seneca Polytechnic to strengthen the policy side of her work. She believes lasting cooperation is built on quiet trust, people-to-people connection and long-term commitment.
