Alliance Française Made a Difference in Upi Struzak’s Life. Now She is President of AFUSA 

An interview with recently-appointed President of Alliance Française USA, Upi Struzak.

How does a woman born in Kenya to Indian parents, raised in Geneva since she was four years old, then moved to Rohnert Park, California, with her family end up as the new President of Alliance Française USA (AFUSA) while continuing as President of Alliance Française Silicon Valley (AFSCV) since 2016? 

Upi Struzak has been involved with Alliance Française chapters for many years. She started as a French language student when her mother discovered the Alliance Française as a place to learn French in their new home of Geneva. Struzak’s family was fluent in Swahili but not French and the local Alliance Française helped them in their new life. 

“It was brutal for my parents as they had to learn French to succeed,” said Struzak. “The Alliance Française was so helpful.” 

When Struzak moved with her Polish husband to Rohnert Park in 1995, she started a new career creating websites. One of her first clients was the Alliance Française Santa Rosa (AFSR) and she joined the chapter. But she couldn’t just develop the website. She spent six years as AFSR’s president. When her family moved to San Jose, she continued her technology career but also joined what was then the Alliance Française Santa Clara Valley. That is now the AFSCV located in Los Gatos which serves the entire Silicon Valley area. Struzak became AFSCV president in 2016 and AFUSA president in October 2024. 

She has seen a lot of change in the local chapters, along with the national organization. Alliance Française has a history of providing language education for its members, but modern life and technology now demand a wider set of ways to not only learn French but to experience French culture. 

“Two years after the pandemic we could already see that we were in another space,” said Struzak. “The whole dynamics, the structure of Alliance Française changed. Hybrid and online classes are now part of the system, but people also want to meet and many classes are going back to in-person.” 

The problem is that many of the Alliance Françaises reduced or eliminated their meeting spaces during the pandemic and now need to accommodate going back to in-person learning and events. Children’s language classes particularly need face-to-face interactions between student and teacher. AFSCV offers French for Mon Petit in-person after school classes at the Los Gatos facility but also offers online classes for teens and both online and in-person classes for adults. Currently in-person is about 35% of the classes and Struzak wants to increase that but location size is an issue. 

“We are looking at opening a space in Palo Alto,” said Struzak. “Right now, we are offering classes at Emerson School because people from Palo Alto don’t want to drive to Los Gatos as the commute can be difficult. It’s important to offer the benefits of holding classes both in-person and online, a hybrid solution.” 

Another challenge is the age group that attends the Alliance Française events. According to Struzak, most of the AFSCV students are retired who want to meet in person or working adults who want to attend online evening classes. To attract younger members, along with increasing the total number of members, the Alliance Française chapters nationwide are holding a variety of cultural events and activities. For example, AFSCV has several children events including Contes Sans Frontières (Fairy Tales Without Borders) and Les Pitchouns (The Little Ones) that use themed activities to learn French. Plus many adult events are available online and in-person such as movie evenings, presentations about art and history and even an evening of painting while sipping wine and speaking French. 

“I want to involve younger students from different areas in the states and make them part of an AFUSA junior board plus add them to local boards,” said Struzak. “We want to start a discussion with them and hear their new ideas. The Federation of Alliances Françaises USA  is 123 years old and we need their ideas to be a strong part of the future.” 

The AFUSA also offers a variety of cultural events available to any Alliance Française US chapter or member.  All are online, but showcase experts in art, history and even virtual visits to places throughout France, including the Louvre. 

With the need to have the French experience more personal, immersion trips to France are a new type of event offered by both AFUSA and many Alliance Française chapters. The trips focus on language and culture as they engage members in a language-immersion experience. AFUSA is offering a trip to Bordeaux, France in September 2025.  

“This was a trend that started one or two years ago but it’s gone wild,” said Struzak. “Everyone is offering immersion trips now. For us, it started two years ago when we attended the Alliance Française rencontre mondiale (world meeting) in Paris and learned they were offering lots of popular immersion and travel events. So many of the Alliance Française chapters in the US started creating the immersion trips for foreign students and for Francophiles. There is a French class each day and then a daily excursion. All totally in French.” 

Another challenge for the Alliance Françaises is finding French language teachers claims Struzak. It’s an hourly job and tough to provide a working income in expensive places to live like Silicon Valley. But with the growth of the local Alliance Françaises, the number of teaching hours is increasing, thus providing better wages. 

The key challenge for Struzak is broadening the image of Alliance Française in the US. With her years serving on the Alliance Française boards and serving as president – and now serving as President of AFUSA – her main goal is to increase knowledge of the organization’s strong ability to create a community of fans that want to learn French in an easy, fun manner and experience France’s creative culture.  

“It must be done nationwide because there are many other types of (French language) schools, but we need to work on name identity. Alliance Française’s brand must be at the same level as national brands. For example, many people don’t know about AFSCV or the community work it does and yet the organization has been here for 55 years.” 

Developing brand marketing strategies will be one of the main focuses at the upcoming mid-year AFUSA meeting in Boston March 26-28, according to Struzak. This planning will give it a head start to promote branding techniques at AFUSA’s annual event in Miami in October.   

When Struzak isn’t running Alliance Française boards, she is cooking French boeuf bourguignon or raclette from her Swiss youth which her family enjoys. Her Indian side adds curry to many a dish. She also listens to French music by Michel Jonasz, Manu Chao, Hubert-Felix Thiéfaine and Anne Vanderlov, but her favorite song is Chère Amie by Marc Lavoine. Both French and English (plus some Polish) are understood by everyone in her family. She says she prefers the south of France, although she loves Paris, and her dream is to live in a small house in southern France. But that will have to wait as she faces the challenges of being president of two Alliance Française organizations.  

“I can’t stop now,” said Struzak. “I love what I do, what we can do, and look at what we have done. I love organizing things, putting them together and making new contacts.” 

March is Francophonie Month which not only promotes the French language but also the heritage and cultural diversity of all countries touched by France. Struzak is off to a good start by working to make Alliance Française in the US an even better recognized and loved organization. 

Lead photo credit : Upi Struzak