Afsi Varasteh, President and Managing Director of Beyond Bilingual, spent ten years of her youth living in Paris with her family before coming to Toronto in 1986. While in Paris, she learned to speak the language and appreciate its cultural diversity.

As a young adult living in Toronto, Ontario, she occasionally visited Montreal, Quebec. Growing up in Canada, she developed friendships with French Canadians and gained familiarity with their culture. This experience allowed her to discover the rich spectrum of Francophones represented in the Canadian mosaic.

Afsi began her career as a bilingual recruiter in 1995. She excelled quickly, learning the needs and nuances of the industry while working with agencies like Bilingual One, Anne Whitten, and others for twelve years.

In 2007, she launched Beyond Bilingual, a recruitment agency that started with just one desk in an office space rented from another agency. Within a year, Beyond Bilingual hired its first staff members and moved into its own office in an upscale business center in North York.

Recognizing the competition from established bilingual agencies in the Greater Toronto Area, Afsi knew she needed to differentiate Beyond Bilingual’s value proposition. She envisioned a boutique agency service offering the focused attention clients desired, something lacking in larger agencies.

Afsi realized bilingualism was just the starting point for qualifying candidates. Beyond language skills, she sought candidates with specific personality types, values, capabilities, and industry experience that aligned with employers’ unique roles, teams, and workplace environments. This “Beyond Factor” remains core to Beyond Bilingual’s success, as they continue to serve the recruitment needs of countless organizations across various sectors in the Greater Toronto Area.

Since its inception, the company has developed a strong, proprietary network of exceptional candidates and a reputation for exceeding the expectations of both local and global organizations.