AFSR Staff

Photo of Karen Frazer , Board Member at the Alliance Française of Santa Rosa

Clémence Heymelot

Born and raised in France, Clémence’s first experience with the Alliance Française happened at a very young age, in Bujumbura, Burundi! With a dad in the French military, Clémence and her 3 sisters lived in Burundi for a year in the early 90’s during their father’s deployment, and would go visit the Alliance’s library there every week with their mom.

Clémence’s childhood involved quite a few moves (every 3 years) until her family settled in Nantes when she was entering CM2 (5th grade), and the city of Nantes is what she calls her hometown (and Bretagne, the most beautiful region of France, her home region). There she joined a rowing club, and completed her education while also working with kids during all the winter, spring, summer and fall camps possible (lots of vacation time in France!).

After getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management in Nantes, she took a gap year to be au pair in Maryland, and loved experiencing the Sport Entertainment Industry in the US as a spectator for a year. When she went back to France, she knew she wanted to pursue her education in Sporting Events & Event Management, and she enrolled in a Master’s Degree in that field at the University of Paris. She completed her second year of Master’s Degree at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) and had a blast immersing herself behind the scenes of big sporting events, but her drive for planning and organizing events really grew exponentially when she moved to Santa Rosa in 2016 and joined Bike Monkey, a production company putting on cycling events, as their Festival Manager. Promoted to Event Director a couple of years later, she is still working full time for Bike Monkey in that capacity. Clémence also created her own event company in 2021, Phase Clé Events, to broaden her portfolio and organize events catering to different audiences, and consult for other cycling events in Texas or Colorado.

With strong ties to the Santa Rosa French American Charter School (SRFCAS) and to the French community in Sonoma County in general, joining the Board of AFSR and becoming their Event Coordinator was a natural fit for Clémence, and she became official in October of 2022. She is excited to create more events and gatherings for the community to enjoy, and to work tirelessly with her fellow Board members to pursue the mission of AFSR by spreading the French culture and creating long-lasting Franco-American friendships.

Favorite French word: gousse