OISE Year of the Horse: Business and Culture Night
Gallop into the new year with your OISE community!
Join the OISE Chinese Alumni Association as we celebrate the Year of the Horse in 2026. Hear from four inspiring entrepreneurs, all OISE graduates, who will discuss the steps it took to start a business in Canada. The panelists will offer their unique insights leading into U of T Entrepreneurship Week.
We look forward to celebrating with you, your family, and friends over light refreshments, a short expert panel discussion, and fun cultural activities. Including pretend dumpling-making, Chinese calligraphy, cultural quizzes, Chinese paper cutting, and more!
Alumni Panelists:
- Bryan Mo, Managing Director of Panda Mandarin, on behalf of Founder Yollanda Zhang, BEd
- Cleo Zhu, MEd, Franchisee and Director of Inspiration Learning Center, North York
- Xiaotong (Chloe) Dan, MEd, Founder and Director of BOYA Chinese
- Emily Gong, PhD student, Co-Founder of Asian Arts and Culture Trust
Moderated by Sulin (Celina) Cheng, MEd, Chair of the OISE Chinese Alumni Association
This event is open to all OISE and U of T community members, the kids in your life, and friends. Spots are limited so register you and your guests soon.
About the Speakers
Bryan Mo, Managing Director of Panda Mandarin
Bryan Mo (he/him) is a multilingual educator and entrepreneur with two decades of experience spanning business, education, and technology. He is the Managing Director of Panda Mandarin (), a different kind of heritage language school inspired by his daughter’s curiosity and his family’s cultural roots. As a proud husband to Dear Younger Me author Yollanda Zhang, Bryan brings deep personal insight into the intersection of education, healing, and identity. Bryan is speaking at this event on Yollanda’s behalf. A graduate and former lecturer at OISE, Yollanda is currently completing her training to become a registered psychotherapist and is supporting walk-in therapy services for Asian youth and families through HF Care (formerly Hong Fook Mental Health Association). Reach Yollanda on Instagram @yollanda.zhang and . Connect with Bryan .
Cleo Zhu, Director of Inspiration Learning Center North York location
Cleo Zhu holds a Master of Education degree from OISE, University of Toronto, and a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Her professional experience spans educational settings in both China and overseas, including teaching, international school collaboration, and student support services. These experiences have shaped her belief in a student-centered approach to education and the importance of integrating Eastern and Western educational perspectives. Since 2023, Cleo has been leading and developing a K–12 after-school learning centre in North York, Toronto, where she brings together educational theory and practice. Her work emphasizes creating learning environments that support the whole child and help students build confidence, curiosity, and long-term academic skills.
Xiaotong (Chloe) Dan, Founder and Director of BOYA Chinese
Xiaotong (Chloe) Dan is the Founder and Director of BOYA Chinese, a Chinese language program based in North York, Ontario. Established in 2015, BOYA Chinese provides level-specific Mandarin instruction for students aged 5 to 16 and has served a wide range of families across the North York and Greater Toronto Area. Chloe is a member in good standing of the Ontario College of Teachers and holds a Master of Education from the University of Toronto. She is also a MACTE-accredited Montessori Teacher and a Certified Heritage Chinese Teacher. Her professional background integrates formal teacher education, heritage language pedagogy, and child-centered instructional design. BOYA Chinese places strong emphasis on teacher professionalism and ongoing pedagogical development. The program’s all full-time teaching staff and many part-time instructors have received their teacher education and training through OISE.
Emily Gong, Co-Founder of Asian Arts and Culture Trust
Emily Gong is a second-year flex-time PhD student in Higher Education and a member of Professor Creso Sá’s Research Security Lab. She has worked in higher education and has cofounded startups and nonprofits in the UK, China, and Canada. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours from Queen’s University and her Master of Science in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the School of Globalisation and Area Studies from the University of Oxford. She is also the Co-founder of (AACT), a Canadian federal not-for-profit organization that provides public programming to increase empathy, appreciation, and representation of Asian heritage, arts, and culture in Canada. Follow AACT on and .
Sulin (Celina) Cheng, Moderator
Celina is a higher education professional with interests spanning across the field. Since receiving her MEd degree from OISE in 2014, she has been working in different capacities at the University of Toronto. Currently she is the Summer Abroad Program Manager at Woodsworth College. She was highly involved in the delivery of International Certificate Programs at the School of Continuing Studies, and later worked in Recruitment and 91Ö±²¥ for the full-time MBA program at Rotman School of Management. Prior to her work with U of T, Celina worked at the School of Continuing Education at Tsinghua University, a top university in China. She is also a dedicated volunteer on the OISE Alumni Association, serving in roles such as Member-at-Large, Vice President (Internal), Analyst of the OISE Mentorship Program, and Chair of OISE Chinese Alumni Association.
