The ladies behind Leghetna

We’re Marie and Heba, two Lebanese moms living in Montreal, with the dream of creating something that would help preserve the beauty of the Lebanese dialect for our children and future generations. This vision became the foundation of Leghetna, and that’s how our journey began. As we searched for ways to make learning the Lebanese dialect fun and accessible for families, we knew it had to go beyond just words—it needed to be a full experience.

Together, we create playful, educational content grounded in a speech-therapy-based approach, all written in spoken Lebanese using "text-style" (Arabizi). Our resources are designed for families who want to introduce or strengthen the use of spoken Lebanese at home. Our flagship products include four storybook collections for children, created especially for parents who don’t read traditional Arabic. And this is just the beginning! We’re also developing activity books, vocabulary sheets, games, and so much more!

Marie, co-owner, woman with long dark hair wearing a white blouse in an office setting

Marie Kozhaya

She holds a degree in communications and has a deep understanding of phonetics through her experience in translating Arabic songs for choirs. She also brings years of experience working in student integration and educational tutoring, giving her unique insight into the challenges Lebanese children face in learning Arabic as a heritage language. Her keen sense of language and communication helps adapt our materials for the modern, multicultural family with engaging, easy-to-use content that parents can read effortlessly.

Heba, co-owner, a woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a floral blouse against a beige background

Heba Kalakeche

She is a speech therapist with over 12 years of experience working with bilingual and multilingual preschoolers. As the mind behind the platform Les Kids Kalam, Heba regularly shares tips with parents on how to support & manage bilingual and multilingual language development at home. Her expertise in language acquisition and multilingualism plays a vital role in shaping Leghetna’s educational resources, ensuring they are child-friendly, pedagogically sound, and effective in promoting language learning.

Sara Haidar

She is our talented illustrator! Born in Lebanon and living in Montreal for over 30 years, Sarah has a background in English literature and teaching English as a second language, but art has always been her guiding passion. To her, stories and art are a source of hope and happiness, capable of transporting people, young and old, into a world of poetry, storytelling, and color. She believes art and literature are not only gateways to the future but to joy in a sometimes difficult world. Through her illustrations, she is thrilled to bring our stories to life at Leghetna!

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