About the Founder - Charlie Wilson

Hola y bienvenid@s!

My name is Charlie and learning Spanish changed my life….more than once.

I “officially” started learning Spanish at the age of 12 but only really discovered the world behind the language at 17 when film, music, geography, literature, dance, food, art, theatre and history came tumbling into my life, thanks to my incredible Spanish teacher at the time.

It was then that I decided to travel to South America for the first time at 18, followed by a Spanish and Russian degree at university, then many more trips to Spain and Latin America which only served to convince me more that this was the part of the world I had to go keep going back to.

There were no cultures or countries that pulled more at my heart strings and made me feel more at home than Spanish speaking countries.

The people I met and stayed in touch with, the music I listened and sang to, the food I tried and loved, and dance moves I attempted and failed, amongst so many other life changing encounters made me start to think about how I could offer these incredible experiences more locally as well as more internationally.

And this is how Deiya came about, a social enterprise that, not only aims to change the concept of language learning, but also to provide experiences that can make members feel like they are travelling without having to go overseas or out of their local community. By offering these experiences, Deiya hopes to support the local native Spanish speaking community by promoting their language and culture as well as show how they contribute to the community.

Communication, Culture and Community