DIANA YAZIDJIAN, FOUNDER DFY
Over the span of 20 years, Diana has built a reputation as an entrepreneur, partner and early adopter of technology solutions. She launched her first venture in 1998, consulting for large retail businesses such as the Jean Coutu Group and Essilor. Her first internet endeavours as an entrepreneur began in 1997: she collaborated in the first study of its kind on e-commerce in Canada which gave way to a first book on Canadian e-commerce – Retail-ca: Connecting with Canadian E-Shoppers – published by the prestigious marketing research firm JCWilliams, designed one of the first studies on micro-marketing for Pharmacies Jean Coutu, as well as the first content portal, Vision1to1, for Essilor, the leader in corrective lenses. Her experience extended on to Customer Relationship Management and its respective applications. Diana was also Marketing lecturer at l’Ecole des sciences de la gestion and Concordia University, formerly a member of Competitive Intelligence Association and the Canadian Marketing Association.
Moving to France, Diana joined Orange-France Telecom, leading business units to a customer-centricity and overseeing over twenty technology innovations. It was during this time that she became one of the first executives in France to harness the power of storytelling to engage with customers and stakeholders. Diana was among a group of early adopters and influencers who became known for their thought leadership on topics relating to customer service best practices and multi-channel servicing consistency.
Diana realized the power and potential of social media marketing early in its development. Upon her return to Montreal, she used social media and personal networking, as well as traditional media to help convince a French manufacturer and a Canadian distributor to import a line of products for which there was a market. Diana knew there was a great opportunity after having surveyed potential users off and online. As a result, the products are now on the shelves in specialized stores. The effort allowed her to develop a new methodology to create awareness with a mix of social and traditional media outreach.
In December 2011, Diana launched DFY, a bilingual content strategy boutique for the large enterprise and start-ups, to help them win more business, perform online and better service their markets while improving their social presence.
Building on her expertise in strategic storytelling, Diana has recently specialized in applying narrative techniques to AI-driven projects, helping teams translate complex technologies into human, accessible, and engaging stories. She works closely with both technical and marketing teams to bridge the gap between innovation and adoption. Diana has also developed a unique approach to prompt engineering, optimizing how organizations interact with large language models (LLMs) to drive real business value across sectors — from healthcare to professional services to creative industries.
Diana is a sought after speaker at marketing and corporate events, an active member in Montreal’s start-up community and a prolific blogger. She set up the francophone IT blog at IT World Canada and propelled the social voice of a diversity of start-ups.
Diana earned her MBA from the Université du Québec à Montréal specializing in Business Management and Marketing. She currently resides in Montreal.