Our Story

Before Voyages Renaissance

Long before the company, the team, the departures to Mérida, and all the people we support today, there were Yoan and me. We have now been moving forward together for 17 years. We have travelled, built projects, changed plans, faced risks, learned from our mistakes, and lived experiences that have profoundly shaped the way we see things.

We have also both undergone several surgeries abroad. We experienced the research, the questions, the uncertainty before leaving, the vulnerability that can be felt when finding yourself far from home for a procedure, but also some truly meaningful human experiences. These experiences are part of the reason Voyages Renaissance exists today. Because behind the company we created, there are first and foremost our values as people.

We have always loved helping, listening, finding solutions, and being there when someone is going through an important stage in life. We strongly believe that it is possible to be professional without becoming impersonal, that serious topics can be discussed with simplicity, and that every person deserves to feel heard and respected, especially when it comes to their health and their body.

That is also what inspired us to humanize the experience surrounding healthcare abroad. To make a sometimes complex reality easier to understand. To make information more accessible. To allow people to ask questions, understand the possibilities, limitations, and risks, and obtain the information they need to make their own decisions freely and with confidence.

A human-centred company matters. One where time is taken to listen. One where things are explained clearly, even when they are not always easy to hear. One where support does not mean deciding for someone else, but rather helping them move forward with a better understanding of what lies ahead while respecting their choices.

Voyages Renaissance was born from all of that. From our story, certainly, but above all from the desire to make a difference in the way a person can be informed, prepared, and supported when considering a project as important as this one.

— Andrée-Anne Lebeau, Founder of Voyages Renaissance

Expertise Built Through Experience

Our personal story was only the beginning. The years that followed allowed us to turn it into genuine expertise.

Travel was already part of our world and, throughout our journey, we have supported thousands of people, both in leisure travel and in the field of medical tourism. Added to this is our own experience with multiple surgeries performed abroad.

All of this taught us one essential lesson: a medical journey is not a leisure trip with a surgery added to it.

It requires a different way of planning the experience. The pace, transportation, accommodations, logistics, and organization must take recovery and the recommendations of healthcare professionals into account.

The journey must adapt to recovery, not the other way around.

That is why we chose to make it a true specialty by creating Voyages Renaissance, our own Quebec travel agency, fully licensed and regulated by the Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC), dedicated exclusively to medical tourism.

We did not simply add medical tourism to our travel expertise. We built Voyages Renaissance around it.

Over the years and through hundreds of completed journeys, we have focused our expertise, resources, and methods on the unique realities of medical travel. We have built upon our existing strengths in management, organization, coordination, and financial planning while refining and specializing them through our experience in medical tourism. Today, this expertise is supported by a strong network of collaborators, professionals, and resources in Quebec and Mexico, as well as extensive experience coordinating international travel.

This specialization has enabled us to develop a particularly in-depth expertise in organizing and supporting medical travel for Canadian clients. When someone chooses Voyages Renaissance, they are not simply entrusting us with the organization of a trip. They are entrusting us with their time, their investment, and a project that has often been considered for months or even years. They have the right to expect an experienced, structured, responsible, and highly specialized organization behind that project.

It is this expertise, this structure, and this experience that we have built over the years and that we now place at the service of every project entrusted to us.


Our Approach

Much More Than Organizing a Trip

At Voyages Renaissance, we believe that a medical tourism project deserves time, information, preparation, and genuine human support.

Our approach is built around a structured journey: understanding your project, facilitating risk assessment by independent healthcare professionals, helping you prepare properly, coordinating your trip, and being present before, during, and after your stay.

Our personal experience with surgery abroad, our knowledge of medical travel, and the many people we have supported over the years have shaped the way we work: staying human, proactive, organized, and accessible, while respecting the limits of our role.

We are not here to make decisions on your behalf or convince you to undergo a procedure. Our role is to provide you with the tools, support, and information needed so that you can make your own decisions with confidence and move forward at your own pace.

You remain at the centre of your project. We are here to help you navigate it more effectively.

Vous restez au centre de votre projet. Nous sommes là pour vous aider à mieux le traverser.

Inform

Prepare

Coordinate

Support

Our Values

What Guides the Way We Support You

Because every medical tourism project is built on trust, our values are reflected in every decision we make and in every stage of your journey.

RESPECT

Respecting your story, your choices, your pace, and your decisions, without judgment or pressure.

EMPATHY

Listening, understanding, and being genuinely present. Several members of our team have personally experienced surgery themselves, and we understand the difference the human aspect can make.

EXCELLENCE

Paying attention to details, maintaining high standards, and continuously improving the way we organize, coordinate, and support each journey.

SAFETY

Giving a central place to preparation, prevention, and the assessment of risk factors by the independent healthcare professionals involved.

INTEGRITY

Acting with honesty and transparency, recognizing the limits of our role, and providing you with the information necessary to make informed decisions.

Our Team

Different Experiences, One Shared Way of Supporting You

Behind Voyages Renaissance is, above all, a human, complementary, and dedicated team.

Each person brings their own experience, background, and strengths at different stages of your journey to ensure that every step is well prepared, organized, and coordinated.

All members of our team have personally experienced surgery themselves, which adds a very personal understanding to the professional expertise developed over the years. This experience allows us to understand your reality from a perspective that goes beyond logistics alone.

Different roles, but shared values: listening, informing, organizing, and supporting with respect and humanity.

Andrée-Anne Lebeau

Founder, Co-Owner & Client Support Specialist

Entrepreneur and someone who has personally experienced a major transformation journey—including bariatric surgery, a 165-pound weight loss, and reconstructive surgeries abroad—Andrée-Anne understands medical tourism through both personal and professional experience.

Today, as part of the leadership team at Voyages Renaissance, she brings her expertise in management, organization, and business development to a deeply human approach built on listening, transparency, and respect for each person’s choices.

A Personal Story Behind the Entrepreneur

Before founding Voyages Renaissance, Andrée-Anne was already a businesswoman, a manager, and someone deeply committed to helping others. But an important part of what she brings to the company today also comes from a journey she personally experienced.

In 2018, she began a bariatric surgery journey. That decision marked the beginning of a major transformation that would eventually lead to a weight loss of 165 pounds.

A transformation of that magnitude, however, cannot be measured by a number on a scale alone.

She personally experienced what it means to see your body change significantly, to learn to live with a new reality, and eventually to consider reconstructive surgery options following major weight loss.

Her journey continued with several reconstructive surgeries performed abroad.

She understands both sides of this experience: the excitement of seeing a long-considered project finally become reality, but also the research, the questions, the doubts, the expectations, the preparation, the travel, the recovery, and the vulnerability that can be felt when undergoing a procedure far from home.

She also understands that it is possible to be proud of how far you have come while still wanting to continue your transformation. Both realities can exist at the same time.

Transforming a Personal Experience into Something Meaningful for Others

These experiences did not make Andrée-Anne a healthcare professional, nor does she seek to be one.

What they did provide is a deeply human understanding of the journey.

When someone shares concerns before surgery, questions about their body after major weight loss, expectations, or simply the many thoughts that arise before making an important decision, she often understands very concretely where those reflections come from.

And that distinction is precisely what matters to her.

Her role is not to provide medical opinions or make decisions on behalf of others. Evaluations, recommendations, and medical decisions belong to the independent healthcare professionals involved.

Her role is to listen, facilitate access to information and appropriate resources, coordinate, prepare, and support.

Because she firmly believes that a person who is better informed and better prepared is also in a stronger position to ask questions and make their own decisions freely and confidently.

A Businesswoman Behind Voyages Renaissance

Personal experience is only one part of her story.

Andrée-Anne is also an entrepreneur and manager.

Long before and since the creation of Voyages Renaissance, she has developed skills in management, organization, business development, finance, coordination, planning, and team leadership.

As Voyages Renaissance has grown, these skills have continued to deepen.

Today, she contributes to the company’s overall leadership, business development, continuous improvement of processes, relationships with team members, and the strategic thinking behind the experience offered to the people we support.

She enjoys understanding how the different pieces of a project fit together, anticipating organizational needs, and finding solutions when things do not go exactly as planned.

But she has always refused to let business growth come at the expense of what gives the company its purpose.

A Company That Must Remain True to Its Values

For Andrée-Anne, a company’s values should not simply be five words written on a website.

They should be reflected in the decisions made when no one is watching, in the way someone is answered when they are worried, in the transparency shown when the answer is not the one a person hoped to hear, and in the ability to respect a decision even when it means not receiving a booking.

She places great importance on honesty, respect, empathy, autonomy, and the absence of judgment.

She believes it is possible to be highly professional while remaining deeply human. That complex realities can be explained in simple terms. That someone can be supported without taking control of their project. And that a person should never feel they have to justify what they want to do with their own body.

That is also why she is particularly committed to making information accessible.

In a field where it can be difficult to distinguish medical information, testimonials, advertising, and content found on social media, she wants people to have access to answers from qualified professionals, understand the risks and limitations of their project, and have enough information to truly reflect before making a commitment.

Being Present, Even While Leading

Despite her responsibilities in leading the company, Andrée-Anne has chosen to maintain an important role in the human side of supporting clients throughout their journey.

In Mérida, she may be present during different stages of the stay, depending on the needs of the client and the organization of the trip. For her, this proximity helps ensure that behind every file, schedule, and process, there is always a real person.

A person who may have waited years to be there.

A person who may feel excited one day and worried the next.

A person who does not necessarily need someone else to take control of the process, but who may need to know that someone is available when support is needed.

Andrée-Anne strongly believes in this balance between presence and autonomy. Preparing people well enough so they know what to do, who to turn to, and how to react, while remaining available to support them in the areas that fall within the role of Voyages Renaissance.

Making a Difference, One Person at a Time

Voyages Renaissance has grown significantly since its beginnings. The team has expanded, work methods have become more structured, and hundreds of journeys have contributed to shaping the company’s expertise.

But for Andrée-Anne, the success of Voyages Renaissance is not measured solely by growth.

It is also measured by the ability to continue seeing each person as an individual rather than as a file.

By continuing to tell the truth, even when it is not always the easiest thing to say.

By recognizing the limits of her role.

By constantly looking for better ways to prepare, inform, and support people.

And above all, by building a company that is structured enough to grow without losing its humanity along the way.

Her professional experience allows her to lead, organize, and anticipate. Her personal experience allows her to understand differently. And her values remind her every day why she chose to bring the two together.

Yoan Fournier

Co-Founder, Director of Operations & Client Support Specialist

After personally undergoing several surgeries abroad that significantly improved his quality of life following health challenges, Yoan also understands medical tourism from a very personal perspective.

As Co-Founder of Voyages Renaissance, he now puts his expertise in management, organization, and operations at the service of the company and its clients. For several years, he has supported clients with his calm approach, resourcefulness, and deeply human way of helping others.

A Personal Experience Before Becoming a Professional One

For Yoan, medical tourism is not simply a field in which he has worked for many years. It is also part of his own story.

Following significant health challenges that had a major impact on his quality of life, Yoan himself chose to travel abroad to undergo different surgical procedures.

Those experiences had a profound effect on him and allowed him to personally understand what such a journey truly represents: seeking solutions, comparing options, learning to trust professionals you may not yet know, travelling to receive care, and recovering far from home.

He understands both sides of this reality: once as a patient and today as someone who supports others through the process.

In the Front Row of Andrée-Anne’s Transformation

Yoan also experienced Andrée-Anne’s journey from a very close perspective.

He was by her side throughout her bariatric surgery journey, during her major weight loss, and throughout the different stages of her reconstructive surgeries.

He witnessed the physical changes, of course, but also everything that cannot necessarily be captured in a photo: the reflections, the decisions, the concerns, the preparation, the recovery periods, and the adaptation to a life that was changing profoundly.

He supported her long before that journey eventually became the inspiration for a company.

That experience also allowed him to understand another important reality: that of the loved one who provides support. Being present without taking someone’s place, helping while respecting autonomy, and understanding that some stages simply require being there.

Building Voyages Renaissance Together

When Voyages Renaissance first began to take shape, Yoan was not only the spouse who had supported Andrée-Anne throughout her journey. He also brought his own professional experience, skills, and a very different yet complementary way of approaching challenges.

As Co-Founder of the company, he now plays a central role in its management and operations.

Travel organization, logistics, reservations, transportation, coordination, finance, technology, development of tools and work methods: Yoan enjoys understanding how all the moving parts fit together so that the whole system functions smoothly.

His approach is highly pragmatic. When a problem arises, his first instinct is generally to look for a solution.

And in medical travel, that ability to adapt is particularly important. A flight may change, a schedule may be adjusted, a need may arise unexpectedly, or a plan may need to be revised. His role is to manage the aspects that fall within the responsibilities of Voyages Renaissance and to coordinate with the appropriate people whenever necessary.

Years Spent Alongside Clients

Even though much of his work today takes place behind the scenes in the company’s operations, Yoan has also spent many years supporting clients directly throughout their journeys.

He knows the airport arrivals, the transfers, the appointments, the days that go smoothly, and the moments when someone simply needs reassurance or help with a practical aspect of their stay.

That closeness to clients remains important to him because it helps him remember one essential reality behind all the logistics: every itinerary belongs to a real person living an important experience.

His calm nature and ability to put situations into perspective are also part of who he is. He believes a project can be taken very seriously without every moment needing to feel overwhelming.

The Complementary Strength Behind the Company

Andrée-Anne and Yoan do not approach things in the same way, and that is precisely one of the strengths of their partnership.

Where Andrée-Anne is naturally drawn toward human connection, listening, and understanding the lived experience of each person, Yoan brings a highly analytical mindset focused on solutions, organization, and how things function behind the scenes.

They share the same core values: being transparent, respecting people’s decisions, taking seriously what has been entrusted to them, and never forgetting the human being behind the project.

After all these years, Yoan remains deeply involved in the management and growth of Voyages Renaissance, with the same objective: continuing to build a structured, reliable company capable of adapting and taking care of everything that falls within its role.

And despite the seriousness of what he organizes, he remains true to himself.

With Yoan, logistics can be taken very seriously… without necessarily being serious all the time.

Julie Bélanger

Client Experience Manager

Present at Voyages Renaissance since its beginnings, Julie also knows this journey from a very personal perspective: bariatric surgery, major body transformation, and reconstructive surgeries performed abroad over several stages.

A long-time friend of Andrée-Anne and deeply involved in the company, she has become an important part of the story of Voyages Renaissance and of the journeys experienced by its clients.

A Personal Journey That Allows Her to Understand Differently

Long before supporting clients at Voyages Renaissance, Julie had already gone through an important personal journey of her own.

At one point in her life, she faced challenges in her relationship with food. Rather than ignoring them, she chose to acknowledge them and seek the help she needed to rebuild a healthier relationship with herself and with eating.

That chapter became part of her story and helped shape the person she is today. It taught her that asking for help can require great courage, that some journeys are not linear, and that behind what people see on the surface, there is often a much more complex reality.

Her journey later continued with bariatric surgery abroad, followed by a significant body transformation.

Like many people after major weight loss, Julie eventually chose to continue her journey with reconstructive surgeries. She underwent these procedures abroad in several stages, personally experiencing the preparation, the travel, the surgeries, the recoveries, and everything involved in a transformation that unfolds over many years.

She understands that behind a surgery project, there is rarely only a surgery. There is a story.

A Friend Before Becoming a Colleague

Julie’s story with Voyages Renaissance is also unique because it did not begin with a job offer.

Julie and Andrée-Anne were friends first.

She witnessed Andrée-Anne’s transformation, the reflections, the first experiences abroad, and the beginnings of what would gradually become Voyages Renaissance.

Later, she went through some of those same experiences herself.

When the company began to take shape, Julie was already there. She has been part of Voyages Renaissance since its earliest days and has watched the company evolve, learn, become more structured, and support a growing number of people over the years.

Her involvement has grown alongside the company.

What began as the story of a friend closely connected to the project gradually evolved into a true professional role and a long-term commitment to the people who choose Voyages Renaissance today.

Julie is not simply a member of the team. She is part of the company’s story.

A Presence That Begins Long Before Departure

Today, as Client Experience Manager, Julie is one of the people with whom clients communicate several times throughout their journey.

Her work begins long before the trip itself.

She participates in the preparation process, virtual meetings, and the sharing of information needed to help clients better understand and anticipate the different stages of their journey.

Documents, appointments, instructions from professionals, trip preparation, return planning — a medical tourism project can quickly involve a significant amount of information.


Julie helps bring structure to all of it and makes the process easier to navigate.

Her role is not to provide medical recommendations or interpret the decisions of healthcare professionals. Rather, it is to facilitate preparation, communication, and coordination, while ensuring that people know where to find answers and who to turn to when a question falls outside the role of Voyages Renaissance.

Listening Through the Experience of Someone Who Has Also Had to Move Forward

Her personal journey naturally influences the way she supports others.

Julie understands what it means to reflect on your weight, your body, and your health. She also understands what it means to seek help, make difficult decisions, and move through different stages before reaching the place where you want to be.

But perhaps the most important lesson her experience taught her is that no two journeys are ever the same.

She does not assume that what was right for her will be right for someone else.

She listens.

Some people arrive with a decision almost already made. Others are still uncertain. Some speak very openly about their weight or their bodies, while others approach these subjects with much greater vulnerability..

Julie meets people where they are, without judgment and without imposing her own story on them.

Her personal experience becomes a way of understanding, never a way of deciding for someone else.

A Familiar Face Throughout the Journey

One of the unique aspects of Julie’s role is continuity.

Julie is not only present during a meeting before departure. Clients may reconnect with her at different stages of their preparation and after their return home, particularly as part of the follow-up process coordinated by Voyages Renaissance.

Over time, relationships naturally develop.

She gets to know the people behind the files, their personalities, their concerns, and sometimes even the small things that make them laugh when they need it most.

And after all these years, many of the people she has supported have become part of her own story at Voyages Renaissance.

Growing with Voyages Renaissance Without Losing the Human Touch

Julie has seen Voyages Renaissance evolve since its beginnings. She has been part of that evolution and continues to play an important role in it today.

Processes have become more structured, the team has grown, and the experience gained through countless journeys has helped refine the way the company works.

But some things have never changed for her.

Taking the time to listen. Not judging. Being available. Explaining things simply. And never forgetting that before there is a file, an itinerary, or a surgery date, there is a person.

Her personal journey helps her understand certain realities. Her years with Voyages Renaissance have given her significant professional experience supporting clients throughout their journeys.

And her involvement since the earliest days means that today Julie is much more than a Client Experience Manager. She is one of the people who has grown alongside Voyages Renaissance and an important part of its story.

Carole-Anne Lebeau

Assistant Director & Administration

A former competitive athlete, Carole-Anne saw her relationship with her body and health change following an injury. Her journey eventually led her, too, to pursue bariatric surgery.

As Andrée-Anne’s sister and someone who has been part of the story of Voyages Renaissance since its beginnings, she now brings her experience, empathy, and sensitivity to support both the team and the people she works with.

When Life Requires Us to Redefine Ourselves

For many years, sports played an important role in Carole-Anne’s life. As a former competitive athlete, she was accustomed to pushing herself, training, improving, and taking care of her physical abilities as a natural part of her identity.

Then an injury changed that reality.

Over time, this new situation affected different aspects of her life, including her weight and overall health. She had to learn how to adapt to a body that no longer responded in the same way and to a reality very different from the one she had known as an athlete.

Her journey eventually led her to reflect on bariatric surgery and ultimately choose that option for herself.

This experience gave her a very personal perspective on something she still understands deeply today: a person’s weight never tells the whole story.

Behind a physical change may be an injury, a health condition, a difficult period, a life transition, or many other factors that people around us may never see.

That is one of the reasons why Carole-Anne places so much importance on listening and on the absence of judgment.

Helping Others as a Common Thread

Long before Voyages Renaissance, Carole-Anne had already chosen professional environments where helping others and human connection played an important role.

She is naturally attentive to what others are experiencing. She observes carefully, listens closely, and has developed the ability to recognize that behind a practical question there can sometimes be a much deeper concern.

Her own journey has only strengthened that sensitivity. She understands what it means to see your health change, to have to reconsider things you once took for granted, and to realize that asking for help, exploring different options, and making an important decision for yourself can take time.

But like the other members of the team who have personally experienced certain procedures, she never uses her own experience to assume what someone else is going through.

Every person arrives with their own story, their own health situation, their own motivations, and their own decisions to make.

A Family Story That Also Became a Professional One

Carole-Anne is not only Andrée-Anne’s sister. She is also her right-hand person.

She witnessed her sister’s personal journey up close, including her transformation, the first surgeries abroad, and the reflections that gradually led to the creation of Voyages Renaissance.

She was there long before the company became what it is today.

As the years passed, her involvement grew alongside it. She witnessed the first clients, the first departures, the way the company evolved, the growth of the team, and the transformation of Voyages Renaissance into the organization it is today.

That family connection could easily be summarized as “working with her sister,” but reality goes much further than that. Today, she is both the Assistant Director and a key member of the leadership team.

Carole-Anne now has her own role, her own responsibilities, and an important place in the company’s daily operations.

Helping Keep Everything Running Behind the Scenes

As Assistant Director and part of the administration team, much of Carole-Anne’s work takes place behind what clients actually see.

She contributes to administrative management, file organization, communications, internal coordination, and many of the tasks required to keep the company operating smoothly.

It is a role that requires precision, organization, discretion, and attention to detail.

In a journey where multiple people, documents, payments, deadlines, and different stages may overlap, this behind-the-scenes structure is essential.

And even though much of her work happens out of sight, Carole-Anne never loses sight of the reason behind it all: every person who entrusts something important to Voyages Renaissance.

A Sensitivity That Is Part of Her Strength

Carole-Anne is a sensitive person.

And rather than seeing that sensitivity as something that should be left at the door when she comes to work, she has turned it into a strength in the way she relates to others.

She is empathetic, attentive, and deeply affected by what some people go through. Her experience in helping professions has also taught her that supporting someone does not necessarily mean having all the answers.

Sometimes, it means listening.
Sometimes, it means connecting someone with the right person.
Sometimes, it simply means taking the time.

This way of being aligns naturally with the values that Voyages Renaissance strives to preserve as the company grows: respecting people, their stories, their autonomy, and the trust they place in the team.

Present Since the First Chapters

Carole-Anne has been part of Voyages Renaissance since its earliest days.

She knows the company’s story, its values, its periods of growth, the lessons learned, and the reasons why certain ways of doing things became important over time.

Today, her personal experience, her professional background in helping others, and her years with Voyages Renaissance all come together in a role that reflects who she is: structured in her responsibilities, yet deeply human in the way she carries them out.

She may be Andrée-Anne’s sister, certainly. But over the years, she has also become an integral part of the story, structure, and identity of Voyages Renaissance.

WHY CHOOSE VOYAGES RENAISSANCE ?

Choosing to undergo a medical procedure abroad requires trust. Before moving forward, you want to know who you are working with, how your project will be supported, and who will be there when you need assistance.


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