Emilia grew up in Botswana and spent over two decades in London working across investment banking and fund management — Europe, Asia, the Middle East. Throughout, she kept close ties to Africa and to the organisations working there. Her specific interest became finding sustainable, non-philanthropic funding for work that typically had no other option. She co-founded Arete from that intersection: money, meaning, and the continent she grew up on. She now runs a family office focused on property.

Eleri studied History of Art at UCL and SOAS, with a foundation year in Fine Art Practice at Central St Martins. She joined October Gallery in 2018, where she curates exhibitions and international art fair presentations focused on contemporary art from Africa and the Global South — a brief the gallery has held since 1979. Her work centres on fostering cultural exchange through collaborations with international artists, with a curatorial practice that explores the intersections between art, materiality, identity, and social narratives. Her close collaboration with artists includes Zana Masombuka, LR Vandy, Sokari Douglas Camp, El Anatsui, James Barnor, Alexis Peskine, and Romuald Hazoumè, amongst others.

Nathalie is of Guadeloupean and Indian descent, born in Bordeaux, based in Dakar since 2014. She has been performing on French and international stages for thirty years — from Greek tragedy to contemporary African theatre — trained by Philippe Adrien and Sotigui Kouyaté, with whom she worked for two decades each. She received the Saana Award for Best Actress in Kenya in 2014, and was part of the cast of Sira by Apolline Traoré, which won Best Film at the Berlinale Panorama section and a Silver Etalon at FESPACO in 2023.

Shem has been photographing Africa for over 22 years. He's lived out of a Land Rover for months at a stretch, built specialised hides in remote terrain, and climbed more than a few volcanoes — all in pursuit of an image that earns its place. His work has been published globally. He grew up with family on the edge of the Rift Valley escarpment in Kenya, above a Lake Nakuru that still ran pink with flamingos. That stayed with him. Most of his expeditions since have returned to the Rift in one form or another. Shem is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Chantal is a conservation leader with extensive experience across Africa. Before joining Tusk, she served as Deputy Conservation Director for Africa at The Nature Conservancy, leading programmes across biodiversity protection, community engagement, and sustainable development. At Tusk, she works at the intersection of conservation impact and the relationships needed to sustain it long-term.

Dija is a multidisciplinary creative and project management professional whose work sits at the intersection of culture, business, and innovation. Drawing on over 16 years of experience in event operations, media, and visual arts, she designs and leads impactful projects that combine strategic thinking with creative excellence. Based in Dakar, she continues to shape experiences that inspire, connect, and leave a lasting impact.

Steph grew up outside Chicago and is now based in South Africa. She works at the crossroads of philanthropy, conservation, and sustainable development — with a particular interest in social enterprises and what it takes to make them last. Her underlying conviction is simple: healthy ecosystems are a condition for peace and justice, and art is one of the more honest ways to shape how people think about both. She co-founded Arete on that premise.

Tiphaine is based in Paris. She's an agricultural engineer with a PhD in environmental management, and a visual artist who takes seriously the idea that emotion is where change begins. That's how she ended up creating the Métis Arts and Development Fund — an alliance of public and private actors housed within the French Development Agency (AFD), built around the premise that artists can be agents of real development: on environment, gender, education. Before Métis, she built and ran AFD's first biodiversity research programme and financed biodiversity projects across Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Vega grew up in the Kruger Park, daughter of conservationist Dr. Anthony Hall-Martin. She's now based in Hong Kong, where she works at the intersection of African conservation and philanthropy across Asia — Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, New Zealand. She has built a regional presence for African Parks, and brings experience in strategy, proposal development, and project management. Her focus is on building the relationships that make long-term conservation funding possible.

Ria grew up in Yugoslavia. In her early twenties, she fled war-torn Bosnia and made her way to Boston. Her love of art began earlier — in a local theatre that staged over a thousand performances during the siege of Sarajevo, treating culture as a form of resistance when almost nothing else remained. That experience has stayed with everything she's done since. Her career has been in international development, driven by a commitment to social justice, and she has never stopped following both art and wildlife conservation. She is currently based in Ethiopia.

Moni leads G.A.S. Foundation across two sites in Nigeria — an urban residency in Lagos and a 54-acre ecological site in Ogun State. Since taking over in 2024, she's expanded both the reach and the depth of the programme: more local engagement, a stronger global presence, and a clearer sense of what the foundation is for. She joins the Arete Circle to build on what she already believes — that collective effort is how things actually change, and that platforms for knowledge exchange need to be fed back into the artists themselves.

Sophie is based in London and advises collectors and artists on individual projects. She curated the content for Afroprophetic: Art Transforming Minds and Nature in 2023. Before that, she spent nearly a decade at Christie's London as Associate Director and Head of Sale, where she inaugurated the Nordic Art and Design sales and edited the accompanying Thames & Hudson publication. She joined Arete because the questions it's asking are ones she hasn't stopped thinking about.

After more than 40 years guiding and planning safaris across Africa, I have found that the work leads, inevitably, beyond nature to art, and the deeper questions of how we relate to the living world. I have come to believe that art and nature often speak the same language — and that genuine encounters with wild places, and with one another, remain among the few things capable of changing how we live. 

Sarah leads Public Diplomacy (Head of Arts, Culture and Sports) at the British High Commission in South Africa, connecting people via cross-cultural collaboration to share perspectives, build trust, create opportunity and deliver positive impact. Sarah is passionate about how the arts and culture can play a transformative role in the lives of people and strengthen more inclusive societies. Sarah holds a MA in Modern Art and Comparative Literature (France) and a PhD in Literature (with a research focus on multilingualism, identity and belonging in the context of multi-cultural studies). Sarah was awarded an MBE (Honours Award) from King Charles III for her contribution to Arts and Inclusion in Singapore.

Beverly “Beezie”, has lived in East Africa for fifteen years, namely the Serengeti and Kenya. Her career has been dedicated to conservation, developing and implementing communication strategies for organisations looking to demonstrate social and environmental impact and connect with a broader audience. Over the years she has been inspired by storytelling as a tool to transcend cultures, places and perspectives on the Environment. Beezie collaborates with various filmmakers, always looking at ways to promote conservation storytelling, bolster local narratives and work with African artists.

Jan co-founded Purple Elephant Ventures, a venture studio focused on travel and tourism in Africa, and has spent the last 20 years interested in contemporary African art. He got involved with Arete because it sits at the intersection of those two things — a belief in the continent and a belief in what its artists are doing. He leads Arete's programme design, artist curation, and public voice.

Mário grew up on the streets of Maputo. He came to photography by accident — drawn first to the sound of the camera, then the darkroom, then the story. He turned professional in 2007 when he swapped his mother's mobile phone for his first camera. He works in black and white, in long-term projects: cement collectors breathing silica dust, dry river beds, children who raised themselves. His work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Guggenheim, and across Africa and Europe. He co-hosts Arete's 2027 gathering in his home city.