Cultural Intelligence

Why organisations work with Tom Turcich His credibility is not analogical: it is verifiable. The world walk is ranked in a finite historical list of ten people, documented in a published memoir, and covered by CNN, BBC, Good Morning America, The Guardian, and The Today Show. Seven continuous years of forward motion without a salary, fixed team, or guaranteed outcome offers a model of value-driven decision-making that is directly applicable to organisations sustaining long-term transformation. His Circle of Possibility framework reframes constraints as inputs to problem-solving rather than barriers to progress, making his content directly usable by teams operating under resource pressure or strategic uncertainty. The journey was values-led from day one: Turcich navigated every decision – including years of solitude, a global pandemic, and active conflict zones – by a clear internal compass. That makes his framework credible for organisations focused on purpose-driven culture rather than performance management alone. Biography highlights Tenth person in recorded history to complete a circumnavigation of the globe on foot Seven-year, 28,000-mile journey across six continents and 38 countries, beginning April 2015 His rescue dog Savannah became the first dog ever to walk around the world Author of The World Walk (Skyhorse Publishing, 2024), a full-length memoir of the expedition Featured by CNN, BBC, Good Morning America, The Guardian, and The Today Show Author of the Savannah’s World of Adventure children’s book series Biography Most people’s resilience is tested in months. Tom Turcich spent seven years walking 28,000 miles across six continents and 38 countries; a journey that placed him in the historically small group of ten people ever recorded to have circled the globe on foot. That context is not incidental to his work with organisations. It is the evidence. The walk began the day before his 26th birthday, prompted by the death of a close friend that forced a reckoning with how a life should be spent. It ended in May 2022. Along the way, Turcich navigated deserts, conflict zones, a global pandemic, and sustained solitude; guided not by a fixed itinerary but by a set of core values he had articulated before he left. His memoir, The World Walk (Skyhorse Publishing, 2024), documents both the physical journey and the decision-making architecture that sustained it. For organisations, the relevance lies not in the spectacle of the achievement but in its mechanics. His talks, built around the Circle of Possibility framework, address the specific tension between ambitious long-term goals and the daily reality of setback, discomfort, and unclear progress. The same principles that kept him moving across the Andes and through Central Asia translate directly to teams operating under sustained strategic pressure. His story has been covered by CNN, BBC, Good Morning America, The Guardian, and The Today Show. The World Walk received endorsements from two New York Times bestselling authors. A second non-fiction book, applying the lessons of the walk to organisational and professional life, is in progress. Key speaking topics Long-term resilience and sustained commitment Values-driven decision-making Goal-setting under uncertainty Reframing constraints as catalysts Purpose and personal accountability Endurance mindset in professional contexts Ideal for Leadership and executive teams navigating multi-year change programmes Sales and commercial conferences requiring a credible performance and resilience narrative Employee engagement and offsite events where purpose and motivation are central themes HR and people leaders building resilience culture within the workforce Audience outcomes A practical framework (Circle of Possibility) for sustaining commitment when progress is slow or unclear A more granular understanding of what resilience looks like in practice over an extended timeframe: not as a trait but as a set of daily decisions Sharper thinking about how personal values can function as a decision-making tool under pressure Perspective on the relationship between constraints and creative problem-solving A reframe of long-term ambition: from an abstract goal to a sequence of deliberate, manageable steps

Why organisations work with Padma Lakshmi Her seven-year documentary project across immigrant and Indigenous communities in America (the foundation of both Taste the Nation and the 2025 Knopf cookbook Padma’s All American) gives her argument about diversity and belonging an evidential weight that most cultural voices cannot offer. Her DEI perspective is not theoretical: she co-founded an organisation that passed state legislation and helped establish the first interdisciplinary gynepathology research centre in the US, at MIT, demonstrating what sustained, policy-level advocacy actually produces. As UNDP Goodwill Ambassador and ACLU Artist Ambassador, she operates at a level of formal institutional credibility that separates her from celebrity advocates; she has testified, lobbied, and built coalitions, not just spoken. She offers one of the few genuinely non-confrontational pathways into difficult conversations about immigration, identity, and women’s health – using food as the entry point makes these subjects accessible in rooms where they are otherwise contested. Named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and recipient of the UNCA Advocate of the Year Award, she brings independent, multi-sector validation that extends well beyond the entertainment industry. Biography highlights Host and executive producer of Bravo’s Top Chef for 19 seasons; four-time Emmy nominee as Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program Creator, host, and executive producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation; James Beard Foundation Award winner, Visual Media – Long Form (2022) Author of Padma’s All American (Knopf, 2025), named a Best Cookbook of 2025 by the Washington Post and Boston Globe; New York Times bestselling author of memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate and children’s book Tomatoes for Neela Co-founder, EndoFound; instrumental in establishing the first US interdisciplinary gynepathology research facility (Harvard Medical School and MIT joint project) and passing New York State Senate legislation on teen health education Visiting scholar, MIT Center for Gynepathology research UNDP Goodwill Ambassador; ACLU Artist Ambassador; TIME 100 Most Influential People (2023); UNCA Advocate of the Year (2021) Biography When organisations talk about inclusion, the conversation often stalls at the data. Padma Lakshmi has spent two decades building a different kind of argument; one that begins at the dinner table. As creator and host of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, she spent seven years embedded in immigrant and Indigenous communities across America, documenting how culinary traditions carry identity, history, and a sense of belonging that policy language rarely captures. The 2025 Knopf cookbook Padma’s All American, named a Best Cookbook of the year by the Washington Post and Boston Globe, extends that fieldwork into a mainstream cultural and business conversation: that diversity is not a management challenge to be solved but a generative force that shapes every aspect of how people live and work. Her advocacy has produced verifiable institutional outcomes. In 2009 she co-founded EndoFound, which helped establish the first interdisciplinary gynepathology research facility in the US – a joint Harvard Medical School and MIT project – and successfully drove legislation through the New York State Senate on teenage health education. She holds a visiting scholar appointment at MIT’s Center for Gynepathology Research. As UNDP Goodwill Ambassador and ACLU Artist Ambassador, she operates at the intersection of cultural influence and formal policy rather than occupying the softer territory of celebrity activism. For leadership teams where DEI initiatives have plateaued, or where women’s health and workplace wellbeing require a more credible and personal voice, Lakshmi’s combination of documentary rigour, scientific partnership, policy track record, and media reach offers something genuinely difficult to replicate. Key speaking topics Cultural identity and immigrant experience in America Diversity, equity, and inclusion through lived narrative Women’s health advocacy and public health policy Food, storytelling, and cross-cultural connection Using platform and media for social and civic impact Representation and belonging in public life Ideal for CHROs and people leaders seeking a non-confrontational, narrative-led entry into DEI at company-wide events Boards and executive teams navigating the political and cultural dimensions of workforce diversity Consumer, hospitality, or media brands whose audiences span diverse cultural communities Organisations with active women’s health or workplace wellbeing commitments seeking credible, policy-informed voices Audience outcomes A reframing of diversity from institutional obligation to cultural asset – grounded in specific, documented community experience rather than theory Deeper understanding of how immigrant and Indigenous communities shape the cultural contexts organisations operate in Practical perspective on what sustained advocacy – from grassroots education to legislative success – actually requires Greater awareness of women’s health as a workplace issue with measurable productivity and retention implications A model for using storytelling and platform to make complex social arguments land with mainstream audiences

Why organisations work with Barjis Chohan A 25-year operator’s view of brand discipline. She has run a designer label long enough to have seen the failure modes of growth, dilution, and trend-chasing, and to speak credibly about the cost of each. Hard-won sustainability substance. Seven years rebuilding supply chains, materials, and product lifecycles inside a working business, not a sustainability practice attached to a marketing function. A bicultural commercial perspective most boards do not have access to. She has financed and sold into the GCC, manufactured in the UK, and served Muslim, Western, and luxury hospitality clients inside one operating model. Verifiable entrepreneurial credentials, including Designer in International Trade from the Financial Mail on Sunday, Entrepreneur of the Year (London), and the Global MSME Champion Award from the Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Inclusion content with a practitioner’s edge. Her work on gender and cultural difference is shaped by running a multicultural business, not by a corporate DEI mandate. Biography highlights Founder and CEO of BARJIS London, established 1999, with bespoke luxury rugs preceding the womenswear line launched in 2011. BA Fashion Design, London College of Fashion, 1995; further study at Central Saint Martins. Worked under Vivienne Westwood and with a French fashion house in Monte Carlo before founding her business. Award record includes Designer in International Trade (Financial Mail on Sunday), Entrepreneur of the Year (London), Fashion Brand of the Year, and the Global MSME Champion Award from the Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Founder of The Barjis Initiative (2018), supporting creative entrepreneurship and enterprise education in schools. Speaking engagements include JP Morgan, the London School of Economics, Fonterra, Aston University, University of Surrey Students Union, and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia. Biography Most fashion businesses that survive their first decade do not survive their second with the same ethos intact. BARJIS London is an exception. Founded in 1999 with bespoke luxury rugs, the brand extended into womenswear in 2011 and has operated continuously across UK manufacturing, GCC investment, and luxury hospitality clients, with a sustainability programme rebuilt inside the business rather than added to its marketing. Chohan trained at London College of Fashion, graduating in 1995, and studied at Central Saint Martins. She interned with Vivienne Westwood and worked with a French fashion house in Monte Carlo before founding her own label. The Guardian described her as a Westwood prodigy. Her early commercial decisions, including writing to oil companies for investment at seventeen and travelling to the Middle East with a young family, set the bicultural pattern her business has followed since. Recognition has come from credible bodies. She holds the Financial Mail on Sunday Designer in International Trade award, Entrepreneur of the Year (London), Fashion Brand of the Year, and the Global MSME Champion Award from the Global Council for the Promotion of International Trade. The Barjis Initiative, launched in 2018, supports creative entrepreneurs and enterprise education in schools. Boards and leadership audiences book her for the operator’s lens, not the celebrity-founder presentation. Her talks examine brand erosion under growth pressure, creativity as a managed discipline rather than a slogan, and the specific commercial value of cultural fluency in markets where most British brands struggle to operate. Audiences at JP Morgan, the London School of Economics, Fonterra, and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia have heard versions of the same argument: ethos is a commercial asset, but only if it is defended structurally as the business scales. Key speaking topics Brand integrity and ethos at scale Creativity as a growth discipline Sustainability in product, supply chain, and operations Founder-led entrepreneurship and scale-up Cultural fluency in international markets Gender equity and inclusive workplaces Modest fashion and bicultural consumer markets Ideal for Founders, CEOs, and senior brand leaders in consumer-facing businesses CMOs and creative directors managing brand dilution risk under growth Heads of sustainability, procurement, and product development in fashion, retail, and luxury DEI and people leaders looking for practitioner-led content on gender and cultural inclusion Audience outcomes A working definition of brand ethos that holds up under commercial pressure A founder’s view of where sustainability programmes succeed and where they stall Practical reference points for entering GCC and modest-fashion markets without misreading them A reframing of gender and cultural inclusion as commercial capability rather than compliance Confidence to interrogate where their own organisation is trading long-term brand value for short-term growth

Why organisations work with Sarah Culberson A first-person story that does the work belonging-themed talks usually fail at: foster care, transracial adoption, and the discovery at 28 that her father was a Mende prince in Sierra Leone. Audiences disengage from abstract DEI framing; this is concrete. Co-author of A Princess Found (St. Martin’s Press, 2009), in development as a Disney live-action film with producer Stephanie Allain. The story has cultural reach beyond the corporate room. President and co-founder of Sierra Leone Rising, an operating nonprofit running water, sanitation, education and coding programmes in the Bumpe Chiefdom. Allyship is something she builds, not theorises. Recipient of the Impact Award at Bounce TV’s 30th Trumpet Awards (2022), with sustained media coverage on CNN, Good Morning America, BBC and The New York Times. Pairs the inspirational keynote with practical content on assumptions, uncomfortable conversations and inclusive team-building, drawn from over 15 years presenting in schools, universities and corporations. Biography highlights Co-author, A Princess Found: An American Family, an African Chiefdom, and the Daughter Who Connected Them All (St. Martin’s Press, 2009) President and co-founder, Sierra Leone Rising (founded 2006, formerly the Kposowa Foundation) Mahaloi (granddaughter of the Paramount Chief) of the Bumpe-Gao Chiefdom, Sierra Leone Disney development deal (2019) for a live-action film adaptation of her memoir, with Stephanie Allain as producer Impact Award, Bounce TV 30th Trumpet Awards (2022) BFA, West Virginia University; MFA, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Featured on CNN, Good Morning America, BBC, NPR, The New York Times, People and Newsweek Biography In 2004, an adopted theatre student in San Francisco hired a private investigator to trace her birth family. The trail led from West Virginia to a chiefdom in Sierra Leone still recovering from a brutal civil war. Sarah Culberson’s father was a Mende prince. Her grandfather had been Paramount Chief. The discovery rewrote her sense of identity and gave her a public platform she has been working with ever since. That platform produced a memoir, A Princess Found, co-written with Tracy Trivas and published by St. Martin’s Press in 2009. Disney signed a development deal in 2019 to adapt the book into a live-action film, with Stephanie Allain producing and Culberson serving as executive producer. The story has been covered on CNN, Good Morning America, BBC and The New York Times. The substantive work, though, sits inside Sierra Leone Rising, the nonprofit she co-founded in 2006. It runs sanitation, clean water, education and coding programmes in the Bumpe Chiefdom. The nonprofit is what gives her belonging keynote its weight. She is not asking organisations to consider allyship as a concept; she has spent two decades building it across two cultures. For corporate audiences she translates that experience into the practical content of belonging: how assumptions form, how uncomfortable conversations are conducted, how cross-cultural teams move past politeness into trust. In 2022 she received the Impact Award at Bounce TV’s 30th Trumpet Awards, recognition for a body of work that joins a personal story to operating institutions on two continents. Key speaking topics Belonging and allyship in the workplace Cross-cultural identity and biracial experience Inclusive team-building Diversity, equity and inclusion Personal transformation and purpose Humanitarian leadership and social impact Ideal for CHROs, heads of DEI and culture leads commissioning belonging or inclusion programmes Employee resource groups and women’s leadership networks Annual company conferences and kick-offs seeking an inspirational anchor with substantive content Education and nonprofit sector audiences working on equity and social impact Audience outcomes A vivid, memorable narrative that grounds inclusion conversations in lived experience rather than policy language A working vocabulary for assumptions, allyship and cross-cultural difference inside teams Concrete examples of how a Western-educated outsider built trust and impact in a post-conflict community in Sierra Leone Renewed commitment to belonging as a daily leadership practice, not a programme

Key speaking topics High-performance team dynamics Leadership under pressure Offshore race strategy and decision-making Building and managing elite crews Accountability and collective responsibility Cross-functional collaboration in complex environments Performance culture in international teams Ideal for Senior leadership teams Project and programme leaders Organisations managing complex, high-stakes initiatives Sports and performance-focused audiences Audience outcomes Clear understanding of how elite crews align around shared objectives Practical insights into decision-making in uncertain and fast-changing conditions Frameworks for building trust and accountability within teams Perspective on sustaining performance across long-duration projects Lessons on translating individual expertise into collective results Why organisations work with Tim Kröger Brings first-hand experience from global offshore races and America’s Cup campaigns Connects elite sailing performance with organisational leadership and execution Demonstrates how disciplined teamwork delivers results in complex, high-pressure environments Offers credible insights grounded in international competition and race programme leadership Biography Tim Kröger’s career has been built in the most demanding arenas of international offshore sailing and America’s Cup competition, where performance is measured in split-second decisions and collective execution under pressure. He has competed at the highest levels of global yacht racing, including two Whitbread Round the World Races, and has been part of multiple Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup challenger campaigns. As a professional sailor from the mid-1990s onwards, he combined Olympic-class racing experience with large-scale offshore programmes. His achievements include a second-place finish in the Whitbread Round the World Race, a TP52 World Championship podium result, and overall victory as skipper of Spirit of Europe in the Nord Stream Race. He has also raced in major international offshore classics and high-performance grand prix circuits. Beyond competing, Kröger has led and coordinated elite sailing programmes, including an Audi-backed TP52 project that secured a German Championship title. He later served as Offshore Coach for the German Sailing Federation for the proposed Mixed Offshore Olympic discipline and has worked as a Race Crew Manager within J Class programmes, overseeing complex international crews. Throughout his career, Kröger has operated at the intersection of strategy, teamwork and execution. His experience spans high-stakes race campaigns, multinational crew environments and technically complex programmes, providing organisations with practical insights into leadership, accountability and sustained performance. He is the author of Abgerechnet wird im Ziel and Ich bin wir – das Crew-Konzept, where he explores the principles of collective responsibility and high-performance teamwork drawn from elite sport.

Why organisations work with Nadira Tudor She moderates at the level of the World Economic Forum at Davos, IBC Amsterdam, GITEX Global Dubai and the Future Investment Initiative, which means clients commissioning her are buying the same on-stage standard those programmes demand. She runs Euronews’ Baku Bureau, anchoring and producing the network’s news output from the region, so her interviewing instincts are tested daily on live international news, not refreshed once a year on the speaker circuit. Her on-camera presenting for branded content is recognised at industry award level, including a Silver Telly Award for the Shell “Decarbonisation: From What to How” interview series with ReutersPlus and a Bronze Award for IDA Ireland’s film on the country’s semiconductors cluster, with regular further work for the Financial Times, ITN Business and Business Reporter. She trains military and government communicators, including NATO, UK MOD and the Royal Navy, which sharpens her judgement on stage when conversations turn to security, geopolitics or regulated industries. Her academic seat at Cardiff JOMEC and her master’s in intercultural communication from Birkbeck give her a working theory of cross-cultural audience response, which matters for global summits where the audience is not a single market. Biography highlights Bureau Chief, Baku, for Euronews, running the bureau and its sponsored programmes hub with editorial responsibility for the full news output. Broadcast career across BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, BBC 5 Live, BBC News, BBC Wales and BBC Asian Network, with a further spell at BBC News and Programmes (2023 to 2025), launch-team roles at News UK across Times Radio and TalkTV (2020 to 2023), and international experience at ITN, Channel 5 and Al Arabiya English. Award-winning ReutersPlus branded-content presenter: Silver Telly Award (Shell “Decarbonisation: From What to How” interview series) and Bronze Award (IDA Ireland semiconductors film). Regular further branded-content work for the Financial Times, ITN Business and Business Reporter. Visiting Lecturer at Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC); master’s in Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions, Birkbeck, University of London. Moderation credits include the World Economic Forum (Davos 2023 and 2024), GITEX Global Dubai, GITEX Africa, IBC Amsterdam, Future Investment Initiative, GMIS and T20. Communications training for NATO, UK MOD, the Royal Navy and the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps; 2015 Asian Professional Award for Media and BBC Innovation Award. Biography Most leadership content fails on stage long before the strategy fails in the market. The interview misfires, the panel drifts, the senior voice in the room sounds defensive, and the audience remembers the discomfort, not the message. The person holding the microphone decides whether that happens. Her current post is Bureau Chief in Baku for Euronews, where she runs the bureau and its sponsored programmes hub, anchors and produces key programmes for the region, and is responsible for the full news output. She came up through the BBC across Radio 4, Radio 1 and 1Xtra, 5 Live, News, Wales and the Asian Network, with a further spell at BBC News and Programmes from 2023 to 2025, and was part of the launch teams for both Times Radio and TalkTV at News UK between 2020 and 2023. International newsroom experience runs through ITN, Channel 5 and Al Arabiya English. She moderates at the most senior end of the global conference circuit, including the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2023 and 2024, IBC Amsterdam, GITEX Global, the Future Investment Initiative, the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit and the T20. The same craft underpins her communications training for NATO, the UK MOD, the Royal Navy and the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, where leadership communication is a security issue, not a presentation skill. The intellectual underpinning is her master’s in Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions from Birkbeck, University of London, and a Visiting Lecturer seat at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture. She also fronts award-winning branded content for ReutersPlus, the Financial Times, ITN Business and Business Reporter, with a Silver Telly Award for the Shell “Decarbonisation: From What to How” interview series and a Bronze Award for IDA Ireland’s film on the country’s semiconductors cluster. The 2015 Asian Professional Award for Media and an earlier BBC Innovation Award round out a record that rests on disciplined interviewing more than on stage presence. Key speaking topics Conference moderation and on-stage interviewing Executive communication for senior leaders Crisis and reputation communication Media and on-camera training Intercultural communication in global organisations Awards and gala hosting Panel and debate facilitation Ideal for Chief Communications Officers and Heads of Corporate Affairs commissioning a senior moderator for global summits, leadership offsites or investor days. Heads of Internal Communications running CEO town halls, all-hands and quarterly leadership broadcasts. Event directors at industry conferences who need an interviewer who can carry a multi-track programme across sectors in a single day. Public sector and defence communications leads briefing senior teams on media engagement under scrutiny. Audience outcomes A live demonstration of how a sharp interviewer turns a panel from a sequence of statements into a substantive conversation. Practical handles for senior leaders on how to answer hard questions on stage without retreating into corporate language. A clearer view of how cultural and audience context changes what counts as a strong answer, drawn from her global moderation work. For internal communications teams, a working sense of what good looks like when the CEO is in front of the room.

Why organisations work with Sharon Gai She offers a working model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based to capability-based org structures, with named roles for what humans do once execution is automated. Most AI adoption speakers describe what is happening to organisations from the outside. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, Sharon worked inside the operating core of one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms. The vantage gives her authority on AI’s organisational effects that advisers and analysts cannot manufacture. Her practitioner depth on China’s ecommerce ecosystem, built into Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), gives commercial and transformation leaders a primary source on consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao. For European boards looking five years ahead, this is the live case study Western markets are still catching up to. Her “Culture Fluid” framework gives leadership teams a way to address the human side of AI adoption without falling into change-management cliché. It explains why two organisations with the same technology stack will get different results. Her client list spans UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo, with platform exposure on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, and Wired. Recognised as a LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) and a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader. Biography highlights Author of How to Do More with Less: Future-Proofing Yourself in an AI-Driven Economy (Wiley, 2026) and Ecommerce Reimagined: Retail and Ecommerce in China (World Scientific, 2022) Former Head of Global Key Accounts at Tmall, Alibaba’s core commerce pillar, led omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for major international accounts including Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi Selected for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme designed to globalise Alibaba’s business units MS in Information & Knowledge Strategy, Columbia University; Honours BA in International Development, McGill University Former Global Shaper, World Economic Forum Named in AAE’s Top Keynote Speakers 2023; recognised as a RETHINK Retail Top AI Leader, LinkedIn Top Voice (2024), and LinkedIn Top AI Voice (2026) Media appearances on Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, TechCrunch, Wired, CBC, and CCTV; keynote clients include UBS, Deloitte, Nestlé, Walmart, LVMH, and Lenovo Biography The work middle management was paid to do is moving into systems. Reporting, status tracking, summarisation, performance feedback, project oversight: agentic AI now performs each of these to the standard a competent manager would have delivered five years ago. The org chart that organisations grew up with is becoming structurally redundant, and most leadership teams do not yet have a working model for what replaces it. That question is the centre of Sharon Gai’s recent work. Her book How to Do More with Less (Wiley, 2026) maps the shift from task-based org structures to capability-based ones, naming what concentrates in humans once execution is automated: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition. The book sits within an active body of writing on what she calls the Org Chart of the Future, drawing on the live restructures already underway at Meta, Microsoft, and others. Her authority on these questions comes from operational experience few AI speakers can claim. As Head of Global Key Accounts at Alibaba’s Tmall, she worked inside one of the world’s most AI-integrated commercial platforms, leading omnichannel and ecommerce strategy for Adidas, P&G, H&M, and Xiaomi. Selection for the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy, the internal programme tasked with globalising Alibaba’s business units, deepened that vantage. Her first book, Ecommerce Reimagined (World Scientific, 2022), remains the only practitioner account of China’s ecommerce ecosystem written from within Alibaba, examining how consumer-to-manufacturer models and AI-integrated logistics via Cainiao function inside the company. Her “Culture Fluid” framework addresses the parallel internal question: how to build the agility to compete across simultaneous cultural and technological shifts. The work connects the structural argument of the Org Chart of the Future to the human capability conditions that make any redesign executable. Without the second, the first remains an idea on a slide. Key speaking topics The Org Chart of the Future: AI-era team and role design AI adoption at organisational scale: from pilots to operating model The disappearing middle: agentic AI and management layers Future-proofing in an AI-driven economy China’s AI-integrated commerce ecosystem Culture Fluid: organisational agility across cultural and technological shifts Consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) models and AI-integrated supply chains Ideal for CHROs, COOs, and transformation leads designing the operating model and workforce for an AI-augmented organisation Boards and executive committees confronting the structural implications of AI on management layers, headcount, and capability planning Chief Commercial Officers and heads of digital in retail, FMCG, luxury, and consumer brands looking at AI’s effect on platform commerce Leadership development programmes where AI adoption needs the perspective of someone who has worked inside an organisation operating at AI saturation Audience outcomes A structural model for redesigning teams and reporting lines when agentic AI absorbs the work middle management was paid to do Operating clarity on which AI use cases produce advantage and which produce vendor revenue A view of how China’s AI-integrated commerce platforms actually function, drawn from inside Alibaba, and what is genuinely replicable in Western markets A direct answer to the question of where human capability concentrates in an AI-driven organisation: judgement, taste, theory of mind, original problem definition A shared language, through the Culture Fluid model, for the human side of AI adoption

Why organisations work with Leee John He carries the weight of a verifiable cultural archive. The Flashback documentary alone represents over a decade of original interviews with figures including Labi Siffre, Billy Ocean and Pauline Black, giving inclusion conversations a body of named, recorded testimony rather than slogans. His authority on Black British contribution is built on lived participation. He fronted one of the defining British soul acts of the 1980s, which lets him talk about representation, visibility and creative gatekeeping from inside the room rather than the academy. He moves an audience emotionally. A career built on falsetto vocal performance and stage presence translates into keynote energy that DEI sessions, gala dinners and cultural-anniversary moments often lack. His humanitarian work is concrete, not decorative. As an ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages he has campaigned annually for World Orphan Week and was recognised with a Humanitarian award in France, which gives credibility on purpose-led brand and CSR programmes. He brings a reinvention story senior audiences recognise. Singer to producer to documentary director to charity ambassador is a useful proof point for any room thinking about second-act careers, creative longevity or staying commercially relevant across generational shifts in taste. Biography highlights Founding member and lead singer of Imagination, the British soul/funk trio with three UK top 10 singles, including “Just an Illusion” (UK No. 2, 1982). Imagination earned four platinum discs, nine gold discs and over a dozen silver discs between 1981 and 1983. Director of Flashback: The History of UK Black Music, an independent documentary featuring 80+ interviews across jazz, soul, funk, reggae, ska and 2-tone. Ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages and recipient of a Humanitarian award in France for charity work; also holds a UK Lifetime Achievement award. Released the jazz album Feel My Soul on Candid Records in 2005; later solo album Retropia reached No. 1 on UK Soul and UK Reggae charts. Trained at the Anna Scher Theatre School; appeared in the 1983 Doctor Who serial Enlightenment, and went on to host and produce television including ITV’s Night Network strand Leee’s Place. Biography The history of British Black music is mostly told in fragments. Leee John has spent more than a decade pulling those fragments into a single record, with over 80 filmed interviews across jazz, soul, funk, reggae, ska and 2-tone now sitting inside Flashback: The History of UK Black Music. Subjects include Labi Siffre, Billy Ocean, Jaki Graham, Pauline Black and Neville Staple. Before that work, he was the front of Imagination, the British soul/funk trio whose 1982 single “Just an Illusion” reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 1 in Spain. Imagination earned four platinum discs and nine gold discs in a two-year run between 1981 and 1983, which places him inside the small group of Black British artists who broke into mainstream European pop charts in that era. That career is the substance behind his keynote work on inclusion, identity and creative reinvention. He talks about gatekeeping, visibility and longevity from someone who has been on both sides of them, and he extends the same argument into philanthropy as an ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages, where his campaigning was recognised with a Humanitarian award in France. The reinvention thread runs through everything: lead singer, jazz recording artist on Candid Records, film and television producer, documentary director, charity ambassador. Flashback is the current centre of gravity, and it is the body of work that gives a contemporary inclusion conversation a name, a face and a primary source. Key speaking topics Diversity, equity and inclusion Cultural identity and Black British heritage Creative resilience and career reinvention Storytelling and oral history Music, media and representation Purpose, philanthropy and brand Motivation and inspiration Ideal for DEI and ERG leadership programmes seeking a culturally substantive keynote presence rather than a policy-led speaker. CSR, purpose and brand teams marking heritage moments such as Black History Month, World Orphan Week or cultural-anniversary launches. Senior audiences in media, music, entertainment and creative industries debating representation, longevity and the economics of Black British creative output. Conference organisers wanting a closing keynote that combines testimony, performance presence and emotional lift. Audience outcomes A clearer mental map of British Black music history and why it underwrites contemporary conversations about representation. A worked example of creative reinvention across four decades, useful for anyone thinking about second-act careers and staying relevant. A felt understanding of why inclusion is a question of belonging and visibility, not compliance language. Direct exposure to a cultural archive most rooms have never heard, drawn from the Flashback documentary interviews. An emotional close, often involving live vocal performance, that lifts the room rather than ending on a slide.

Why organisations work with Angelica Cheung She built Vogue China from zero to the definitive voice in Chinese luxury over 16 years as founding editor-in-chief, which gives her a deeper read on how Chinese taste actually moves than almost any operating executive a board could hire. She now sits on both sides of the table, as Venture Partner at HongShan (formerly Sequoia Capital China) and as strategic adviser to Gildo Zegna for Asia, so her view is priced against real capital and real operating decisions. She holds board seats at Zegna Group, AMI Paris, We11Done and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, a rare spread across European luxury, emerging Asian design and global hospitality that lets her compare what is working across categories. She is Asia Ambassador for the British Fashion Council and a recurring judge on the LVMH Prize, ANDAM, Woolmark and British Fashion Awards, which means she is reading the next generation of brands before they land. She was inducted into the BoF 500 Hall of Fame in 2019, an editorial recognition by Business of Fashion of long-run influence on the global industry, not a one-year listing. Biography highlights Founding editor-in-chief of Vogue China, 2005 to 2020, launching the title and leading it for 16 years. Venture Partner at HongShan (formerly Sequoia Capital China), covering consumer and lifestyle investments. Strategic Adviser to the CEO of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group for Asia. Board Director at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, appointed January 2026, representing Cascade Investment. Board positions at Zegna Group (NYSE), AMI Paris and We11Done. Asia Ambassador of the British Fashion Council; BoF 500 Hall of Fame inductee, 2019. International Advisory Board, Durham University Business School. Biography China’s luxury market is one of the most studied and least understood commercial environments in the world. Angelica Cheung has spent more than two decades inside it, first as the editor who defined how Chinese readers saw global fashion, then as an investor and board director shaping how global brands enter the market. She launched Vogue China in September 2005 for Conde Nast and ran the title for 16 years until stepping down in December 2020. The first issue sold out its 300,000 print run and was reprinted twice, and she went on to become the editorial interlocutor most global houses relied on when they had to read Chinese taste, generational shifts and cultural nuance. In 2021 she joined HongShan, formerly Sequoia Capital China, as Venture Partner covering consumer and lifestyle, and was appointed Strategic Adviser for Asia to Gildo Zegna, CEO of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group. She now holds board seats at Zegna Group, AMI Paris, We11Done and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Four Seasons appointment announced in January 2026. Her credentials in the wider industry match the operating work. She is Asia Ambassador of the British Fashion Council, a judge on the LVMH Prize, ANDAM, International Woolmark and British Fashion Awards panels, a member of Durham University Business School’s International Advisory Board, and a BoF 500 Hall of Fame inductee since 2019. Key speaking topics China’s luxury and premium consumer Brand building in the Chinese market Generational shifts among Chinese consumers Culture-led strategy for global consumer brands Consumer and lifestyle investment in Asia Global luxury growth strategy Fashion industry leadership Ideal for CEOs and CMOs of global luxury, premium fashion and beauty groups Consumer brand boards considering entry, expansion or repositioning in China Hospitality and lifestyle leadership teams managing Chinese outbound and domestic demand Investors and corporate development teams allocating to Asian consumer Audience outcomes A clearer read on where Chinese luxury and premium demand is actually moving, from the people and platforms driving it A working view of how global brands are winning or losing with Chinese consumers right now, grounded in named brands and specific moves A sharper question set for their own China strategy, from positioning through to channel and talent A sense of what investors and boards are pricing into Asian consumer bets, told from someone doing both

Why organisations work with Afua Hagan A working national broadcaster, not a consultant: she speaks on inclusion from inside ITV, BBC, Sky and CNN newsrooms, with a live view of how representation is decided in real time. A practiced live host across high-stakes formats, including news anchoring, awards ceremonies and large corporate stages, where audience handling is the deliverable. Her TEDx talk “Too Dark for Daytime TV” gives her D&I work a specific, named provocation, drawn from a colleague’s comment about her on-screen suitability, rather than a generic equity argument. Recognised by the Black Women in Business Awards for broadcasting, and trusted as Royal Commentator for CTV News and Managing Editor at Black Business Magazine, which gives her credibility across both mainstream and Black British business audiences. Brought in by clients across very different sectors, from Cambridgeshire Police and the NHS to Compare the Market, Lidl and CMR Surgical, indicating a wide register: regulated public bodies, retail, financial services and medtech. Biography highlights TV news anchor and commentator on ITV’s This Morning and Good Morning Britain, Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine, BBC, Sky and CNN. Royal Commentator for CTV News and host of The Royal Tea, covering UK royal affairs for international audiences. Managing Editor at Black Business Magazine; International Correspondent for News Central Africa. Former Editor-in-Chief of Glam Africa Magazine; Features Editor at Pride; Editor of Blackhair; columnist for The Voice Newspaper. Host of CNBC’s Sustainable Energy; producer and anchor at Arise News. TEDxKingstonUponThames speaker, “Too Dark for Daytime TV”, February 2024. Honoured by the Black Women in Business Awards for broadcasting. Speaking and hosting clients include Retail Week, NHS, Cambridgeshire Police, Compare the Market, Inmarsat, Lidl, B&Q, Karcher, CMR Surgical, Syngenta, IQ Student Accommodation, WildBrain and London Metropolitan University. Biography A colleague once told her she was too dark for daytime television. That line became the title of her TEDxKingstonUponThames talk in 2024 and the spine of her speaking work. It is also why her perspective on diversity does not read as theory: it comes from inside the studios that decide who appears on a sofa at nine in the morning. The day job is broadcast journalism. She anchors and contributes across ITV’s This Morning and Good Morning Britain, Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine, BBC, Sky and CNN, and serves as Royal Commentator for CTV News. She is Managing Editor at Black Business Magazine and International Correspondent for News Central Africa, with prior editorships at Glam Africa, Pride and Blackhair, and a columnist seat at The Voice. CNBC’s Sustainable Energy and Arise News sit in the same editorial line. For corporate audiences, that breadth becomes hosting craft. She moderates panels, hosts awards and chairs internal town halls for clients including the NHS, Cambridgeshire Police, Compare the Market, Inmarsat, Lidl, B&Q, Karcher and CMR Surgical, where the brief is to keep a room engaged and a programme on time, not to deliver a thesis. When she does deliver a keynote, the argument is concrete: how representation gets negotiated in commissioning meetings, what tokenism looks like from the side of the person being booked, and how organisations can stop confusing public statements with internal practice. The Black Women in Business Awards have honoured her broadcasting work; she uses that platform to push the conversation about race and inclusion past the comfortable middle. Key speaking topics Diversity, equity and inclusion in practice Representation in media and broadcasting Race, ethnicity and culture in the workplace Inclusive leadership and workplace culture Social mobility and opportunity Event hosting and panel moderation Royal affairs and current affairs commentary Ideal for CHROs, heads of DEI and internal communications leaders running inclusion programmes that need to move beyond statements. Boards and executive teams commissioning panel moderation or hosting for high-stakes internal and external events. Awards organisers, conference programme leads and industry associations needing a credible broadcast host. Public sector and regulated organisations briefing leaders on representation and community trust. Audience outcomes A clearer view of where diversity policy stops working in practice, and what a serious response looks like. Specific language for talking about race, ethnicity and culture without retreating into euphemism. A working frame for distinguishing tokenistic from substantive inclusion decisions. A panel or programme that runs sharply, with a host who can hold the room and the agenda.