Our speakers

An ambitious, conscientious, innovative, and entrepreneurial individual who is passionate about making a positive impact on the world through bringing people together.

Throughout her career, Catherine has achieved a lot from running two businesses (GLOW and Social) to making the career change into community management using her automation and communications expertise.

In her four years of automation and communications experience, she has achieved impressive statistics and achievements for the communities she's grown, including:

🌟 Automated seven businesses from enquiry to nurture and renewal - in fact one of them saw 9.37% of lost clients convert later on;

🌟 Trained and supported her teams to automate aspects of their roles to save them time;

🌟 Increased open rates and click rates of communities like Circl's where Catherine increased the open rate from 53.21% in Mar 22 to 71.87% in Sep 22 and Colorintech's where the average open rate is 75% and the click rate is 7.1%;

🌟 Has been awarded for managing one of the most engaged groups on LinkedIn and has maintained an 'Active Group' badge for the Colorintech community group.

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If you're interested in hearing more about her community building and communications expertise, then do drop a connection request! In addition, she has six years of speaking experience, including but not limited to:

🌟 Running workshops and training sessions on a variety of topics; 🌟 Hosting in-person and virtual events for audiences for small and large scale audiences;  🌟 Participated on multiple panels surrounding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion;

🌟 MC'd panel discussions both in-person and virtually;

🌟 Co-Hosted a Podcast and Social Media series on Business and the Impact of COVID on Students.

I am a Lead Business Analyst with over years of experience, qualified life coach and Master Practitioner of NLP. This winning combination allows me to build rapport with individuals at all levels, taking the time to find out what makes them tick, which achieves great results. I am an excellent team manager, coaching and developing people to be the best version of themselves. Outside of business analysis, I run workshops for women on empowerment, getting them out of their own way and showing how to be a trailblazer for themselves, their children and their peers.

Dr Abigail Otchere holds a BSc in biomedical science (Roehampton university), a MSc in neuroscience (Kings college London) and obtained her PhD in biomedical science from Aston University(2021). Currently she works as a medical writer at Excerpta Medica, a global medical communications agency under the Adelphi group. Abigail is also the co-founder of SiSTEM, an initiative which aims to connect and support women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) particularly black women and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Prior to her PhD, she worked in the clinical trials sector, mainly working on flu, asthma and virology studies and HIV/AIDs trials. Together with her sister (co-founder of SiSTEM) she dedicates her time to improving the retention and the uptake of black women in STEM by inspiring early years to working professionals and changing the narrative on STEM.

Stephen established Beyond Education in 2019 as an initiative to help his peers struggling to secure job opportunities after graduation. Today Beyond Education is a talent and employer branding agency with an online community of over 120,000 followers, helping underrepresented talent access career opportunities with inclusive employers. Beyond Education has helped employers save £131,000 in recruitment related cost to date, reached over 16 million candidates online through content and has worked with organisations across various industries: LinkedIn, HSBC, BBC, Octopus Energy, BNY Mellon, St James Wealth Management, IQ-EQ, Federated Hermes, Octopus Investments, Octopus Money, 10,000 Black Interns Foundation, Wasserman, Uswitch, JumpStart Careers, CISI, EY Foundation, Samsung. Stephen graduated with first-class honours in Banking and Finance from the University of Northampton. Despite attending a ‘non-target’ university, he has worked in competitive industries such as FinTech, Consulting, Private Equity, and Asset Management before progressing into the CEO position at Beyond Education full-time. He is a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, spearheading Beyond Education’s growth efforts through marketing, sales, and strategy development.

Abi Mohamed leads Community at Diversity VC, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to setting a global benchmark for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the venture capital industry. With over seven years of experience in startups and venture capital, Abi has supported scaling founders, worked in investing, and led initiatives aimed at building a fairer and more inclusive world.

Shore Delano is a British-Nigerian cultural advocate and founder of The Rendition. Her heart lies in community building, serving the collective and making theatre accessible to all, especially Black communities. In 2019, drawing on over a decade of experience in production and project management within corporate and agency environments-and combining this with her expertise in connecting audiences to theatre shows at scale -Shore launched The Rendition.

Currently an Infra Transformation Specialist at Accenture, helping organizations streamline operations and accelerate digital transformation. Recognized for her contributions to diversity in tech, she has previously spoken at the Black Tech Fest and was a finalist for the Inspirational Woman of the Year Award.

Starting as a software engineer, I have been building software across a number of industries over the last 15 years. I am part of the Telematics team at Samsara, building our connected operations platform. Prior to this, I was at AWS, where I was part of the MSK team.

Hanna Naima Mccloskey (she/her) is Algerian British and the Founder & CEO of Fearless Futures. Before founding Fearless Futures she worked for the UN, NGOs and the Royal Bank of Scotland, across communications, research and finance roles; and has lived, studied and worked in Palestine, Italy, USA, Sudan, Syria and the UK. She has a BA in English from the University of Cambridge and an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with a specialism in Conflict Management. Hanna has worked with leaders in the largest tech companies in the world building their capacity and advising them on how to embed equity into their policies, processes and products. She brings systems thinking, anti-oppression praxis, socio-political analysis and change management expertise to complex problems; among them, responsible AI. Hanna is the Co-Author of Fearless Futures' White Paper - DEI Disrupted: The Blueprint for DEI Worth Doing and a qualified body/breastfeeding peer supporter with the ABM.

Mark is an accomplished and people-focussed recruiter working with the Talent Acquisition team in Citi, with over 10 years of experience in recruitment, people management, and leadership. He currently supports the technology and operations recruitment strategy and execution across the UK and Europe. With a passion for the arts, Mark has held NED board positions for local and grassroots opera companies, advising on technology adoption, people management, and outreach.

Arsema Fessehazion is the founder of the Black Recruiters Network, a community driving visibility, opportunity, and impact for Black recruiters and the talent they champion. Back for the third time on the Black Tech Fest stage, Arsema continues to spotlight the power of community in reshaping the future of hiring. Beyond founding the Network, Arsema is a committed advocate for inclusive hiring and workplace equity. Through hire|py, she partners with tech startups and scale-ups to build inclusive teams, supporting companies in accessing Black & Ethnic Minority talent and creating environments where diverse teams can thrive.

BioCaleb Oniwinde is a Cloud and Cybersecurity Engineer, YouTube Creator and TEDx Speaker, dedicated to empowering the next generation of tech talent. He shares real, relatable insights from professionals across the tech industry.

Elijah is an entrepreneur and business leader best known as the driving force behind the Black Apprentice Network. Through BAN, Elijah is dedicated to empowering apprentices from underrepresented backgrounds, creating a platform that fosters connection, mentorship, and career progression across industries. With more than 6,000 community members and 25,000 followers on social media and partners such as BT, Freshfields, Deloitte and more, his leadership has positioned BAN as a key voice in advocating for diversity and inclusion within the UK apprenticeship landscape.

Donna Otchere is a PhD researcher at Loughborough University and co-founder of SISTEM UK, a platform empowering women in STEM through creative events and community initiatives. Her research explores how relatable role models shape girls’ aspirations to pursue engineering, with a focus on mechanical engineering. Donna is also a speaker and non-executive board member, dedicated to making STEM more inclusive and inspiring for the next generation.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese born writer, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate. A former mechanical engineer, Yassmin has published five books, and her literary novel AT SEA is forthcoming with Canongate in 2026. She is also a core writer on British Continuing Drama, Emmerdale. An award-winning speaker and seasoned broadcaster, Yassmin has delivered workshops and keynotes in 25 countries. Her internationally acclaimed TED talk, “What Does My Headscarf Mean to You” was chosen as one of TED’s top 10 ideas. In all her work, Yassmin advocates for transformative justice and a fairer, safer world for all.

Tola is a Senior Vice President at Citi with over 15 years of international banking experience spanning across six global hubs- Lagos, Johannesburg, Libreville, Nairobi, Dublin, and London. Tola previously led the bank’s Commercial Cards operations in Nigeria. Now, Tola partners with some of the UK’s most innovative Digital, Technology, and Communications companies, drawing on her expertise in Fintech and general banking solutions. Beyond her client work, Tola is co-chair of Citi London’s Black Heritage Network where she helps drive inclusion and engagement across the firm. Tola enjoys flower arranging, theatre, travelling, listening to podcasts, and she collects African Contemporary Art.

Senior Software Engineer with a Cybersecurity background, building secure, scalable, and user-focused web applications with React, TypeScript, JavaScript, and Java.

Hosanna Hali, Founder of The Tech Cornr, transitioned from business studies to the tech industry over five years ago after learning to code. Her dream role at Microsoft opened her eyes to the tech world’s potential—and its lack of diversity. Determined to change this, Hosanna launched The Tech Cornr in 2020, providing accessible career insights, learning resources, and advice on navigating the corporate world. Through her content, she’s helped multiple women kickstart their careers in tech. Her relatable approach quickly grew a community, leading to collaborations with top brands like Google, IBM, Logitech, Norton, Sony, and Amazon, as well as speaking opportunities at events such as Black Tech Fest, Oxford University, Warwick University, and Clifford Chance. A 2024 and 2025 Diversity Champion Finalist for the Black Tech Achievement Awards, Hosanna continues to support those entering tech through content, speaking partnerships, and events that connect and embolden her community.

Arinze is an experienced software engineer, passionate about building impactful products and leveraging technology to solve complex problems. At Monzo Bank, his focus is on building the systems that shape the search and discovery experience powering everyday use of the app. He also has extensive experience in advertising from his time at Deliveroo, helping to build and scale the in-app advertising platform. He is committed to mentoring aspiring professionals, fostering community, and continually learning along the way.

Khalifa is a Senior Software Engineer at Apolitical with experience building AI-powered solutions, including creating an AI course assistant and implementing semantic search systems. Throughout his career, he has led major technical migrations and infrastructure overhauls. With his practical experience in both traditional software development and cutting-edge AI integration, Khalifa brings valuable insights into how development practices are evolving in the age of AI-assisted coding.

Payal Jain is the Global Head of Application Engineering & Platforms for Citi, she also runs the GenAI engineering team that builds the core AI machinery and platforms for the bank. Prior to joining Citi, Payal has been a hands-on engineering leader building planet scale software at Google and Salesforce - she has a passion for building innovative software. Her current focus includes engineering the core GenAI building blocks that will enable Citi to make the most of generative AI. She is also a Citi Tech Fellow.

Ebele Okobi is the principal of Revolutionary Projects, through which she advises and creates beloved community for radical imagination. She is an advisor, board member, maker of good trouble and see-er around corners, with 25 years of experience leading, advising and building global teams and tech and consumer brands, as well supporting creators and arts institutions. She loves building, advising and launching organizations and projects that push the arc of the moral universe towards joy and justice; dismantling systems of harm and convening and connecting people who are dreaming better worlds. Her current experience, through Revolutionary Projects, includes being Advisor to the CEO at Dr. Martens, Advisor to Goodifferent, (a beauty and well-being start-up), Chair of the Development Board of the Museum of West African Art in Benin City Nigeria and Advisor to a stealth start-up cultural institution. Previously, she was Chief of Staff to the CEO at Dr. Martens, Senior Policy Advisor at OpenAI, the CEO of the non-profit news agency The New Humanitarian, a Venture Partner for Impact and Equity at Ada Ventures, built and led the Africa, Middle East & Turkey public policy teams at Facebook/Meta, built and led the Business and Human Rights Program at Yahoo, worked in the brand/Africa strategy/digital brand businesses at Nike, was a director of advisory services at Catalyst and a policy advisor at Consumers Union, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York, London and Paris. She has extensive experience in board governance and raising capital for creative projects and art institutions. She is on the Frieze Connect Committee, is a Trustee of the American Friends of the Whitechapel Gallery, and previously chaired the development board of the Young Vic theatre as well as the patrons board of the British Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale for John Akomfrah. She attended the University of Southern California, Columbia University Law School and HEC-Paris. She is married to Richard Harris III, a documentary film director; she is the mother of dragons.

Charlotte Stavrou is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and the founder of SevenSix Agency. Charlotte Stavrou (née Williams) is the Founder & CEO of Award-winning influencer marketing and talent management agency SevenSix Agency. She has become the go-to person for brands looking for advice on how to make their marketing strategies more inclusive. Charlotte regularly speaks for and works with platforms such as Meta and YouTube, and participates in roundtables and panels with industry bodies such as ISBA and Advertising Association. For the past five years, Charlotte has been helping creators understand their value. Together with her team, Charlotte has created the first-of-their-kind influencer pricing reports that have highlighted the Influencer Pay Gap. Their yearly pricing reports have helped set an industry pricing standard. Charlotte Stavrou is a respected and influential leader in the marketing industry who is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion.

Charmaine Hayden is a bold cultural commentator known for teaching business strategy through the lens of popular culture. With sharp wit and a fresh perspective, she breaks down economics, entrepreneurship and current affairs in ways that feel relatable, thought-provoking and impossible to scroll past. Her content sparks the kind of conversations you didn’t know you craved; bridging finance and culture with clarity and confidence. Alongside her standout social presence, Charmaine is an angel investor with two exits, a former VC fund manager, a published author (Empowering Nigeria series), and a presenter across media and live events. She’s also a founding member of the UK-Ghana Investor Group, with accolades from Forbes, Financial Times and 40 Under 40 Africa recognising her influence across tech, policy and business. Whether she’s breaking down a viral headline or presenting on stage, Charmaine brings a fearless voice to the table; making complex ideas feel powerful, relevant and actionable.

Senior Technical Recruiter at DigitalOcean, specialising in hiring leadership and senior AI, software, infrastructure, and cloud engineering talent.

Michaela is a leader who leads with empathy and a dash of spice! She has had a 20 year career as a tech-adjacent who's passions lie at the intersection of technology, culture and process. The last three years of her career have spent at Microsoft as a Customer Success Account Director for strategic enterprise customers.

Rumbi Mtsambiwa is a global post-sales leader driving SaaS growth and enterprise transformation across various global regions including EMEA. With 10+ years of experience leading customer success and retention strategies, she specialises in turning complex challenges into scalable results. At OpenText, she leads global post-sales strategy for cloud cybersecurity solutions, managing a multi-million-dollar enterprise portfolio and shaping how value is delivered across the customer lifecycle. Her leadership is anchored in a personal growth philosophy—rooted in competence, passion, determination, and empathy—values she weaves into hiring, coaching, and team-building. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Daya Ventures East Africa and mentors future leaders through the Black Economists Network. Known for turning strategy into impact, Rumbi creates environments where people thrive and businesses unlock the full value of both their customers and their teams.

Nicole Ayesu Nelson is a consultant, Tech leader and Chair of Growing Hope Brockley. As the founder of Ayesu Consulting, she helps organisations foster inclusive, high-performing teams. A passionate speaker and facilitator, Nicole equips diverse talent with the skills to thrive, transforming leadership across finance, tech, and social impact.

Jefferson Osei, also known as Papa Ghana, is originally from Ghana and is now based in the Netherlands. As a co-founder of the Dutch fashion brand Daily Paper, Jefferson Osei has contributed to crafting a brand that merges contemporary streetwear aesthetics with African heritage, achieving global success and creating a dedicated community around the brand. With roots deeply embedded in Ghanaian culture, he has become a prominent name in both the creative and entrepreneurial world. Through projects where he functions as an art director, creative consultant, or sound director, Jefferson inspires and organically attracts a tribe of multidisciplinary creatives and cultivates and shares his talent and knowledge with various fields.

Imani Artwell is an award-winning author, leader, visionary, and change-maker making waves in the fields of tech, access, and education. She leads with quiet confidence, transforms institutions, mentors FTSE CEOs, and is known for her servant-hearted leadership. A first-class graduate of the University of Cambridge, winner of The Sunday Times Rising Star Award (Women in Academia) (2018), and the Top 100 Powerful Media Future Leader Award (2017), Imani serves as a Senior User Experience Researcher at some of the UK’s best-loved brands. Over the last 6 years, she’s showcased a stellar track-record of seeding new propositions for those brands from discovery to delivery and sustained success, delighting businesses and their customers. Having led UX research as part of the team at Waitrose & Partners for 4 years, most recently seeding the Business’s flagship proposition of the year to success, Imani will now carry her notable insight, acumen, and expertise into the exciting world of FinTech and Banking, as she joins the team at J.P. Morgan Chase in November to lead research for the global finance firm’s newest ventures. With a spotless academic record, Imani is a passionate advocate of education and access. In 2020, she founded The ISLA Gift to tackle underrepresentation at Oxbridge and beyond. When only 15 Black men had been admitted to Cambridge out of 2,600 freshers in her year (2015), she created the Gift to support underrepresented students of Black heritage with a cash gift towards their study resources and/or a personal academic mentor, with the help of 50 friends who signed up to mentor and/or donate. The Gift is now entirely run by Churchill College, Cambridge University, and has offered nearly £10K in financial cash gifts, as well as personal mentorship support, to over 70 black students. The black student population at Churchill increased by 45% from 3.1% in 2020 to 4.5% by 2024, helped by the Gift towards a goal of 5% (representative of the national population aged 16-24). Imani transforms institutions and leads leaders with her quiet, unwavering, servant-hearted confidence. Whether she’s authoring books to empower others to excel, reverse-mentoring FTSE 100 CEOs such as Steve Rowe (M&S) directly leading to the creation of a Group Head of D&I role on the M&S C-Suite team, or leading a 50-strong team of mentors and donors for The ISLA Gift and partnering with leaders of renowned institutions like Cambridge University to bring about positive change for black students -- Imani is a trailblazer who embodies empathy, kindness, and a commitment to impact and excellence, without any need to be in the limelight.

Leo Olebe is widely recognized as a leader in the global games industry and is a frequent speaker and thought leader on the future of games and technology. He has launched multiple billion-dollar annual-revenue businesses for major technology companies and has marketed and released more than 100 games generating over $1B in combined revenue. With more than 25 years of experience, he has held leadership roles at Microsoft, YouTube, Google, Meta, Disney, and Electronic Arts.

Leading an awesome team of people around the world helping developers and publishers to have more success and strategic partnerships with Xbox.

Insightful, passionate and engaging business leader with talent for delivering technology innovations to accelerate business growth. As a dynamic team player skilled at collaborating across business functions, I thrive in working with others to drive shared accountability for results and improve outcomes. As a leader, I excel at growing diverse teams and their capabilities through coaching and empathy. As a diverse leader who has a passion for customer success, I’m constantly looking for new ways to drive progression and growth.

I specialise in end-to-end account management, producing creative campaigns for some of the world's largest brands. Maintaining relationships with stakeholders, strategy and creative, content management, social media analysis, and reporting. I have amassed a growing portfolio of viral social media campaigns that have reached people worldwide.

Today’s a full circle moment. I’m back in social media agency land, but this time, it’s mine! I’m building a social-first social media marketing agency from scratch. I hired a team. I did the thing, bricking it, but moving forward anyway.So how did I get here? I cheated! (kinda)I went from 9-5 marketer in agency to full-time monetised content creator in just 6 months. By using everything I’ve learnt, and now I’m sharing it all here with you!Here’s the journey so far:2025 → Launched Social People Agency, built from 20 years of marketing obsession and creator growth experience.2024 → Built The Creator Project, a membership app and events for people building online.2021 → Quit my job after 8 years in agency life. Started YouTube. It changed everything.2015 → First marketing role. Loved it, but knew it could be done differently.2009 → Studied marketing. No backup plan, just cereal brand pitch decks and big dreams.2005 → Age 12, watching TV ads while everyone else watched MTV. Didn’t want to be famous, wanted to sell things.This moment feels like day one all over again.(but with a lot more receipts!)If you follow me, you’ll learn how to:Turn content into cash (without the guesswork)Grow your audience into a loyal communityCreator economy juicy insightsBuild systems that make social media work for you (not the other way around)And of course, I’ll be spilling all the BTS agency tea!This is just the start of my LinkedIn journey. If you got this far, welcome!For more free social media education, find me on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Subscribe to my newsletter.

Rodney Appiah is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cornerstone VC, a black led, $25m early stage fund focused on a ‘people first’ investment approach. Investing at pre-seed and seed, Cornerstone VC is focused on outlier UK tech companies led by diverse teams that seek to change the way we Live ("People + Planet"), Work ("Future of Work") and Play ("New Consumer"). Prior to founding Cornerstone VC, Rodney held roles at BGF, Foresight Group and Merrill Lynch and has more than 15 years of financial services, TMT and Consumer experience across UK and Europe. An experienced board director, Rodney serves as an NED for the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), the largest UK trade body for angel and early stage investing and is a committee member of Innovate UK (Innovation Loans).