The people behind London Creative Labs
CORE TEAM
Sofia Bustamante — Founder, Facilitator
Sofia had the initial idea and drove the first six months. A facilitator by background, her role is to host the whole.
From March 2010 to September 2011 Sofia was one of 15 "London Leaders" selected by the London Sustainable Development Commission.
Mamading Ceesay — Co-Founder, Futurist, Strategic Advisor
A rare individual — who traverses the various boundaries that are important to our times, Mamading has been an invaluable asset in shaping the vision behind London Creative Labs. His contributions range from pithy one-liners to identifying and articulating the subtleties in extremely complex systems whether they are social, technical, economic, political or a combination thereof. Since March 2009, Mamading has taken an executive role and has ensured that what we do ties in with current political and economic reality, enabling us to work with existing institutional structures in exciting ways.
Sylvana Bustamante — Operations Manager
Sylvana brings operational know-how and balance to the often hectic agenda of a startup organisation. The combination of her positive nature and logistical skills makes for an ideal front of house role at our events, maintaining high standards in our client care. Sylvana leads the outreach for the Skills Camps, and is also a trainee career coach on the Camp programme, supporting participants who are new to career coaching. We could not operate with out her!
Nicholas Owkulu — Community Development Worker
Nicholas grew up on Loughborough Estate, in the most deprived wards in Lambeth – one of ten estates that London Creative Labs is targeting in its current programme. Nicholas is a dedicated Community Enabler, running projects and workshops on themes that range from Community Cohesion to Education. He is the founder of PemPeople: People Empowering People. Nicholas brings real, practical and innovative approaches that are already helping people to shift several gears in their journey towards employment and enterprise.
Victoria Barambones — Coach and Expert in Gender Issues
Vicky built an organization from scratch in Madrid and has worked on projects similar to London Creative Labs - encouraging people to find work - as well as on projects that fall under the theme of personal development. Vicky’s passion is for gender mainstreaming and community empowerment. She has worked with a variety of community organizations and in particular women’s associations enabling them to develop appropriate projects in their areas. Her work stems from a core perspective that everyone has the capacity to analyze and take decisions about their own lives according to what is important to them – rather than simply reacting to situations. She has run workshops on self-esteem, communication skills, critical and analytical thinking. She is a coach on the Skills Camps program, and plays a key role in liaising with the Latin American community on behalf of London Creative Labs.
THE BOARD
James Arthur — Board Member
James is a geek generalist with a background in marketing and communications. He worked for six years as the Digital Media Director of Large Blue, co-founded green.tv and has represented the UK creative industries in China on behalf of the IVCA and UKTI. Now Co-founder of Togethr and active Espian, James is a Trustee of London Creative Labs.Gloria Charles — Board Member
Gloria is intentional about empowerment and peer-led education as a tool for raising confidence and aspirations of the marginalised. With 16yrs experience in the third sector spanning international aid, training and employment and education projects she is currently involved with a number of social enterprises and charitable organisations.David Pinto — Board Member
David has explored social innovation in mainstream schools, developing a self-discipline system before applying what he learned to the adult world of business as self-organisation. He has written a book "WISDOM - a Conversational Tango" which outlines a methodology based on emergence and non-organisational thought.STRATEGIC ADVISORS
Tav Espian — Visionary, Symbiotic Engineer
Tav, the leader of the Espian collective, has provided strategic insight and helped streamline many aspects of London Creative Labs. We value his advice highly!
Attributions
Icon Illustrations by David MillsPeople Illustrations on Flyer by Charlotte Mellor-Meecham
