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Carina Ndiaye

Chief Partnerships Officer, Tostan

Carina Ndiaye is a passionate advocate and change-maker driven by a strong belief in the endogenous potential of Africans to shape their own future. She has dedicated the last fifteen years of her life to her passion for understanding community challenges, developing innovative  and sustainable solutions, and scaling and effective partnerships for community wellbeing. Building on years of experience with various organizations in Africa, Carina joined Tostan in 2022 as Chief of Partnerships Officer to contribute to Tostan’s mission of catalyzing community wellbeing in Africa. She is an expert in organizational development and project management with a proven track record in donor regulation, compliance and risk management for development programs. Prior to joining Tostan, Carina worked for several organizations, including Speak Up Africa and Family Health International (FHI360), where she managed and improved programs on issues close to her heart, including women’s empowerment and gender equality, public health, and education. Carina holds a B.A. in International Relations and Women’s Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a Juris Doctor from Howard University in the United States.

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Selva Gürdoğan Thomsen

Founding partner and architect, Superpool

Selva Gürdoğan graduated with honors from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 2003. After graduation, she worked for Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam and in New York. In 2006 together with Gregers Tang Thomsen, she founded Superpool. During 2013-2019, Selva co-directed Studio-X Istanbul, an urban laboratory of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Between 2019-2022, she taught at the Architecture Association School of Architecture in London. Since 2017, she has led and advised on many public initiatives for children and caregivers within the Urban95 framework of the Van Leer Foundation in collaboration with city administrations in Türkiye, Jordan and Ethiopia. Currently Selva lives between Copenhagen and Istanbul and aside from her work with Superpool, she supports the development of Open Urban Practice, a platform for collaboration for better public programs, spaces and buildings.

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Content Curation Advisory Board Member Technology and Artificial Intelligence Specialist

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Sennay Ghebreab

Professor, Program Director and Founder

Sennay Ghebreab is a Professor of Socially-Intelligent AI at the University of Amsterdam, where he also serves as the program director of the Master Information Studies and the founder and scientific director of the Civic-AI Lab. He earned his M.Sc. in Technical Information Systems in 1996 and his Ph.D. in Computer Vision and Medical Imaging in 2001, both from the University of Amsterdam. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Sennay held various positions at the UvA, including assistant professor in the Informatics Institute and the Psychology Institute, head of Social Sciences at Amsterdam University College, and associate professor in the Informatics Institute. Sennay’s research focuses on harnessing AI for the betterment of everyday life and society, ensuring it is done fairly and inclusively. In addition to his academic pursuits, he is actively engaged in numerous committees and boards, such as the State Commission against Discrimination and Racism and the Supervisory Board of the Nemo Science Museum.

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Nina Hastie

Comedian, Actress, Writer, Public Speaker, and Host; Nina Hastie PTY (Ltd) and “Otherwise, you well?”

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About Nina Hastie

Nina Hastie – Comedian, Writer, Actor, Host, and Mental Health Advocate Comedy may be her flagship, but behind the pint-sized powerhouse that is Nina Hastie lies a fleet of creative expertise. With a career spanning two decades, she has carved out a name for herself as one of South Africa’s most versatile and respected media professionals—equally at home on stage, on screen, or behind the scenes. In 2025, Nina made headlines as the host of the 12th Annual Comics Choice Awards, where she brought her trademark blend of intelligence, irreverence, and presence to South Africa’s premier comedy event.

In 2024, she was celebrated as the creative director and writer of Trevor Noah’s “Welcome to South Africa” commercial, which earned third place at the World Tourism Film Awards, affirming her talent as a cultural storyteller with international impact. Her career is defined by both range and recognition. Nina was nominated for “Best Content Creator” at the DStv Content Creator Awards (2022) and for “Favourite Comedian” at the DStv Viewers Choice Awards the same year. Her stand-up was featured on the Netflix Original special “Only Jokes Allowed” (2021), and she played a lead role in M-Net’s drama series “Inconceivable” (2020).

From 2016 to 2019, she co-hosted the SAFTA-nominated talk show “Trending SA” on SABC3, becoming a household name known for wit, warmth, and relatability. As a comedy writer, she has received a SAFTA nomination for Writing in TV Comedy (2016) and a Comic’s Choice “Comic’s Pen” nomination (2015). She served as head comedy writer for NBC Universal’s “Celebrity Game Night” between 2019 and 2022, and most recently wrote and directed the first-ever DStv Content Creator Awards.

Nina’s presence as a host extends across a variety of high-profile events including the Assegai Awards, SATMA Awards, SA Hip Hop Awards, and the JSE Awards. Whether entertaining dignitaries, industry leaders, or festival crowds, her ability to read a room and hold it with confidence is unmatched. In addition to her work in entertainment, Nina is a passionate mental health advocate. Drawing on her lived experience and deep curiosity about the human condition, she created “Otherwise, You Well?”, a wellness podcast launched in 2024. The show blends candid storytelling, humour, and expert insight to help demystify mental health and create space for real, relatable conversations. It is fast becoming a trusted space for listeners seeking both levity and truth.

Whether on stage, in studio, or holding space for meaningful dialogue, Nina brings her signature mix of authenticity, intelligence, and bold humour. Her work continues to resonate with audiences across generations and platforms, establishing her as a powerful voice at the intersection of entertainment and wellbeing.

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Nelson Reiyia

Co-founder, Nashula Maasai Conservancy

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About Nelson Reiyia

Nelson Ole Reiyia is an Indigenous Maasai leader for social change and biodiversity conservation. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in southern Kenya and a social entrepreneur. As CEO and Co-Founder (with Olomunyak Ric Young) of the award-winning not-for-profit Nashulai Maasai Conservancy, Nelson in 2016 created the first Maasai-led and -governed community conservancy, situated in a 10,000-acre area in Narok County in southern Kenya, abutting the famed Maasai Mara Reserve. Its interdependent mission: Conserve Wildlife, Preserve Culture, and Reverse Poverty. In 2020, Nashulai was awarded the UNDP Equator Prize for its “paradigm-shifting model” for conservation and for meeting a majority of the UN Social Development Goals (SDG), including social justice and women’s empowerment.

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Jelena Dordevic

Co-coordinator of the Regional Strategy on Self-care, Collective Care and Healing, IM-Defensoras

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About Jelena Dordevic

Jelena Dordevic is a feminist activist. Originally from Serbia, Jelena has lived in Brazil for eight years, advising and supporting feminist and human rights organizations in developing self-care and collective care initiatives. For the last five years Jelena lives in Mexico. She holds a Master’s degree in Migration Studies from the University of Sussex in England. She is one of the founders of the Feminist Collective for Self-Care and Care among Women Human Rights Defenders (Brazil). Before moving to Latin America, Jelena worked on the prevention of violence against women and trafficking in women in the Balkans.

She is the co-author of the book “What’s the Point of Revolution if We Can’t Dance?” (published by the Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights, 2007). The book has been translated into several languages (German, French, Spanish, Serbian, Albanian, Portuguese, and Farsi) at the request of activists worldwide. The book had an unprecedented global impact among activists, becoming, in the words of many, an “inspiring milestone for activists and organizations in different regions of the world that paves the way for transforming the culture of activism.”

Over the past 17 years, Jelena has worked to introduce self-care, collective care, and protection into feminist and human rights defenders organizations around the world. She is currently co-coordinator of the regional strategy on Self-care, Collective care, and Healing of the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras).

Website: https://im-defensoras.org
Instagram: @imdefensoras
FB: IMDefensoras
X: @IM_Defensoras
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IMDefensoras

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Jennifer Woolard

Professor of Psychology, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, Georgetown University

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About Jennifer Woolard

A Professor of psychology and Vice-Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Arts & Sciences at Georgetown University, Jennifer Woolard began her career at the National Victims Resource Center. While obtaining her doctoral degree in developmental and community psychology at the University of Virginia she also served as a victim-witness volunteer in the county police department, a staff member to the Virginia Commission on Family Violence Prevention, and a consultant with Virginians Against Domestic Violence (now Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance) . She then joined the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice and became an assistant professor at the University of Florida’s Center for Studies in Criminology and Law.

In 2002 she joined the psychology faculty at Georgetown University. Her research and action laboratory, the Georgetown Community Research Group, studies individual and family experiences with systems of care and control in order to create fair, effective, and just legal processes. Projects examine how youth and parents understand the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and the right to a trial. Dr. Woolard has testified as an expert before federal and state legislatures as well as in criminal cases. She has presented her research findings to a wide variety of academic, legal, and policy audiences, and won several awards for teaching excellence, including the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She is a Fellow of the Society for Child and Family Policy & Practice, Division 37 of the American Psychological Association.

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Christiane Sultani

President, Instituto Beja

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About Christiane Sultani

Graduated in Law from Mackenzie University, Master in Banking Law from IBMEC-SP, with specializations in Private Bank from IBMEC-SP and Corporate Law from Getúlio Vargas Foundation, she also completed the Impact Investing Program at the CSP – University of Zurich. She has practiced Law for the São Paulo Stock Exchange, at BBA Creditanstalt Bank and at the Consenso Family Office, and has worked as Wealth Planner at the Private Bank, and Head of Legal for Capital Markets and Corporate departments of Itaú Unibanco Bank. Furthermore, she was a partner at the banking department of Law Firm Veirano Advogados, has been the COO of Pedro Alberto Fischer Single Family Office, and founded BEJA Institute in 2021. As a philanthropist and impact investor, Cristiane is a member of the Corporate Citizenship Institute, The Forward Global and Synergos GPC.

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Jonathan Rose

Director of Masterplanning, Prior + Partners

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About Jonathan Rose

Jonathan Rose RIBA As an architect and Director of Masterplanning at Prior + Partners in London, Jonathan is privileged to offer a keynote to the Hearth Summit, addressing the challenges of rapid urbanisation in a Himalayan context. Showcasing work together with the Royal Govt of Bhutan, the Thimphu Structure Plan puts wellbeing and ecological belonging at the core of the capital city’s framework for the future. Developed as Bhutan’s vision for Gross National Happiness turns 50 and a rising, younger generation looks to define a meaningful future within and beyond Bhutan, the TSP establishes a framework for action for all involved. Balancing the need for protection with a focus on ‘good growth in the right places’, the TSP aims to integrate GNH within the boundaries of Doughnut Economics.

What does the city offer its citizens as a place of continuity and care, innovation and opportunity? In his work at city scale, Jonathan combines an inter-disciplinary, multi-practice approach to creating successful urban places, resolving complex challenges from the deeply held view that social and environmental wellbeing lie at the heart of long term value creation and holistic, sustainable development. Current work in UK includes city centre regeneration at Smithfield in Birmingham, and London’s most significant scale, community-based masterplan at Thamesmead Waterfront, weaving together nature with riverfront living for Peabody Trust. Jonathan has made a career-long dedication to work in the Himalayan region, as Design Director of the Druk Padma Karpo School in Ladakh in Northern India and as a Trustee of Drukpa Trust. His work in the leadership of the TSP team was honoured by His Majesty through the award of Druk Thuksey, or ‘heart-son’ of Bhutan.

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Srinija Srinivasan

Co-founder, Loove; Co-founder, Jubilee College

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About Srinija Srinivasan

An abiding curiosity about human consciousness has guided Srinija Srinivasan throughout her life. Born in India and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, the contrast in her bicultural upbringing caused Srinija to wonder from a young age what possibilities can arise from believing spirit is in ourselves and all around us. This manifested in a love of the arts and fascination with aspects of lived reality beyond materialism. She followed her siblings to college in California, and having studied artificial intelligence at Stanford, she began working at the Cyc Project, a large-scale AI effort to build an immense database of commonsense knowledge.

In 1995, she joined Yahoo! as their fifth employee and self-titled Ontological Yahoo. Over the next 15 years, she served as Yahoo!’s Vice President, Editor-in-Chief, embedded deeply in a rapidly evolving tech industry while her work centered on the human experience, from directing the categorization system of the Yahoo! Directory to leadership over editorial and policy issues globally. During that time she also chaired the board of non-profit SFJAZZ, and these experiences together led her to co-found Loove, a music venture in Brooklyn, NY exploring how commerce and technology can be guided by artistic values rather than letting our culture be led by market values.

She is also a cofounder of Jubilee College, an immersive two-year school under development in Dunsmuir, CA where students will be equally rooted in physical work, rigorous liberal arts study, and contemplative practice towards cultivating intuition, humility and compassion, so they may imagine and create a future conducive to thriving life on Earth. Srinija is a board member of the On Being Project and a former vice chair of Stanford University’s Board of Trustees. She lives in Palo Alto, CA and Brooklyn, NY.