Joy Francis is co-founder and executive director of Words of Colour, co-founder of Digital Women UK and the award-winning Synergi Collaborative Centre. The former journalist and academic is a creative entrepreneur, curator, producer and cultural strategist with a diverse career – from collaborating with the Media Diversity Institute to co-design and launch the UK’s first Diversity and the Media MA at the University of Westminster in 2012, to being appointed as the media liaison lead for the Hillsborough Inquests by award-winning civil rights law firm Birnberg Peirce.

Joy is a longstanding activist for racial equality and cultural inclusion in literature, publishing and the media. She co-initiated Writing the Future (Spread the Word/The Bookseller, 2015) with Courttia Newland and curated the week-long industry-focused digital launch for Rethinking Diversity in Publishing (Goldsmiths Press/Spread the Word/The Bookseller, 2020). Joy was the inaugural project manager for the UK-wide Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships, developing a creative entrepreneurship model since adopted by Jerwood Arts.

In 2019, Joy was selected for the UK’s first Museum of Colour’s People of Letters Digital Gallery as a literature influencer, alongside luminaries such as Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Busby. In 2022, she was a Judge for the British Book Awards and was elected to the Royal Society of Literature as an Honorary Fellow for services to literature. Joy will be judging the Trade category for the British Book Awards 2023.

In her spare time Joy pursues photography, DJing and is currently writing a TV series.

Suzanne is a psychosynthesis psychotherapeutic counsellor, personal development coach and social change agent with a particular interest in empowering women and people of colour. Suzanne has worked in the health and social field for nearly 40 years in a variety of roles, including as a social worker, care services manager, social work educator, organisational consultant, a former director of a public involvement charity and trustee of a multi -cultural counselling charity. She has experience of group work and community building. She works in the field of healing trauma resulting from terrorism or disasters.

Her personal background led her to explore the interplay between the individual, groups and society, and she is very active in new approaches to inclusion, equalities and personal empowerment. She has written practice guides for the Department of Health and facilitated a variety personal development programmes, Suzanne is developing work in the field of conscious ageing and is responsible for Word of Colour’s Creative Wellbeing Hub.

Adrianne has been with Words of Colour for over 10 years. A photographer and award-winning videographer, she is also the founder of AMC Media, a London-based company specialising in studio and event photography and videography. A former art student at the University of the Creative Arts and Central Saint Martins, she has since worked on a number of high profile projects, including Time to Change, the national anti stigma mental health campaign, Queen Mary University of London’s national policy initiatives on public health as well as a camera operator for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She was part of the production team of the critically acclaimed documentary, On the Ground at Grenfell, which won the Portobello Film Festival 2017 Best Film Award.

Fatema has over 10 years’ experience of branding and communications in the creative sector. She currently works with a host of organisations, including arts, mental health and education organisations, consulting them on their branding and marketing strategies, producing digital content around their projects and leading on project management for several creative education projects. Fatema has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with Biosciences and went on to read Persian Language, Middle Eastern Art and Literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Shameika Byfield is a multifaceted entrepreneur with a passion for numbers. She has single-handedly built her own company ShyFigures, whilst at the same time providing invaluable support to other SMEs. She has a wealth of experience in accounting, finance and business management in a variety of industries. Shameika is a modern day business woman, one whose practices reflect the agile philosophy. Not only is she the managing director, she sits on the board for numerous community groups and not-for-profit organizations.

Shameika was appointed as Words of Colour’s finance and business manager in 2020. She has since streamlined the company’s financial management procedures. Her input in respect of financial governance is imperative to the continued effectiveness, efficiency and compliance. In addition to this, she also facilitates finance workshops for creatives.

Tamera Heron is a Freelance Producer and Marketer who works with artists and arts organisations across the UK. She was previously a member of Rosetta Arts Cultural Producers programme which provided a comprehensive training in cultural producing across art-forms via a paid placement with a local cultural organisation, classroom-based theory, 1-1 professional mentoring and regular supervision. Over the course of the programme, participants were equipped with the tools, knowledge and experience to enter the creative arts sector and help to expand and enrich the cultural scene in their communities. Tamera is also a Creative Consultant for Bloomsbury Festival; she has produced digital talks about a variety of topics from Black Women in Prison to The Bloomsbury Set, alongside several in-person events such as zine-making workshops, spoken word events and panel talks. Tamera also ran Bloomsbury Festival’s book club throughout 2023, focusing on books by writers of colour. Tamera’s work also exists outside of her home of London, working with organisations such as Beyond Face in the South West. She is the theatre company’s Company Storyteller, helping to creativity and authentically communicate their vision of leading the South West into becoming a recognised region that amplifies and celebrates Global Majority people in the arts and cultural sector.

Heather Marks is a creative producer, editor, researcher and writer. She has worked in a diverse array of roles spanning media, publishing, education, research, and the arts. As creative producer at Words of Colour, she specialises in curating meaningful pathways and opportunities for creatives of colour, and has worked with a number of universities, literature organisations, and publishers to deliver national and international projects. Highlights include:

• Take Flight Hub (2020), a national development programme run in collaboration with University College London and Spread the Word
• Power, Protest & Poetry (2021), a regional workshop and event programme commissioned by Bristol Libraries
• UpLift (2022), an international pilot development programme for literature leaders of colour aged 18-30, run in collaboration with the Irish Writers Centre and funded by the British Council and National Centre for Writing.

Heather also has a background in publishing: she worked as Head of Engagement, Brand & Sales at independent press and publishing studio No Bindings, based in Bristol, on publications which championed underrepresented voices, and is co-editor of the upcoming short story collection The Book of Bristol (Comma Press, 2023). One of the world’s first graduates of the Masters in Black British Literature (Goldsmiths, University of London), Heather has contributed to educational resources for Pearson Education and online course leader Futurelearn, worked as a researcher for Museum of Colour’s My Words exhibition, and as a journalist for The Bookseller and The Stage. She is a writer of historical fiction for young adults.

She won the 2018 Golden Egg Award for her work-in-progress The Disobedients, and has a first look deal with Chicken House.

Milos has been with Words of Colour since 2012. After graduating with a degree in Graphic Design from the University of Belgrade in 2005, he entered the field of web design, 3D modelling and rendering in line with his passion for graphic design. With over 16 years of experience, his portfolio includes a variety of projects, from advertising and social media campaigns, brand identity development to brochures and publications design. Before joining the Words of Colour, he worked in London as a freelance designer and also has marketing agency experience. For Words of Colour, he led on branding for a range of clients and partners, Spread the Word, Synergi Collaborative Centre, The UCL funded Take Flight Hub, Jacaranda Books’ award-winning #Twentyin2020 initiative, and most recently My Words, the UK’s first hybrid exhibition celebrating 250 years of poets of colour.

Cherise has been with Words of Colour for six years and is now reviews editor, working to increase the space for reviewers of colour in our industry. She is also commissioning editor for Tate Children’s Publishing where she has re-envisioned the list to put inclusivity and accessibility at its heart, and has helped establish Tate Story Space – an inclusive family library space within Tate Britain filled with children’s books by people of colour from around the world. Originally from California, she is now based in London. She earned a Law degree from Durham University, with a focus on international human rights, and a Masters in Publishing from UCL, with a focus on diversity in children’s literature. Cherise is also a Bookseller Rising Star 2021 and co-founder of Desert Rose Literary Magazine, an intersectional feminist literary magazine.

Mike joined the Words of Colour team in 2015 and leads on digital projects. With many years experience in both design and development, working with partners and collaborators to bring ideas and concepts to life is what he does best. Since graduating with a BSc in Multimedia Technology and Design, Mike has worked with a wide variety of organisations, from start-ups to larger corporations including many international projects.  Some recent projects include designing and developing the Museum of Colour digital exhibition along with Peoples Palace Projects and Queen Mary University, working with UCL to redesign their COVID-19 Longitudinal Research Hub and working with Roehampton University to develop the multimedia knowledge ehub RAFA2.

Kenny Mammarella-D’Cruz is the “Man Whisperer” (Newsweek) who helps men achieve their life, relationship and career goals. As a personal development consultant, Kenny runs workshops and sees individuals and couples for private consultations. He’s been running men’s groups since 2002. He runs groups in London and online, and also teaches people how to facilitate a men’s group. Kenny’s incredible life journey has taken him from refugee camps, through overcoming OCD and mental health issues, to working with Mother Teresa and becoming one of the UK’s leading men’s personal development consultants. He loves helping men (and women) gain the awareness and tools to consciously embody their potential and meet all of life’s challenges and is also a published author.

Patsy is a mother of one and a freelance writer, editor and media skills trainer with more than 30 years of experience in book and magazine publishing. She has worked as a journalist on national weekly and monthly magazines at IPC Media, Time Inc and Bauer Media. She was commissioning editor at Tamarind, part of the Random House Publishing Group, where she commissioned a range of multicultural children’s books. She is co-founder of The Black Love Project and podcast, which takes a cross-generational look at black British relationships, parenting and our passions as black Brits. Patsy has also trained as a yoga teacher, holding 200hr teaching certificates in Hatha and Kundalini yoga and a 500hr in traditional yoga. She now works as a content writer and editor, a corporate editorial coach and trainer and, in her spare time, as a yoga teacher.

Dr Angela Martinez Dy is a senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Loughborough University London, a former academic partner and now scholar in residence at Digital Women UK. Her expertise, research interests and communities of practice revolve around digital entrepreneurship, anti-racist intersectional cyberfeminism, and critical realist philosophy. She is a scholar-activist with a track record of creating impact through building and engaging with community-based organisations.

Ahsan has worked with Words of Colour since 2009 on community impact projects, supporting programmes on design for systems change, social and climate justice. Ahsan is also the design director and co-founder of Climate Labs, a multidisciplinary design consultancy that focuses on design for sustainability. Forming teams to deliver digital products, services and programmes with clients across business and academia – Design Council, Power to Change, Futerra, PA Consulting, PwC, Kingston and Exeter University, he uses Design Thinking and Systems Practice to drive transformation and innovation for transitions towards sustainability.

With the Design Council, Ahsan is also part of 100 experts working on the Design for Planet strategy. He also consults for Culture Heroes and IAAAE focusing on strategic design, creating value through a systems practice approach to understand EDI challenges to benefit marginalised communities.

Ahsan has a BSc Hons in Product Design and MA in Sustainable Design with Distinction.

Lee has been with Words of Colour since 2009. He specialises in documentary and portrait photography, working primarily with third sector organisations both as a photographer and a workshop facilitator. He is passionate about promoting photography as an art form and is heavily focused on making it accessible to everyone. As a result, he founded both Lenses of Croydon, a photography group with in excess of 500 members, and the Croydon Photography Forum, which serves to create a platform for aspiring photographers to hear from practising professionals. Lee is a graduate of the University of Technology, Jamaica, and he has a BA Hons degree in Photography from the University of Westminster.

Damien has been working with Words of Colour for four years. An entrepreneurial and innovative filmmaker, Warner Bros. Entertainment supported his latest project, the film GRAPES. RADA presented his short film featuring the work of 2020 BA (Hons) Acting graduates and Theatre Production and Costume students and students, working alongside industry professionals. Sir Kenneth Branagh introduced the film.

His other work includes documentaries such as Black Lives Matter UK, which debuted at The BFI S.O.U.L. Celebrate Connect, and The People of Brixton, both distributed by KweliTV. He has filmed for Essence Magazine – featuring Tessa Thompson – and his documentary #BlackPride London, featured at film festivals in London, San Diego, Birmingham, Staffordshire, Reykjavik, Sacramento, Brighton, and others.

His podcast Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby is a small fraction of the critical conversations currently taking place across the indie film community. The podcast reaches out to the next generation of filmmakers, who continue to look for inspiration and guidance. Guests include Oscar winners, Emmy-award winners, and the latest trailblazers in the indie film community.

Joy Francis is co-founder and executive director of Words of Colour, co-founder of Digital Women UK and the award-winning Synergi Collaborative Centre. The former journalist and academic is a creative entrepreneur, curator, producer and cultural strategist with a diverse career – from collaborating with the Media Diversity Institute to co-design and launch the UK’s first Diversity and the Media MA at the University of Westminster in 2012, to being appointed as the media liaison lead for the Hillsborough Inquests by award-winning civil rights law firm Birnberg Peirce.

Joy is a longstanding activist for racial equality and cultural inclusion in literature, publishing and the media. She co-initiated Writing the Future (Spread the Word/The Bookseller, 2015) with Courttia Newland and curated the week-long industry-focused digital launch for Rethinking Diversity in Publishing (Goldsmiths Press/Spread the Word/The Bookseller, 2020). Joy was the inaugural project manager for the UK-wide Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships, developing a creative entrepreneurship model since adopted by Jerwood Arts.

In 2019, Joy was selected for the UK’s first Museum of Colour’s People of Letters Digital Gallery as a literature influencer, alongside luminaries such as Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Busby. In 2022, she was a Judge for the British Book Awards and was elected to the Royal Society of Literature as an Honorary Fellow for services to literature. Joy will be judging the Trade category for the British Book Awards 2023.

In her spare time Joy pursues photography, DJing and is currently writing a TV series.

Sailesh Ram is the founder and editor of asianculturevulture.com, a digital arts and culture magazine, which is widely recognised for its high-quality arts and international festival coverage. Sailesh is a published novelist, who continues to write creatively, and his first feature film ‘Victor’, co-scripted with the director, is set to be released in 2022/23. His first novel, ‘Asian Triangle’ was commissioned and written for teenagers and ended up being shortlisted for a literary prize in Scotland. He was the only debut novelist featured. Since that time, he launched a lifestyle magazine, ‘GG2Life’ and later become editor of ‘Eastern Eye’, Britain’s best-known South Asian newspaper.

He has appeared in the media, talking about community subjects and the arts. You might see him in Cannes chasing after Bollywood stars (for an acv video interview). He holds a Masters in Continental Philosophy from the University of Sussex and a BSC from the LSE. He writes comedy professionally.

Born in London to Jamaican parents on the 3rd January, 1963, Alex spent most of his childhood in social services care. A huge fan of reggae, in his mid teens Alex was a founder member of the Crucial Rocker sound system where he wrote lyrics for performances in community halls, youth clubs and blues dances in South London.

His first novel, Brixton Rock, was published to critical acclaim by BlackAmber Books in 1999. Alex won the London Arts Board Writers Prize in 2000. East of Acre Lane was published by Fourth Estate/Harper Collins in 2001. The Seven Sisters/Home Boys was published by Fourth Estate/Harper Collins in 2003. Brenton Brown, the sequel to Brixton Rock, was published by Arcadia in 2011

Alex’s first young adult novel, Liccle Bit, was published by Little, Brown in March 2015. It was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2015.

Crongton Knights, the follow-up novel to Liccle Bit, was published by Little, Brown in March 2016 and won the Guardian’s Children’s fiction award for 2016.  It also won the Renaissance Quiz Writers’ Choice Award and was shortlisted for the 2017 Bookseller Young Adult prize.

Crongton Knights was adapted by Emteaz Hussein into a stage play for Pilot Theatre and toured the UK January/February 2020. Straight Outta Crongton, the third in the Crongton trilogy, was published in April, 2017.

Home Girl, the fourth in the Crongton series, was published in April, 2019, which was shortlisted for the Neustadt prize for children’s literature 2020. Alex next novel Cane Warriors published in October 2020. In the same year Alex was a consultant on Steve McQueen’s award-winning TV mini series ‘Small Axe’, which also featured his life story.

Alex was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.

Suzanne is a psychosynthesis psychotherapeutic counsellor, personal development coach and social change agent with a particular interest in empowering women and people of colour. Suzanne has worked in the health and social field for nearly 40 years in a variety of roles, including as a social worker, care services manager, social work educator, organisational consultant, a former director of a public involvement charity and trustee of a multi -cultural counselling charity. She has experience of group work and community building. She works in the field of healing trauma resulting from terrorism or disasters.

Her personal background led her to explore the interplay between the individual, groups and society, and she is very active in new approaches to inclusion, equalities and personal empowerment. She has written practice guides for the Department of Health and facilitated a variety personal development programmes, Suzanne is developing work in the field of conscious ageing and is responsible for Word of Colour’s Creative Wellbeing Hub.

Shameika Byfield is a multifaceted Entrepreneur with a passion for numbers. She has single-handedly built her own company ShyFigures, whilst at the same time providing invaluable support to other SMEs. She has a wealth of experience in accounting, finance and business management in a variety of industries. Shameika is a modern day business woman, one whose practices reflect the agile philosophy. Not only is she the Managing Director, she sits on the board for numerous community groups and not-for-profit organizations.

Shameika was appointed Finance Manager of Words of Color in 2020. She has since streamlined the company’s financial management procedures and its transition to Accounting Software. Her input in respect of financial governance is imperative to the continued effectiveness, efficiency and compliance. In addition to this, she also facilitates finance workshops for creatives on behalf of the company.

Annette Brook is a playwright and a communications professional working within the arts sector. She has worked in arts admin for nearly 20 years at organisations including Laban, Arts Council England, Spread the Word, the Royal Society of Literature and Theatre Peckham. Annette has recently joined writing and education charity First Story as their Communications and Marketing Manager. She has BA English and MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy, both from Goldsmiths.

Annette started writing plays in 2005 after making it through to the final 30 for Channel 4’s competition ‘The Play’s the Thing’. Her work includes: The Argos Delivery (Theatre503, 2022) about Rosemarie who now has her very own toaster and the chance of a new start; the critically-acclaimed how we love (Theatre Peckham, 2021; Arcola 2021; VAULT Festival, 2020) about queer Nigerian friends planning to wed each other to fool the authorities back home; Gala Mae (Matchstick Piehouse, 2019) longlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award, about mixed race sisters recounting their lively time in 1950s Soho; Cold Blow Lane (Matchstick Piehouse, 2018) a new musical about the Millwall Lionesses; The Marriage of Lady Mede (Ledbury Poetry Festival/Shoreditch Town Hall, 2017) a Penned in the Margins commission, part of the five-hour retelling of the epic Medieval poem Piers Plowman.

She is an alumnus of the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme and the Royal Court Invitation Group, and in 2015-16 was a Jerwood/Arvon mentee.

Photo credit: Adrian Pope