Meet The Present-ers

Nora Akachar's career started at a young age in the theater, where she won the hearts of the audience with her expressive acting and challenging theater productions.

Her transition into the world of film soon followed, where she impressed with her ability to bring deep, compelling stories to life. She has also proven herself as a gifted presenter who fascinates and inspires. Her versatility and talent have not gone unseen and so she has a chance to win a 'Televisier-Ring Talent award'.

As Assistant Professor Annemiek van Boeijen focuses on the role of culture in design processes and impact on societies. Her aim is to develop knowledge, design methods & tools that support designers to develop a culture sensitive approach to design, understanding people from a socio-cultural perspective.

With her game and dissertation Crossing Cultural Chasms she bridged paradoxes in design.

She recently finished her book on Culture Sensitive Design – A guide to culture in practice.

Elvira Nanariain is the author of Mengelmoes and as entrepreneur committed to coaching healthcare workers. She gives lectures at women's conferences and enjoys working for the Moluccan community in the Netherlands. She tells her life story, among other things, in the TV program The Change. In Elvira's youth there was apple pie and bacon biscuits, sticky rice and sausages. Torn between two cultures, Elvira Nanaria has been trying to find herself for years. And it worked.

As a trainer and coach, Danae supports intercultural team members and leaders in dealing with individual and cultural differences.

Also a PhD researcher on international humanistic management, focusing on human dignity in intercultural teams.

With Caleidoscope Academy she aims to increase the effectiveness of team members and leaders in an intercultural context by recognising and understanding your and others' cultural patterns, leading to appreciating differences, and learning from others.

Born as a Surinamese Maroon, Chevaly comes from a line of resistance fighters. Her ancestors were brought from Africa to Surinam and were enslaved. However, they appear to have resigned themselves to this and freed themselves. They founded new communities in the interior of Surinam and to this day still live in a traditional way, with their own language and culture.The fighting power of her ancestors is still strong in Chevaly today. As a self-proclaimed public activist, she fights against racism and discrimination in government policy.

Chiara beliefs that every organisation can contribute to a better world that can be profitable and sustainable. Everyone has a creative designer inside who can realize this.

She can help people discover the designer inside of themselves. Together we bring this designer to life and find the positive legacy you want to create. 

How? By putting people in the right mindset and using strategies and toolkits to find the right business model.

Poverty, depression, loneliness, exclusion and many more themes are still a major problem for many people. A few years ago Chesney decided to do her part to combat this.

She prefers to do that full-time as a filmmaker. So that she can reach far and with impact at once. That is why she wants to help other people by passing on the knowledge she has recently gained through her consultations and her E-book.

The proceeds from this will go to her film career so that she can continue to pursue her passion.

Katrina Antezana, an Intercultural Psychologist with over 30 years of experience in psychotherapy, has consistently grown in her field despite personal challenges.

Over her nomadic life, she encountered diverse cross-cultural situations and worked with organizations like SNV-Netherlands and the European Union on gender and domestic violence issues. She specializes in systemic therapy. For the past 18 years, she has dedicated her expertise to helping the expat community with challenges such as culture shock, depression, trauma, and relational issues in intercultural settings.

Esseline van de Sande facilitates social change. She is trained as Social Psychologist and Author of books, poems, essays & articles. 

Founder and director of the City Coalition
www.stadscoalitie.nl bridging cultures in the field of personal development, intercultural diversity, heritage and talent.