KOYE ADEBOYE

Koye leads Spotlight Initiative’s global communications and public relations efforts. Before

joining the team, he was a Communications Specialist at the United Nations Population

Fund where he oversaw systems, projects and initiatives to strengthen the Fund’s strategic

communications. He previously worked at the United Nations Volunteers programme in

Bonn where he executed corporate communications activities for more than 8,000 UN

Volunteers across the globe. He began his UN career in 2006, helping global and regional

youth networks develop HIV prevention campaigns. Prior to joining the UN, he worked in

sales and marketing at a private consulting firm. Koye holds a master’s degree in

International Studies from the University of Sydney in Australia and is a graduate of Rutgers

University in the United States.

ZAWE ASHTON

Zawe Ashton is an acclaimed actress, playwright, author, and director whose multidisciplinary career has seen her working alongside some of the industry's most respected talent.

Most recently, Ashton played the villain DarBenn in Nia DeCosta’s THE MARVELS. Her numerous screen credits include MR MALCOLM’S LIST; THE HANDMAID’S TALE; VELVET BUZZSAW; GRETA; NOCTURNAL ANIMALS; WANDERLUST and notably, FRESH MEAT. On stage, Ashton starred in the Tony nominated revival of Harold Pinter’s ‘Betrayal’ both in the West End and on Broadway.

Her writing and directing credits include, ‘For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad’; ‘Harm's Way’, shortlisted for the 2007 Verity Bargate Award; ‘Skunk’; ‘Lighthouse’; ‘The Place We Go to Hide’; and ‘Happy Toys’, which was nominated for Best British Short at the Raindance Film Festival in 2014. Her short documentary on the artist Lorraine O'Grady was formed as part of the ‘Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’ exhibition at Tate Modern and The Brooklyn Museum. She was also the youngest winner of the London Poetry Slam Championship in 2000.

Her novel, ‘Character Breakdown’ was published by Vintage in 2019 and is a leading light in Penguin’s diversity scheme, Lit in Colour.

EMMA-LOUISE BOYNTON

Emma-Louise Boynton is a writer, broadcaster and founder and host of the award-winning, sell-out live event series and podcast, Sex Talks.

Launched in 2021 and inspired by Emma-Louise’s personal experience doing sex therapy, Sex Talks exists to engender more open and honest conversations around typically taboo topics including sex, shifting gender relations and the future of intimacy. 

Emma-Louise previously worked as a producer for the BBC and Sky News here in London, and for Tina Brown’s ‘Women in The World Summit’ in New York. She also co-founded the female-focused creative agency, Her Hustle, which worked to inspire young women to pursue the careers they wanted, on their own terms, and she set up the non-partisan newsletter platform, The Venn, to help educate people about the issues behind the headlines ahead of the 2020 U.S. election. 

Emma-Louise has written for the Independent, ES Magazine, The Stack, Semaine and more. She is currently writing her first book.

YARIT DOR

Yarit is an IDC Certified Intimacy Coordinator, SAG-AFTRA Registered Intimacy Coordinator and also works as a Movement Coach for screen. She is amongst the first intimacy coordinators to work in the UK and EU and has contributed writings to many UK based intimacy guidelines. She is co-director of MOVING BODY ARTS which offers choreography services to film, TV and stage and in 2020 she was nominated for the "Shaker of The Year" Award, BAFTA London.

Most notable work includes BAFTA winning mini-series ADULT MATERIAL working with Hayley Squires (Emmy Award Winner), RIVALS, THE RINGS OF POWER, CHEATERS, GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, THE WHEEL OF TIME seasons and DAISY JONES AND THE SIX.

JENNY HALPER

Jenny Halper is EVP, Head of Creative at Maven Screen Media, where her credits include THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, DRIVEWAYS, AMERICAN HONEY, FREAK SHOW, SKIN, A MOUTHFUL OF AIR, the pandemic anthology WITH/IN, and the forthcoming ELEANOR THE GREAT. She currently oversees a slate of projects across film and TV, with a focus on complex female characters and women in front of and behind the camera.

As a screenwriter her scripts have placed three times on the Black List, on the Athena List, received grants from Film Independent and the Tribeca Film Institute, and New York Stage and Film (in association with Powerhouse Theater).

As a fiction writer, she is an Our Stories Emerging Writer Award winner and Pushcart Prize nominee with work most recently appearing in the Master's Review Anthology XII. Her story collection has been a finalist for the St. Lawrence Book Prize, the Hudson Prize, and the W.S. Porter Prize. She works as a mentor for Stowe Story Labs, the Athena Labs, and NYSAF, among other places. A graduate of Northwestern University and Emerson College, and a founding member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, she is represented by Untitled Entertainment and CAA. 

SOUDADE KAADAN

Soudade Kaadan is an award winning Syrian director born in France, raised in Damascus and based in London. She gained international recognition with her debut feature film, THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2018 and won the esteemed Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Film.

Her next short fiction film Aziza won the Sundance grand jury prize in 2019. And her second feature film Nezouh won the audience award at the Venice Festival in 2022, making her the only Arab female director to win twice in Venice.

JULIET KIRBY

Juliet Kirby is a Producer and Creative Executive at Aluna Entertainment, the film & television production company founded by Vanessa Kirby, under a first-look deal with Netflix. Aluna’s mission is to bring bold, untold stories of the female experience to screen.

The company is developing a diverse slate spanning film, television, and documentary, and most recently produced Night Always Comes, directed by Ben Caron for Netflix, and executive produced the Swiss Oscar entry Thunder, directed by Carmen Jacquier, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

Alongside the development of the Aluna slate, Juliet is producing debut features and short films under the company banner and runs Aluna Labs, an annual creative initiative designed to champion emerging female filmmakers as they work toward their first feature.

LIZA MARSHALL

Liza Marshall’s Hera Pictures is a fully independent production company established to produce bold, high-end, authored drama for a global audience. 

The company’s first series, TEMPLE, an eight-part drama starring Mark Strong, was Sky 1’s most successful drama of 2019 and chosen as one of the top TV shows of 2020 by The New York Times. The second season launched to critical acclaim in Autumn 2021.

2020 saw the launch of the two-part ITV true crime drama HONOUR, based on the case of murdered 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod. The show starred Keeley Hawes and was written by Gwyneth Hughes.

Hera’s seven-part period drama MARY & GEORGE launched on Sky Atlantic and Starz in spring 2024, with outstanding reviews in both the UK and the US. The series, starring Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine, was written by DC Moore. The lead director was Oliver Hermanus (LIVING, MOFFIE). 

Post-production has begun on upcoming BBC Three/iPlayer series WHAT IT FEELS LIKE FOR A GIRL, adapted by Paris Lees from her memoir of the same name, and on I FOUGHT THE LAW, a four-part crime drama for ITV1 starring Sheridan Smith.

On the film side, Hera’s adaptation of Megan Hunter’s THE END WE START FROM starring Jodie Comer went on general release in January 2024. Adapted by writer Alice Birch (NORMAL PEOPLE) and directed by Mahalia Belo (THE LONG SONG, ELLEN), the film premiered at TIFF and the LFF to glowing reviews.

Hera is in post-production on Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s multi award-winning novel, with Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in the lead roles.

 Before founding Hera, Liza produced the hit show Riviera for Sky Atlantic and Bafta nominated The State for Channel 4. She established and ran Scott Free London for Ridley Scott (Before I go to sleep, Get Santa, Welcome to the Punch, Life in a Day, Taboo) and prior to this was Head of Drama at Channel 4 for five years, executive producing many shows including The Red Riding Trilogy, Boy A, The Devil’s Whore, Misfits, Top Boy and The Unloved. She began her producing career at the BBC where she was responsible for many award winning dramas including The Long Firm, Eroica and The Sins.

SARAH SOLEMANI

Sarah Solemani is a British-Persian BAFTA and WGA Award winning actor based in LA. Her four-part espionage thriller RIDLEY ROAD took the primetime slot on BBC One and was the highest-rated show on PBS Masterpiece this year. Her show CHIVALRY, a comedy that deals with sexual politics in the wake of #MeToo, recently aired on Channel 4, with Sarah co-creating and starring in alongside Steve Coogan.  

Sarah can soon be seen in BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT A BOY, where she reprises her role as Miranda starring opposite Renee Zellweger, Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor.  Sarah is best known for starring as the lead in BBC’s BAFTA-winning comedy series HIM & HER alongside Russell Tovey. Her acting credits also include HOW TO BUILD A GIRL, alongside Beanie Feldstein which won the FIPRESCI Special Presentations award at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival; The universal’s mega-hit comedy BRIDGET JONE’S BABY with Renee Zellweger & Colin Firth, Michael Winterbottom’s GREED with Steve Coogan & Isla Fisher & the hit BBC Comedy BAD EDUCATION. Sarah also starred in the Paul Abbott Channel 4 comedy NO OFFENCE opposite Joanna Scanlan and the multiple BAFTA winning INSIDE NO. 9.   

 She is currently co-writing RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA with David E. Kelley as a limited series with Nicole Kidman attached to star, and most recently did a rewrite of THE PAPER PALACE, a limited series based on Miranda Heller’s bestselling novel, both for HBO. Prior to this she wrote on Bill Hader & Alec Berg’s hit HBO series 'BARRY', for which she won a WGA Award, and the HBO Max series 'MADE FOR LOVE'. Sarah is developing a show with Alfonso Cuaron for Apple and adapting Mary Trump’s book 'Too Much And Never Enough' for television.  

TABITHA MORTON

Growing up on a council estate in Liverpool, leaving school at 10 years old and living in a deeply conservative family, society's expectations of what Tabitha could be were narrow. The knowledge that these boundaries are only ever someone else's idea of what you can be, or a way to control you drives her activism.

Tabitha is Executive Director of UN Women UK, whose mission is to ensure every woman and girl has access to safety, choice and a voice. UN Women is the only global organisation working to make gender equality a reality in every way: from grassroots programmes with women and girls, to changing attitudes, and helping governments design gender-equal policy.

In 2023 Tabitha became the Chair of domestic abuse charity Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, continuing her work to play a part in ending all gendered violence.

Before this Tabitha was Deputy Leader of the Women’s Equality Party and Spokesperson for Ending Violence Against Women & Girls. She also led a cross-party organisation campaigning on issues from the climate crisis, equal representation in government and reform of the mental health and care sectors. Her commercial knowledge was honed from 15 years in the construction industry being the first woman on the UK board of her organisation.