Musician | Performer
Miltos Pistof was born in Athens. He studied Sociology at Panteion University while also completing his musical studies in Apollonio Conservatory. After a search period music became his passion and he involved in teaching in which he has been active for 20 years. He early realized the value of alternative teaching, as need for modern education and having apprenticed and worked with renowned musicians / educators (Keith Terry, Victor Wooten, Tony Moreno, Sandy Silva) he gained a lot of experience in creative learning focusing on the body percussion. He is a music teacher in Doukas School and prepares selected students for their music studies both in Greece and abroad. The last decade he is an active alternative educator as well as a team building facilitator in the corporate environment. The result of this search is the creation of Spirit Of Rhythm, a music-motion game that combines music and rhythm with psychology and addressed to younger and older audience.
Musician | Designer
Danai Nielsen is a solo dream-pop, synth-based composer and singer, who uses voice FX to create musical dialogues between her male and her female alter ego persona by using synths, loops and samples while most of the times she creates her unique costumes for each of her performances.
Since 2004 she’s been active, as main member of the Greek band Rosebleed, who signed a contract with Sony Music (2007) and has shared the stage with several know artists such as Santana, Hooverphonic, Cranberries etc.
In 2014 she becomes the lead singer of the band Than.Eye, which was based in Germany and released their first EP in 2016.
Meanwhile she collaborates with JIM Bespoke (Ninja Tunes) as a vocalist for synch music and participates as a musician in several art performances.
Since the beginning of 2019 she is performing solo and has completed a tour across Europe by performing at festivals such as Taste the Music, Fifty Lab & Reeperbahn (Athens, Belgium, Hamburg).
Danai released her first personal album titled “Who are They” on October 2021.
She is going to be at the upcoming Eject Festival, the greek supporting act for the Muse band.
Musician
Alexandra Sieti is a soul, jazz, R’n’B and funk singer born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1994. Her involvement in music, dance and theatre has begun from a very young age. In 2007 she started studying music theory, harmony and piano in “The Music College of Thessaloniki”, while taking part in various musicals such as “Grease”(2009), “Camelot”(2010) and “Anything Goes”(2011). In 2011 she commenced her studies in Jazz singing and improvisation in the “Contemporary Conservatorium of Thessaloniki” with Vicky Almazidou as her teacher.
In 2014-2016 she attends Jazz Masterclasses at the New Bulgarian University of Sofia(Bulgaria) with world class musicians such as the legendary Billy Cobham(Grammy nominated), Milcho Leviev(Grammy awarded), David Murray, Craig Bailey and Marc Halbeer, receiving an honorary distinction for three consecutive years. She also attended vocal improvisation seminars with be-pop pioneer Sheila Jordan(2014) and Grammy nominated Thana Alexa(2019).
In 2016 she gets into the studio for the first time with established trumpeter George Avramides for his album “Voyager”, which led to an ongoing collaboration for two more albums and various singles such as “Blind Week” and “Phoenix”(2021). She is also featured in Cayetano’s “Melanie” album, with the track “My Job Is Done”(2018).
Meanwhile, she performs in Jazz Festivals touring Greece with established jazz musicians such as Dimitris Angelakis(Berklee College), Nick Vargiamidis(Berklee College), Tasos Korkovelos(Berklee College) and many others.
In 2018 she enrolls in soul band “Souled Out”, with whom she tours in Greece and makes a few gigs abroad, until today. In 2021 they release singles “Let me in your heart” and “Madness”, receiving thriving critiques. In 2022 their third single “Love School” is released, as well as their debut album “Sunny Side Up”, being characterized as the most soulful Greek album, involving soul, funk and neo-soul original tunes.
In 2019 she starts collaborating with legendary Greek songwriter Dionyssis Savvopoulos in music performance “Tribute to Woodstock”, along with established musicians Stavros Lantsias, Yiotis Kiourtsoglou and Sakis Dovolis, singing all time classic blues and rock songs performed in Woodstock Festival. The Tribute premieres for the first time in Sani Festival(June 2019), and continues for a full sold out season at “Alsos Theatre” with weekly performances. In 2020 they perform in “Athens Music Hall” and television program “Home with Mega Channel”.
In 2021 she takes part in television show “The Voice of Greece”, winning the second place, with purely soul, blues and rock repertoire.
She also performed “Let me in your heart” with Souled Out at TV show “Radio Arvyla”(2021). In 2022 she was invited to perform in TV music show “Music Box”, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”, Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” and Black Pumas’ “Colors”.
In 2022 she moves to Athens and performs with established songwriter Phoevos Delivorias, along with George Avramides in the context of concerts of Municipality of South Macedonia, while continuing touring with her band Souled Out.
Pianist | Composer
The "new Mozart", as the media around the world likes to call him, the 9 y.o. Greek pianist Stelios Kerasidis amazes with his composing maturity and with his sensitive performance on the piano. With a resume that even successful musicians would envy, as well as with appearances from Carnegie Hall to the Royal Albert Hall, Stelios is probably the revitalising breath of fresh air that classical music needed. His piano compositions "Isolation Waltz" and ''AntiWar Etude'', were heard around the world, gained international recognition and are considered a beacon of hope, peace and humanity, making Stelios a worldwide recognised artist at such a young age.
Music & Sound Journeyer
Yotam is a Producer, Sound Designer, Yoga & Meditation Facilitator.
He explores our listening Soundscape using elements of outdoor recordings, sound design and healing frequencies.
For over 20 years Yotam has been developing “off the beaten track” sound libraries and is constantly creating music, Yotam has developed a Live digital platform using soundscapes to perform meditative listening sets and sound journeys for live audience and to support his teachings as a Yoga & Meditation Facilitator.
Based in South Asia he has produced films and live shows with rural and tribal communities around the world, exploring the power of sound and music in the different life ceremonies.
His latest work includes capturing the Acoustic Signature (Impulse response) of extremely unique spaces around the world for music, archiving and educational purpose.
He is leading retreats and expeditions of recordings and sound experiences around the world.
His music as “YOTAM AGAM” is available on all platforms
His two podcasts available on all platforms
- SOUND JOURNEYS
- CLOSER TOGETHER
Presenter
Ted Papakostas was born and raised in Thessaloniki. He studied Archaeology in the University of Reading and got an MA in Archaeological Research from the University of Nottingham. He has worked as an archaeologist in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and participated in various excavations in the UK and Greece.
Ted completed his PhD in Classical Archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki in 2017 and started working at the Archaeological Service of Kilkis. With a firm belief that archaeology is the most fun of all fields of study and that everyone has the right to enjoy its marvels (always keeping a distance from pseudo-scientific approaches), Ted started the “Archaeostoryteller” project in 2018 - a social media account with more than 55K followers, aiming to present archaeology to the general public in a fun way and make it accessible to everyone.
Ted is also the author of the book “Can you fit all of ancient Greece in an elevator?”, which is currently being translated into 7 languages and hosts a successful podcast.
Adventurer | Freediving Underwater Photographer and Videographer
Stefanos Kontos, is an underwater photographer/cinematographer, who does all his work freedivng – using apnea - without the use of any breathing equipment. Born in Ioannina-Greece in 1972 he has been exploring the Greek seas and documenting his work for 3 decades. He is collaborating with organizations, institutions and specialists, worldwide in an effort to advance and promote the unique perspective of freediving photography. His associations include, The Greek ephorate of underwater antiquities, National Geographic, The KORSEAI Institute of Historical & Archaeological Research and others.
The work of apnea underwater photography is a truly unique and challenging endeavor. It is the absolute manifestation of “action – wildlife photography” and requires effort and preparation by the photographer and the support – team involved.
As well as requiring sound technical skills and physical abilities, the photographer needs to have a deep understanding and awareness of the marine environment and its inhabitants. Some situations may require stalking skills or the use of the environment for concealment and approach, always, on a single breath. Intensive training and both physical and mental preparation is necessary for achieving a high level of competence in freediving photography.
However, the element of the “single breath” does not work as a restriction or confinement, it is a liberating factor; the photographs are all–too–real glimpses of the experience and the actual interaction with the deep.
The photographer –freediver is liberated; unfettered by definition, free to experience his surroundings completely, and without any interference between him and his subject.
Τhe natural, physical and mental abilities of the freediver-photographer allow Stefanos to capture the pulse of the unique Greek underwater world as it is interacting with him, during his dives.
Director of Campaigns @ Sea Shepherd Global
Swedish-American Peter Hammarstedt is the Director of Campaigns for Sea Shepherd Global and is Chairman of Sea Shepherd Australia. He is captain of the ocean-going vessel Bob Barker, having spent two decades at-sea including 10 years in Antarctica.
In 2014/15, the Bob Barker, with Peter as captain, set the world record for the longest pursuit of a poaching vessel at sea after chasing the Interpol-wanted fishing vessel Thunder for 110 days, covering three oceans and 11,000 nautical miles, before its captain intentionally sank his own vessel in a bid to destroy evidence. Since then, Peter, has provided civilian offshore patrol vessels (COPVs), under so-called 'ship rider' agreements, to many African coastal countries in order to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. On-going partnerships between Sea Shepherd and the law enforcement agents of African coastal and island States have resulted in the arrest of over 70 vessels for illegal fishing and other fisheries crimes over the past five years. The COPVs have served as critical platforms for capacity-building of law enforcement agencies in increasing monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities in the maritime domain. Founder and Director @ BlueCycle
Suzanna Laskaridis, after her studies in Humanities, turned her academic interest to shipping, completing her studies in Ship Management and her LLM in Maritime Law at City University of London. She is a Director in Lavinia Corp and Laskaridis Shipping where she has been working since 2007, and is involved in all aspects of daily management. She recently (2020) received a Certification from the Cambridge University Judge Business School in Circular Economy and Sustainability Strategies. She is an active member of the Greek Shipping Community, is on the Board of the Hellenic War Risks Association, the United Kingdom Defense Club and RINA decarbonization committee.
She is the General Secretary and Treasurer of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, a nonprofit, cultural institution, where she also heads and promotes its environmental initiatives.
In 2016 she founded Real Time Graduates, a nonprofit initiative that connects young graduates with valuable work experience within the maritime industry. It is the only free access CV database in Greece. Drawing inspiration from her experience in shipping and her environmental activity, in 2019 she founded BlueCycle, the first integrated company in Europe, focusing on the recycling of marine plastic waste, originating from shipping and fishing activities. As its director, she participates often in Greek and international forums on sustainability and circular economy and the sustainable use of marine plastic. Since 2018 she has served on the Leadership Committee of the UNSDSN (United Nations Sustainability Development Solutions Network). She is also on the Advisory Board of the Center of Excellence in Logistics, Shipping and Transportation of Deree College.
In 2020 she was awarded with the Next Generation in Shipping Award from the Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping awards.
Actor | Activist
With a successful career as an artist manager and a non-binary model in Los Angeles and New York, today, she is based in Athens and works as a writer, an actress and LGBTQ + anti-abuse and gender duality recognition activist.
She has just published her first book, entitled "From Corinth to non-binary".
She starred in Panos Koutras's new film, "Dodo" and she presented the closing ceremony of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
She has worked in the international music industry as the music manager of SOPHIE and Slayer and participated in the campaigns of artists such as Rosalia, CL, 30 seconds to Mars, Charli XcX. Vogue has paid tribute to her, she became the muse of David Lachapelle and she was photographed by the biggest fashion photographers on the planet, she has walked on all the international catwalks, she has been chosen as the main person for advertising campaigns of big companies. She has been in front of and behind the cameras with great success.
In other words, she went from the music industry to the film industry, with modeling as an intermediate stop. In her words: "Of course, I was thinking a lot to be just a model who is dressed, undressed, set up. What I did was a kind of activism, non binary modeling, and that's why I did not accept to work with big agencies, because I did not consent to be put on the male or female board. It was not about me reproducing their beauty standards, I wanted to break the stereotypes and claim visibility for a world that was still invisible ".
Journalist | Campaigner
Hugo Dixon is a campaigner, journalist and entrepreneur.
He is currently focussed on fighting climate change - in particular promoting the Clean Green Initiative, a global plan to help developing and emerging countries grow in a green way.
Previously, he was deputy chair of the People’s Vote campaign, which was campaigning for a new Brexit referendum in the UK. He was also chair and editor-in-chief of InFacts, a journalistic enterprise making the fact-based case against Brexit. Before that, he was chair and editor-in-chief of Reuters Breakingviews, which he founded. Before that, he was editor of the Financial Times’ Lex Column.
Consultant Neuroradiologist | CEO@Re:Cognition Health
With a determination and passion to provide a solution for the unacceptable problem of dementia, Emer founded Re:Cognition Health in 2011.
With her medical knowledge and training in neurosciences, corporate experience, personal credibility, contacts and charisma Emer assembled a team of Brain and Mind Experts to create Re:Cognition Health; an internationally recognized expert provider of the best diagnosis, treatment and hope for people with memory and other cognitive symptoms.
Focusing, initially on the Global Pandemic, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and working closely with providers of sophisticated biomarkers and pharmaceutical sponsor’s R&D to provide new medications; Emer’s team have enabled thousands of individuals to gain early access to novel diagnostic tests and new mediations, designed to halt or slow progression of AD, through international clinical trials. This work, for which Emer was awarded an UK “EY Entrepreneur of the Year” award for Societal Impact in 2019 and multiple other awards, continues.
Emer and her team are also focusing, now, on the hugely under recognized complication of repetitive brain injury, from contact sports: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
Emer’s Tedx talk addresses CTE: awareness, risks, pathology, new diagnostic tests and potential for treatment. Parallels with AD, may accelerate understanding and treatment of CTE.
Entrepreneur | CEO & Co-founder@GoStudent
Felix Ohswald is the Co-Founder and CEO of GoStudent, the Vienna-based digital learning platform that provides tailored and high quality video-based tuition to primary, secondary and college-aged students. In November 2020, Felix was featured in the Forbes “30 under 30” list.
In 2015, GoStudent started out as a homework chat service, managed via WhatsApp. At first, it involved support that Felix provided for his younger brother’s classmates. Felix quickly became the go-to expert for the students and the volume of messages he was receiving kept growing. It was clear that there was a systemic lack of support for these students, so he decided to address this issue and inspire a passion for learning to the students that matched his own.
What started as a homework chat group evolved into a revolutionary 1:1 tutoring platform, where students receive tailored support by being paired with the best teacher for them, regardless of geographical location.
Founded in 2016, the EdTech scale-up is now active in 23 countries. GoStudent has more than 1,800 employees and has opened 24 international offices. Currently, GoStudent works with 19,000 international tutors, with more than 1.5 million tutoring sessions getting booked per month.
Quantum Physicist
Menas C. Kafatos, PhD, is a quantum physicist, astrophysicist, climate-change researcher, philosopher, working extensively on consciousness. Studied with renown physicist Philip Morrison at M.I.T., a student of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Education: Undergraduate: B.A., Physics, Cornell, 1967. Ph.D., Physics, M.I.T., 1972.
He has 47 years of experience in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. He holds seminars and workshops for individuals and organizations on the natural laws that are the foundations of the universe.
Menas is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics and Director, Institute for Earth, Computing, Human and Observing, Chapman University, California. He is foreign member of the Romanian Academy of Science and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology; an international advisor with the Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering at Korea University, Seoul, Korea, a collaborator with the Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens, as well as international scholar at several countries.
Menas authored 345-plus articles in astrophysics, Earth system science, climate change and impacts on hazards, & agro-ecosystems, computational sciences, data systems, quantum mechanics and the mind, consciousness and the nature of reality. Author or co-authored 22 books, including The Conscious Universe, Science Reality & Everyday Life, on many social media. Co-author with Deepak Chopra of the New York Times bestseller You Are the Universe, translated into more than 20 different languages, the latest being Greek and Korean. Menas is often interviewed for international television networks, newspapers, and radio. www.menaskafatos.com
Psychologist | Researcher | Author
Agnes Mariakaki is a Psychologist and Social Researcher.
Since 1996 she has been leading the research company MindSearch, and has developed over 4,000 focus groups, for more than 300 brands, in over 15 countries.
She has been awarded by Google for the design of an application that acquaints children with history.
She is a writer, post lockdown YouTuber and member of the Women in Business Committee.
She is a certified PTSD therapist in collaboration with the University of Alberta, accredited Lego Serious Play Expert and postdoctoral specialized in nonverbal communication.
Investment Firm | Managing Partner@Isomer Capital
Joe Schorge is the Founder and Managing Partner of Isomer Capital, a private investment firm based in London that focuses on European technology venture capital.
Growing up in the US, he was always “that kid who takes everything apart, and spends too much time on the computer”. Joe began his career in information technology after getting an MBA in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Joe invests in the future through his support of new technology companies that exhibit high potential by providing them with limited partner investments in early-stage VC funds, company co-investments and secondary purchases of funds and company positions.
Joe has over 25 years of experience as an LP, GP and technology operations executive.
Adventurer | Entrepreneur
Soren Gordhamer is a writer, adventurer and entrepreneur. He has led mindfulness programs for a variety of groups around the world, including youth in New York City’s juvenile halls, trauma workers in Rwanda, teachers in Nigeria - and even employees at Google.
Gordhamer is the founder of Wisdom 2.0, an annual conference that brings tech leaders and wisdom teachers together to investigate the intersection between ancient wisdom and modern digital life.
As part of the Global Walk for a Liveable World, Soren spent a year walking through parts of the United States, India, Pakistan and Japan. This led him to become the founder of The Lineage Project; a nonprofit that offers awareness-based practices to incarcerated and at-risk teens. More recently, Soren co-founded Wisdom Ventures, which seeks to support the next generation of companies focusing on mindfulness and human connection.
Gordhamer focuses on the wisdom of the community, as he believes that the best answers spring from harnessing group intelligence.
2x Pulitzer winning Writer
Jake Bernstein is an author, a playwright and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for investigative reporting.
He earned his first Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for National Reporting for his coverage of the 2008 financial crisis. He was also the senior reporter on the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) team, which broke the Panama Papers story. In 2017, the same project won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
Bernstein’s latest book, The Laundromat, previously published as Secrecy World, was turned into a Netflix film directed by Steven Soderbergh starring Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, and Jeffrey Wright.
Bernstein has been the editor of The Texas Observer and is currently the coauthor of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Guardian, ProPublica, and Vice and has appeared on the BBC, NBC, CNN, PBS, and NPR.
Creative Director | Film Director
Erika Lust is a mother, a feminist, and an award-winning erotic filmmaker. Her sex positive adult cinema is a more inclusive and cinematic alternative to mass produced mainstream porn.
In 2019, she was named as one of the BBC 100 Women’s most influential women of the year and in 2022, her alternative vision of porn was featured in The New York Times.
Erika has been instrumental in promoting the benefits of the female gaze in adult cinema. In addition to filmmaking, she has written several books, and her story was featured in the Netflix documentary series 'Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On (“Women on Top”)', directed by Rashida Jones, and 'Principles of Pleasure', directed by Niharika Desai.
Erika has a strong voice that emphasises the need for inclusive and informative sex education. The Porn Conversation is her non-profit platform, which she created along with her husband, giving families and educators the tools to give ‘The Talk’ and provide comprehensive sex education to the younger generation – starting with the topic of porn literacy.
Musician
Angelo Pentaris spent his early years in and out of hospitals. Born prematurely and hooked up to machines in order to breathe, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and was told he was a tetraplegic. According to the doctors, Angelo would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair and would be permanently unable to live independently.
At 9 months old, Angelo began intensive physical therapy, which became his first priority for the next 17 years of his life.
At age 14, an injury caused Angelo to use a wheelchair for the following 2 years. After having worked hard to develop an active lifestyle, he was once again told that his chances of walking again were less than 20%.
At that time, Angelo discovered the drums. Lighting a fire within him, drumming became his primary motivation towards getting better.
Fast-forward to today, Angelo has managed to overcome a disability that could have taken over his life. He is a drummer, a motivational speaker and a fitness enthusiast.
Angelo believes that everything starts with a positive mindset. As he never gave up nor taken “no” for an answer, he is eager to share his story with the world.
Senior Writer | Author
Amit Katwala is a senior writer at WIRED with a focus on longform features, science and culture. His work has appeared in The Times, the Guardian, FourFourTwo and Sport magazine, for which he interviewed some of the world’s most iconic athletes.
He graduated from the University of Oxford with a degree in Experimental Psychology and is the author of two books: a WIRED guide to quantum computing, as well as “The Athletic Brain”, which is about the rise of neuroscience in sport and weaves together cutting-edge science and interviews with elite athletes.
Katwala has appeared on the BBC, CNN, Sky Sports and BT Sport and has spoken at the SXSW conference and other events.
His upcoming third book, “Tremors in The Blood”, blends true crime stories with the birth of the lie detector.
Author | Marketeer
Christian Sarkar is an author, entrepreneur, artist, and consultant. He is the editor of The Marketing Journal, an online publication that focuses on insights and new practices of marketing. He is also involved in numerous non-profit and public-education projects, including The Wicked7 Project, ActivistBrands.com, FIXCapitalism.com, and the $300 House Project. In 2021, Christian was included in the Thinkers50 Radar of Global Management Thinkers primarily for his work on brand activism.
Christian is the co-author of two books: “Regenerative Marketing: The Future of Community” (2022), which he co-wrote with Philip Kotler and Enrico Foglia, and “Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action” (2018), co-written with Philip Kotler.
Along with Philip Kotler and Enrico Foglia, Christian also co-founded the Regenerative Marketing Institute, which is about nurturing communities and building local prosperity.
