Habiba Allarakia has worked since the early 1990s in business and marketing research across diverse markets and categories, with 6 years in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and over a decade in the Arabian Peninsula. Habiba was the first woman to work at Procter & Gamble Saudi Arabia, where she set up the now flourishing women’s office. Her key areas of expertise are strategy & initiative development, building brands & portfolios, consumer insight and market understanding. Habiba loves reading, the sea, travelling and discovery.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Author, critic, on the faculty of Tourism & Women's Studies at the Welsh campus of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Benllech, Anglesey. One of Opal's main areas of research is cross-dressing and subjectivity in Welsh political activism, with special reference to the Rebecca Riots of the 1830s and 1840s. She is also a postmodern cake designer creating fantastic icing sculptures with alcoves wherein may be displayed actual cake. Much acclaimed & decorated internationally, with awards for her work at the interface of patisserie, cultural insight & cyborg theory.
Benllech, Anglesey, UK
Born in UK & resident in New Zealand, Jake splits his time between NZ, Australia and Europe.
His obsessions are understanding the future, new stuff and meaningful communication. Two websites reflect Jake's current interests:
1. Generation C (digital natives) & innovation at www.jakepearce.com
2. Referral Marketing www.thevillagesq.com
Jake worked at Added Value (the first dedicated brand strategy company), moved to Amsterdam to help set up 'consult, specialist marketing arm of Y&R, then to NZ which, with its cultural vibrancy and can do attitude, he sees as a global incubator for innovation.
Auckland, New Zealand