Speakers - SGEFF

SGEFF brings together experts from the eco-community. Here are some of the amazing speakers and panelists that we are excited to present for 2020.

Gardening and Farming

Vivian’s social artistry brings people together to explore new ways of being through food and community-building. Her practice at the intersection of art, well-being and spirituality sees her holding space for mindful practices through natural farming, mudhouse-building and art journaling. Her time with the Transition Town community in Los Angeles inspired her to co-create spaces for regeneration and resilience. She shares her ethos at Garden of L.E.A.H and is active with Foodscape Collective.

Huiying Ng explores links between urban agriculture, open/welcoming spaces for new imaginations of urban life, and community resilience. She is a founding member of the Foodscape Collective, and TANAH, a nature-food duo, and a member of soft/WALL/studs. From late 2020 she will continue her research to consider agroecology in Southeast Asia and its capacity to respond to the environmental impacts of infrastructural projects in the region, as a doctoral researcher at the Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society in Munich, Germany.

Kelly embodies everything Singaporean – small-but-mighty, loves good food, and is a big fan of efficient processes. She holds a Masters of Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco, and a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) from the National University of Singapore. She draws inspiration from her experience in both the corporate and government sectors of Singapore, working her way from client management to international business advisory for small and medium enterprises. In 2015, she was awarded the USF Dean’s Award for Outstanding Public Service. Having lived on 3 different continents, she is right at home working with culturally diverse populations and on interdisciplinary teams. Deeply passionate about building equitable food systems, she has made it her life’s mission to increase access to healthy food for everybody.

Living a self-sustainable way in a Japanese zen monastery for 3 years, organically farming up to 4 types of rice and more than 20 types of vegetables – Ee Peng came back to Singapore in 2015 and continues to farm in urban spaces. She has been actively transforming an industrial space in Seletar Aerospace into farming areas with regenerative farming practices.

Olivia is a gardener, nature lover and believer of a sustainable society. She connects people to nature and sustainable living via her gardening blog and YouTube channel – The Tender Gardener, and raises awareness of environment-related issues through a non-profit environmental society, Green Drinks (Singapore), where she is the President and Co-founder. Very much a homebody, she likes to spend time in her garden, and fussing over her chickens.

Regenerative spaces for all is a long-term vision of Foodscape Collective. At the invitation of NParks, Cuifen co-initiated a garden- and place-making initiative in Boon Lay, where the Collective and local residents can pilot ideas. The group is guided by natural farming principles, as well as an emerging culture of collective leadership and generous exchange of knowledge, food and friendship. Cuifen co-leads other initiatives by the Collective, and cherishes opportunities to work with communities in learning and reshaping narratives. She is exploring ways to turn ground-up knowledge of the Collective’s network into programmes for schools, businesses and communities through a business spin-off.

Eco/Climate Anxiety

Natasha is a mother, filmmaker and teacher of nature practice. Through Micro-Documentaries she helped to pioneer the short film genre for humanitarian movements, filming in 30+ countries and reaching expansive audiences with her work. Her film ONE WORD SAWALMEM [official selection of SGEFF] on youth and indigenous wisdom was a finalist in the Tribeca Film Institute short film program and was screened at two UNESCO events. As a nature practice teacher, her well being programs have been featured at United Nations, One World Ayurveda, Google, AirBnb.

Nadya entered the international spotlight as a model aged 12 and then became a household name across Asia launching MTV Asia. Eco-activist, television host, former model and mother of three, Nadya first learnt the importance of protecting the Earth from her mother. In 2014, she launched the Let Elephants Be Elephants campaign with a documentary to reduce the demand for ivory in Asia, the film aired on National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild. In 2015, she addressed the UN General Assembly as part of World Wildlife Day in New York and she was the Global Ambassador for WWF’s Earth Hour for 7 years. As a UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador in 2017, Nadya also helped launch a campaign to mitigate the problem of marine litter. 2020 saw Nadya start We The Good, a campaign focusing on Migrant Workers, Mental Wellbeing & Individuals and Families at Risk.

Filmmakers - Kiss the Ground

Josh Tickell is an author, film director and expert on sustainability. In 1997 Tickell captured global attention by driving a French Fry oil-powered “Veggie Van” across the United States and jumpstarting the biodiesel revolution. His journey culminated in 2008 with the release of his first feature film, FUEL. FUEL won the Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary, was shortlisted for an Oscar, was screened in the White House and was released theatrically globally. Tickell and his wife and directing partner, Rebecca Tickell have released a number of award-winning environmental films including, The Big Fix and PUMP, Good Fortune and The Earthing Movie. In 2017, Tickell published his book, Kiss the Ground, How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body and Ultimately Save the World. An Amazon Bestseller, Kiss the Ground details how the effects of climate change can be reversed through regenerating the worlds soils. After 7 years of work, Kiss the Ground is now an acclaimed documentary.

Rebecca Tickell is a director, producer and environmental author & activist. She produced the Sundance Audience Award Winning, environmentally-themed movie, FUEL, and co-directed/produced ‘The Big Fix’, an ‘Official Selection’ of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. She spent several years documenting the impacts and root cause of the BP oil spill. While investigating the spill she became ill and was left with permanent damage from exposure to the oil and dispersant in the atmosphere. Her directorial debut (with husband Josh) was the critically acclaimed documentary PUMP, narrated by Jason Bateman. She directed and produced the John Paul DeJoria story, GOOD FORTUNE, the YouTube sensation, THE EARTHING MOVIE as well as the forthcoming documentary THE REVOLUTION GENERATION and the forthcoming feature scripted film, HEARTLAND. As a child, she starred in the Orion (now MGM)’s Christmas Classic movie, Prancer.

Sustainable Fashion

Jaclyn Hodes is the creator/founder of conscious clothing brand AWAVEAWAKE a collaboration with artisans in Bali using all-natural ethically sourced fabric and colored with plant-based dyes. As an artist, activist and healer Jaclyn is interested in furthering the conversation around sustainability to continue to refine what is truly ecological as well as to make the wearer conscious of the ritual of dressing and the importance of clothing as a vehicle for awareness and embodiment and the most subtle of ways.

Fashion designer and green-warrior Raye Padit is on a mission to promote sustainable fashion in Singapore and beyond. In just three years, fashion’s green-warrior Raye founded Singapore’s first ever retail space for swapping and upcycling apparel, The Fashion Pulpit, and two non-profits that advocate for sustainable fashion, Connected Threads Asia and Swapaholic. He is regularly asked to conduct talks, workshops and mentor on circular fashion, entrepreneurship, fashion sustainability and conscious consumerism around Asia.

See co-founded and ran internationally renowned clothing brand Tess Giberson in NYC. Her background is in garment manufacturing and product development for fashion brands like Burberry, Theory and Helmut Lang. In 2017, she joined Parley For the Oceans as a Development Director, developing new materials accessible for all industries using Parley recovered raw materials (recycled bottles) and establishing standards for sustainability and quality compliance. She currently lives in Singapore and is rediscovering non-manufacturing processes such as Shibori dye-ing and slow fashion.

Having worked on business strategy and implementation in the corporate world, Chu now focuses on solving problems and increasing efficiency in projects related to environmental and social causes. Chu specialises in sustainable fashion, with experience spanning across multiple organisations in the industry, both non- and for-profit. She is currently the Founder of sustainable shopping platform Shop Bettr and the Country Coordinator of Fashion Revolution Singapore.

Christine leveraged her experience in apparel production (for international brands from Brooks Brothers to Vince to Beanpole) and creative background to start her own sustainable womenswear brand, Tove & Libra. The brand aims to entice mainstream consumers to discover authentic sustainable fashion through their conscious classics-with-a-twist. Through using sustainable materials like upcycled fabrics and Tencel™, and creating multi-way pieces that encourage buying fewer but better, Tove & Libra has been described by Elle Singapore as “making slow fashion a quick hit among the environmentally-conscious”.

Eshita is the Founder and CEO of award-winning app By Rotation, the social fashion rental platform. Inspired by a love for fashion that doesn’t weigh on her conscience and with an approach grounded in practicality over indulgence, Eshita launched By Rotation in 2019. She combines her experience as an investment professional with her passions for fashion and graphic design. A “third culture kid” (India, Singapore, US and UK), Eshita is especially focused on creating a conscious and inclusive community that democratises fashion and does not harm the planet.

Agy is an ex-policy maker turned textile artist who is passionate about building environmentally aware communities. She runs The Green Collective SG with her two co-founders, with the aim of increasing the awareness of environmental and social issues as well as make sustainability mainstream. The Green Collective SG is Singapore’s first collective of locally grown eco friendly brands (curated based on the UNSDGs), and creates awareness of everyday eco friendly products that the consumer could adopt in their lifestyle, ranging from fashion to wellness. When she’s not at The Green Collective SG, you’ll find her busy on her sewing machine creating art inspired by nature and current issues.

Conservation and Sustainable Development

Dr. Vanessa Pirotta is a wildlife scientist and science communicator. Her zoological background has taken her around the world for wildlife research. Specially, she has focused on large marine megafauna such as whales, where she has conducted research in Antarctica, Tonga and Madagascar. Vanessa is also a passionate and experienced science communicator who loves making science accessible.

Professor Koh Lian Pin brings 16 years of international research experience in the field of sustainability and environmental science, having worked in institutions across Europe, Australia, and the United States. Currently, he is Professor of Conservation Science, Technology and Policy at the National University of Singapore, and Director of the University’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions. He is also a TEDGlobal speaker, co-Founder of ConservationDrones.org and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

Dr. Radja is a political ecologist by training, based in Indonesia with more than 15 years of experiences in action research, having worked in institutions in Europe and Asia. Citizen science and data acquisition crowd sourcing is the basis for his work, in which he is very much interested in employing DIY technology with people to develop ‘good’ data sets. Currently, he is researching about big data, technology and algorithm from the complexity science and critical theory perspective.

Beth is the Regional Director (Asia Pacific) of One Tree Planted, a global nonprofit organization on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Based in Sydney, Beth manages reforestation initiatives and partnerships across Australia and APAC. In a region that’s on the front lines of climate change, Beth is excited to be making a positive impact.

Recognized as ‘Sri Lanka’s leading environmental architect’ by Time Magazine, environmental innovation is a central feature of her work. Her award-winning designs include Jetwing Vil Uyana, Colombo Court, Rainforest Ecolodge and over 75 private homes. Now, Sunela works primarily as a consultant for private and State agencies, on sustainable development and rewilding. Among her many awards, she was named ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Sri Lanka’ Echelon 2013 & 2014 and was the first Chairperson of the Federation of Environmental Organizations of Sri Lanka.

Anya is a graduate in Wildlife and Conservation Management from the University of Queensland, Australia, and is currently reading for a Masters at the same university. A Wildlife Conservation Network Scholar, Global Wildlife Conservation Associate Scientist and a member of the Fishing Cat Working Group, I have a strong interest in Sri Lankan wildlife and in particular the ecology and conservation of urban mesocarnivores. In 2017, I co-founded the non-profit Small Cat Advocacy & Research and I’m currently conducting research on the world’s only known hyper-urban population of fishing cats, found in Colombo.

Naomi is a Singapore-based shark and stingray researcher as well as the writer of a children’s wildlife magazine. Her current PhD looks at small sharks and stingrays that are accidentally caught by fisheries in Southeast Asia. She is also venturing into the fish welfare scene; a seriously neglected area of work. Naomi is a vegetarian and a dedicated mother to rescue animals.

Kathy is the founder of The Dorsal Effect, an ecotourism business providing alternative livelihoods to shark fishermen in Lombok, Indonesia. She has been and is involved in a handful of ground up work with amazing teams. These include campaigning against the Cross Island Line and advocating for the preservation of natural green spaces. She is also currently pursuing her Master’s in Science Communication.

Dr. Chen Pelf Nyok is a freshwater turtle researcher and conservationist. Her research interests are the biology and ecology of the river terrapins—a rare species of freshwater turtles only found in Southern Thailand, Cambodia and Peninsular Malaysia. In 2011, Pelf co-founded Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, a non-profit and NGO dedicated to freshwater turtle conservation in Malaysia. Pelf conducts numerous Turtle Education Programmes with school students as well as Turtle Discovery Trips for members of the public. She currently leads the community-based terrapin conservation project in Kemaman, and was very recently awarded the Commonwealth Points of Light from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the turtle conservation efforts. She is also a member of the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group.

Dr. Tracie Seimon is the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, based at the Bronx Zoo, New York. At WCS, she directs the development and implementation of innovative field-based molecular diagnostic technologies to search for wildlife and endangered species using environmental DNA approaches, identifies species in the wildlife trade and diagnoses infectious diseases in wildlife. She has also conducted molecular lab field deployments to monitor wildlife disease and develop molecular diagnostic capacity in places like the Russian Far East, Uganda, Rwanda, Peru, Myanmar and Vietnam. An experienced mountaineer, Seimon also leads a long-term monitoring initiative focused in the high alpine regions of the Peruvian Andes to reveal how amphibians are adapting to climate change and infectious disease.

As ACRES‘s Deputy Chief Executive for Advocacy work, Anbu oversees the education, fundraising, animal crime investigation and the campaign projects at ACRES. With 15 years of experience in this field and an educational background in Life Sciences and Environmental Management, her interests lie in empowering members of the public on ways to make a difference for the animals and environment, and working towards changes at the different levels that will help make lives better for the animals in terms of policies and legislation. She started off as a volunteer with ACRES 14 years ago, and strongly believes that every individual can play an effective role in protecting our environment and the animals.

Robin has lived and worked in Asia Pacific for 14 years, in Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore. He has 20 years’ experience in journalism, writing about media, government, technology and sustainability. Robin is the Deputy Editor of Eco-Business, where he reports on the latest trends in sustainability in Asia Pacific. He has a particular interest in plastic pollution, the palm oil trade and Southeast Asia’s energy transition. Robin has a degree in Zoology from the University of Bristol in the UK. He is a volunteer for Singapore animal welfare charity ACRES.

Robertina Šebjanič is internationally exhibited and awarded artist, based in Ljubljana. Her art – research focus is since several years into cultural, (bio)political, chemical and biological realities of aquatic environments, which serves as a starting point to investigate and tackle the philosophical questions on the intersection of art, technology and science. Her ideas and concepts are often realized in collaboration with others, through interdisciplinary and informal integration in her work. She is a member of Hackteria Network and Theremidi Orchestra. She was awarded with Honorary Mention @Prix Ars Electronica 2016, STARTS 2020 STARTS2016 nomination and nomination for the White Aphroid award. Robertina was SHAPE platform 2017 artist. 2018 she was a resident artist at Ars Electronica (EMARE / EMAP). Her art work Aurelia 1+Hz / proto viva generator (artist proof) is since 2019 part of the the BEEP Electronic Art Collection, Spain.

Saad is a professional geek with a passion for coffee, technology, and the OpenSource way of doing things. For a living he conceptualizes tech solutions for Tusitala, the digital publishing arm of Potato Productions. He’s developing a platform to enable Asian storytellers to leverage the accessibility and reach of all things digital to get their stories published. Saad also volunteers with several non-profits and strongly believes that social enterprises should be the key users of and contributors to OpenSource tech.

Over 25 years as a sustainability professional in international and regional roles in environmental and social schemes involving various governments and the private sector in their procurement vision and policies on certified sustainable commodities; environmental, social and animal welfare initiatives; crisis & issues management; stakeholder mapping and engagement; consumer advocacy movements as well as traceability and eco labelling programs, spanning South East Asia, Europe, India, China, US and Oceania. Her last few positions prior to the MSC was as Head of Communications of RSPCA in WA; Global Communications Director of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and Managing Director of the world’s largest public relations consultancy, Weber Shandwick Worldwide.

Qing Sheng is currently a lecturer in the Animation programme at LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore. He holds a Masters of Arts in Arts Pedagogy and Practice from Goldsmith University (London). He has presented at various international conferences, including the Society for Animation Studies Conference, Animation Public Engagement Symposium and the Center for Culture and Cultural Studies Conference. As an independent animation filmmaker, he has received support from LASALLE, National Arts Council (Singapore) and IMDA SFC to produce award-winning animated short films. Winning the CDL E-Generation Challenge in 2019 landed him on an Arctic Expedition with world-renowned explorer Robert Swan. He aspires to produce environmental films to inspire sustainable human-nature coexistence. Every now and then, he will squeeze in time to do urban sketching and hiking!

Cynthia Chow is the founder of Hong Kong Eco Film Festival (HKEFF) – In alliance with Singapore, Borneo and Kuala Lumpar Eco Film festivals, we hope to make a regional impact! Cynthia is an animal lover and enjoys exploring and hiking the fabulous nature trails of Hong Kong whenever she can. She believes there is a disconnect between big city dwellers and nature, adding a new layer of stress or “eco-anxiety”. Hopefully, through positive messaging of such great events we are able to mindfully reconnect. Cynthia in her day job, works at a consultancy firm advising clients in the infrastructure sector, most recently she has been working on market campaigns around smart, green and connected cities.

Roopali Raghavan is a wildlife biologist by training with a Masters’ degree from the Wildlife Institute of India. She has been with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) since 2013. Currently she holds the position of Assistant Director, Conservation, Research & Veterinary Services. Prior to joining WRS she has worked in the field of wildlife conservation in India for over 10 years. She started her career working on primate conservation and has experience in diverse aspects of forest and wild life conservation as well as urban environmental protection. She is also a member of the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group and is especially interested the one plan approach to conservation.

Green/Circular Economy and Green Businesses

Born and raised in France, in love with Asia for the last 8 years, a round the world traveller, an award-winning designer on a journey to “save” the world with everyday small actions. Passionate about sustainability, she sees how pollution is affecting not only our beautiful planet but also our health. Optimistic by nature, she believes that we ALL have the power to shift the direction of the global economy and making it greener.

So Now founder and CEO, Sann, has been developing her views and tools on the new economy for over a decade now. With a background in Communication and Information Sciences, Sann works with experts across all disciplines towards shaping a circular economy. Her expertise and experience have also led her to hold positions in Springer Nature, Holland Circular Hotspot, ReCirc and ECOR, as well as being awarded a position in The Next Women Top 100 in 2015 and 2016.

Carolin is a passionate and driven entrepreneur and sustainability advocate. She is involved in many projects and initiatives that contribute to reducing our environmental impact. As a Singapore Permanent Resident, Carolin founded susGain in February 2020. susGain is a Singapore-based local community-builder to connect eco and socially conscious stakeholders in a way that creates mutual value, empowering Consumers, Businesses and Communities in Singapore to drive the change towards sustainability. With the app, users collect points for eco-friendly habits, earn cash back rewards at eco conscious businesses and automatically support initiatives for sustainable development with each spend. Prior to this, Carolin worked as Account & Project Manager in a HR consultancy, where she was responsible for business development and end-to-end project management of training and consulting projects across Asia-Pacific.

At SecondMuse, Stephanie focuses on leading regional engagement and designing collaborative partnerships and programs that build communities and networks to support social innovation in Asia-Pacific, including Frontier Incubators and The Incubation Network. Stephanie is passionate about the power of communities, ecosystem building and using business as a force for good. With years of experience growing her own social ventures and connecting actors across public, private and civil society sectors in Southeast Asia, Stephanie brings a familiarity and deep understanding of the ecosystem within this space. Prior to joining SecondMuse, she co-founded Impact Hub Jakarta, curated the first ASEAN Conference on Social Entrepreneurship in 2016, and leveraged digital platforms for community engagement and social change at GlobalCitizen.org and StartSomeGood.com.

An Executive Director of Environmental and Social Risk Management at Standard Chartered Bank, Roger is an Environmental Engineer with a focus on sustainability. He interests in looking at all the different sectors and tying them together, explaining how they will all culminate and contribute to one circular economy and how all of us in our every day lives are part of it.

Bedtime Storytellers

Dr. George Jacobs loves words in all their forms, including visuals that are “worth a thousand words.” George is a long-time advocate for the environment and our fellow animals, as well as a teacher of student-centred learning. He has a wide variety of publications, including children’s books with environmental themes.

Dr. Alaka Rajan Skinner is an author, storyteller and coach who is passionate about learning, empathy and diversity in all its forms (including ecological). She is also a homeschooling parent of young children. Alaka has written several children’s stories, including Are You Listening?, which has been featured on a regional BBC radio station and by the Greenpeace storytelling team and is scheduled for publication in November 2020.

SGEFF brings together experts from the eco-community. Here are some of the amazing speakers and panelists that we are excited to present for 2020.

Gardening and Farming

Vivian Lee

Huiying Ng

Kelly Ann Yeo

Ang Ee Peng

Olivia Choong

Cuifen Pui

Eco/Climate Anxiety

Natasha Deganello Giraudie

Nadya Hutagalung

Filmmakers - Kiss the Ground

Josh Tickell

Rebecca Tickell

Sustainable Fashion

Jaclyn Hodes

Raye Padit

Vickie See

Chu Wong

Christine Chow

Eshita Kabra

Agatha Lee

Conservation and Sustainable Development

Vanessa Pirotta

Koh Lian Pin

Irendra Radjawali

Beth Dalgleish

Sunela Jayawardena

Anya Ratnayaka

Naomi Clark-Shen

Kathy Xu

Pelf Nyok Chen

Tracie Seimon

Anbarasi Boopal

Robin Hicks

Robertina Šebjanič

Saad Chinoy

Anne Gabriel

Ang Qing Sheng

Cynthia Chow

Roopali Raghavan

Green/Circular Economy and Green Businesses

Cathie Coqueel

Sann Carrière

Carolin Barr

Stephanie Arrowsmith

Roger Charles

Bedtime Storytellers

George Jacobs

Alaka Rajan Skinner

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©2019-2020 SGEFF® are trademarks owned by SGEFF. Any unauthorized use of these names, or variationsof these names, is a violation of state, federal, and international trademark laws.

©2019-2020 SGEFF® are trademarks owned by SGEFF.
Any unauthorized use of these names, or variationsof these names, is a violation of state, federal, and international trademark laws.