The Catalyst Curators

 

Sophie Ryan-Wood, Founder

Growing up between Austin, Texas and Adelaide, South Australia, Sophie Ryan-Wood’s international heritage coupled with a passion for community service naturally led her to a career of humanitarian work with nonprofits in over twenty countries, including The Audre Lorde Project, SIMS, and The Endometriosis Foundation. Sophie previously served as a Founding Director for the Tingari Foundation, where her experience as a young philanthropist propelled her to pursue and support the change-makers of the next generation to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Through Sophie’s fundraising work with nonprofits, which started at the age of 9, Sophie discovered a yearning for seeing the bigger picture and fixing it. She believes that the biggest issues the world faces are a lack of education, a lack of empathy, and erroneous social constructs. Through The Quiddity Foundation, Sophie hopes to use her voice and make continual impact on the community through education, equal opportunities, mental health advocacy, gender equality, eradicating racism, and catalyze a world ready, and deeply in need of, change.

 

Jeremy Wadell, Advisory Board

At a young age Jeremy fell in love with the internet for its honesty and level of scale. Why reach one person when you could reach one million? With true curiosity he learned to propel music and videos and written content around the internet that generated billions of views around the world.

Eventually his curiosity led him to real clients with real problems. Armed with a fearlessness to talk to anyone, the curiosity to try and understand their “why”, and the patience to listen for understanding, he lent his services to Fortune 100 Companies, nonprofits, musicians he admired, and causes that resonated with him. He watched his impact as it spread across the internet and into the real world. A world he hadn’t really seen.

Jeremy decided he wanted to see it, and in the next 4 years he visited over 50 countries. Armed with the tools that lead to his success on the internet, he strived to rewrite his preconceived notions on people, goals and direction. He eventually discovered two things. Firstly, that he knew very little. And second, for him, having a great time in life without leaving the world a better place was incredibly satisfying.

Jeremy returned with a newfound appreciation for businesses who understood that there is more to a business than a bottomline. He specifically sought out businesses that felt a responsibility to humanity and to the earth, and had found a way to grow and make the world a better place in tandem. When Jeremy isn’t lending his services to brands and causes he feels strongly about, he’s an avid rower and lover of birds.

Alexandra Achieng Ligawa, Advisory Board

Originally from Kenya, Alexandra is truly a citizen of the world. Alexandra immigrated to The United States as a young child where she became all too familiar with the classism, racism, and damaged governmental constructs. However, with creativity and dance as her guide, Alexandra catalyzed an incredible life of her own. With a background in Classical Ballet, Modern Contemporary and Tap, Alexandra brings over twenty years of experience in dance and the arts. Working for the Universal Dance Association, she taught both High School and College students at multiple universities- Alexandra now brings that to her work at Ballet Afrique.

Driven by a passionate belief that dance is for everyone, Alexandra seeks to educate and uplift the community through the arts. Whether it is starring in the Black Pumas’ newest video, “Black Moon Rising,” or choreographing dances, or working with musicians, Alexandra is a force to be reckoned with. She believes expression through movement is truly healing and that there is a wealth of knowledge in understanding the body. Through Alexandra’s work with The Quiddity Foundation, she hopes to help build a creative infrastructure so more people can have the opportunity to thrive.