Em is a former musician and award-winning programme maker, ranging from documentaries to live events. He heads the family business, Afanti Media, as CEO and co-owns the Whitesands site with his wife Mair. Emyr was awarded on OBE for his services to media and music in the King’s Birthday Honours list 2024 and was an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist at the Cardiff Business Awards 2023. www.emyrafan.tv
Andy is founder of the TYF Group, an award-winning education, adventure and development provider based in St. David’s. A former champion kayaker and impact catalyst connecting leaders and teams for inspired, bold action on climate and nature.
Award-winning journalist and mindfulness specialist Lucy Stone has taught meditation to over 15,000 primary school children, and over the same period, taught thousands of adults including athletes, politicians, and chief executives. Her observation that children found meditation far easier to grasp than adults led to a ground-breaking discovery: As adults we have lost our WOW, but the good news is we can get it back.
Architect and founder of Mood. Gareth learned to better manage his mental health by recording how he feels each day in colour. He then created an app called Mood to help others do the same. With one tap a day. Hear the story of his journey to reach this point.
In 2016 Sarah travelled to East Africa and was shocked at the number of women and children she met who didn’t have access to underwear. Sarah wanted to do something to help, and the spark of an idea was born, the creation of an ethical underwear brand, Y.O.U. For every pair of Y.O.U underwear sold, a pair of underwear is donated to Africa. Y.O.U has donated over 50,000 pairs and empowered over 17,000 women and girls so far, thanks to every purchase their customers make.
Powell Strong is a Marine Biologist, Conservation Lecturer and seal biology specialist. He has local guiding experience of over 20 years. Powell knows a great deal about local whales, dolphins and seals, and the best vantage points to see them.
Dr Sarah Beynon is a conservationist, farmer and academic ecologist who also appears regularly on our television screens. Sarah is the founding director of Dr Beynon’s Bug Farm (The Bug Farm) – a research and education centre, visitor attraction, farm and wildlife reserve focused on the sustainable future of food, farming and nature recovery. The Bug Farm was the UK Best Start-Up Business of the Year in the FSB/Worldpay Business Awards.
Alan Wick has had 25 years of real business experience, founding, scaling and selling five companies. Business is in his blood. But this in time led to a stroke, from which he has made an excellent recovery. That stroke changed his life — in retrospect he says it was ‘a stroke of luck’! It inspired him to speed up his purpose: to inspire and help many more entrepreneurs who love what they do.
Câr-y-Môr is a community owned business using regenerative ocean farming, food security and sustainable job creation. With farming in water being part of Owen’s DNA and a reputation for inspiring people to transform fish farming businesses and making sites commercially viable, Owen brings a fresh perspective to the industry. He believes in farming in harmony with nature to start reversing the damage mankind has inflicted on our precious planet. His goal is to create a positive environmental impact by championing innovative approaches, particularly in the realm of integrating land and sea farming to create a sustainable circular economy with the fishing and agricultural sectors.
Grab your coffee and let’s get the papers out and share our opinions of what the papers say. Q&A to follow. Chaired by Andy Middleton.
Yvette has a long career in the arts, community arts and the subsidised sector. She has worked for independent arts organisations, the Arts Council of Wales – where she set up Wales Arts International – local authorities and Welsh Government. She spent three years working in Brussels as the Policy Manager for the Wales Centre and played a key role in Cultural Policy debates within the EU before returning to Cardiff to write the city’s bid for City of Culture 2008. She then took up the post of Chief Executive of Visiting Arts. She is a former member of the UK Cultural Diplomacy group and former Lead adviser on the UK Cultural Leadership Programme and is Chair of Welsh National Opera.
Tomos Rhys Edwards serves as the Senior Vice President and Head of Communications for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) in the Research & Economics division at Bank of America, a leading global investment bank. Bank of America is consistently highly ranked by Institutional Investor Magazine and is currently recognised as the No. 1 global equity research provider. Tomos’ career includes roles in consultancy and in-house positions at organisations such as Text100, FTI Consulting, The Welsh Assembly Government, and BNY Mellon. He has held positions as a Council Member of the PRCA (CMPRCA), Secretary of both the London and Wales branches of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, and has previously been a board member of Wales in London, the networking organisation for Welsh professionals in London.
Lynne is an experienced leader in the infrastructure and energy sectors, maximising the impact and demonstrating decarbonisation leadership in businesses. Lynne is currently leading a seed-funded initiative to identify decarbonisation solutions in film and high-end TV – solutions that have been used other sectors.
Rebecca is a Vinyasa Yoga Instructor and Actor. She values the holistic approach of Yoga, which nurtures the connection between mind, body, and spirit. Integrating Yoga into her exercise programme, she finds it the perfect balancing discipline for her running, swimming, boxing and weight training.
Katherine Smith (Vale Yoga) is an advanced yoga teacher qualified in Ashtanga Vinyasa & Yin. Based in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, she provides exclusive tuition in small groups, offering informative guidance to deepen her students’ personal yoga experience.
Lucy has practised meditation for over 20 years. A qualified mindfulness meditation teacher after training in India and with the British School of Meditation, Lucy is passionate about promoting the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness and meditation to as many people as possible.
Andy is chef and co-owner of The Grub Kitchen and an accomplished coast runner. Fuelled by entomophagy, Andy is also a nature farmer, mountain biker and adventurer.