EDITH SCHMIDT
EDUCATE | EMPOWER | INSPIRE
COLOR ME
AFRICA
FINE ARTS
Contact:info@colormeafricafinearts.com
Chicago Illinois USA
501c3 Non for Profit Since 2017
MEET OUR SA TEAM
EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
SORAYA SHEPPARD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Soraya an entrepreneur and an avid art collector herself, established Color Me Africa Fine Arts, which continues to build its mission by creating opportunities for African artists to exhibit their Art internationally.
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CMAFA was created with the goal to build bridges with Africa visual artists and the world. Leaving her home in South Africa to flee the apartheid, Soraya immigrated to the United States Twenty-five years after a self-imposed exile from South Africa, Soraya returned to reconnect with her country. What she discovered was systemic, corruption and exploitation of artists.
TSHEPISO MOHLALA
DIRECTOR
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Tshepiso has fifteen years of experience in the field of Marketing and Advertising, working for blue chip companies like, BMW (South Africa), Audi (Germany and South Africa) and Sony Ericsson South Africa. Then she joined Samplex a Marketing and Advertising agency as an Accounts Director in 2000. In 2003, she established her own company Back-to-Back Marketing and Advertising. Tshepiso Mohlala’s professional strengths in the industry are, corporate social marketing, business development corporate sponsorship and project management.
BERND MICHALK
Finance SA
Bernd studied Business Administration, Management and Marketing, at Lueneburg Universities, Germany and Loughborough University, England. Established in 1992 he co-founded, along with Professor Dr. H.C Sönke Albers, at the University of Kiel, Germany, AMCON Analytical Marketing Consulting GmbH. Bernd specializes in Pricing Strategies, Marketing Models,Optimization of Sales and Distribution. He has served as a Consultant in Europe for T-Com, T-Mobile, ARCOR, UPS, Bayer, Sarah Lee, Bertelsmann, other large German, Austrian, Swiss Public Transport Companies. Building on his profound knowledge in business and sales force planning processes, including finance, in 2008 he started and founded first steps of The Biggest Painting in the World project, South Africa.
ADVISORY PANEL
ABENA MOTABOLI​
PROJECT MANAGER
Abena Motaboli supports CMAFA through developing the company web page and is a Chicago based educator, facilitator, and visual artist. Influenced by her home country Lesotho and Southern African culture, she invites the audience to find a space to contemplate in amidst the chaos which surrounds us in the modern world. Her art practice is performative, contemplative, and transformative. Her medium includes plastic installations, painting, and meticulous, meditative lines. She uses plastic, tea, dirt, coffee, cardboard, charcoal, tissue, earth, and ephemeral material to comment on displacement and her memories.
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AYSHA WAJA
ART DIRECTOR/ CURATOR
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Aysha Waja is a Johannesburg born curator with a strong passion for South African art. She holds an honors degree in Visual art from Wits University, since her graduation she has worked as an office manager at Art Logic, a gallery liaison for Turbine Art Fair and project manager and curator at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. She was a mentor for the 2016 Peer Mentoring Program with Assemblage, a studio and workshop space for emerging artists and has served on various selection committees.
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PEARL LUTHULI
MARKETING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
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Pearl Lithuli holds a diploma in journalism from the Africa Literature Centre, Zambia, a B.A. degree in Communications and Business Administration from William Paterson University of New Jersey (USA) and a Senior Executive Program (SEP) from Harvard Business School and WITS Business School. In 2002 Pearl became part of the negotiating team that successfully negotiated with TOTAL South Africa for the acquisition of 25% of the company by a consortium of eleven Black Economic Empowerment Companies. This is recorded as one of the best and exemplary BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) transactions in South Africa. Pearl is presently working as a consultant specializing in commodity and logistics broking, human resources management, corporate communications and events management. Pearl is a member of the Black Business Council (BBC), the Black Management Forum, Fifty and Above SA (FABSA), and the International Women’s Forum (IWF).