MARCUS BONFANTI
From
the
first
note
of
Led
Zeppelin’s
“Black
Dog”
sixteen‐year‐old
Marcus
Bonfanti
knew
he
wanted
to
be
a
guitar
player.
Now 29, Bonfanti has become the sum of all the great music he was exposed to as a young boy growing up in North London. His 2008 debut album, ‘Hard Times,’ set the scene and sent some subtly effective messages about a new British voice demanding to be heard. 2010’s ‘What Good Am I To You’ (Listed in Classic Rock Magazine’s top 50 albums of 2010 & Single "Give Me Your Cash" top 40 songs of 2010) makes good on all those promises. The critical acclaim that both albums received earned him 2 nominations in both last year and this year’s “British Blues Awards” for Best Male Vocals & Best Guitar
“Bonfanti deserves to become the next British Blues Guitar Hero” The Guardian
“This blues guitarist will be loosening the plaster from the ceiling with outings from a powerful new album.” The Independent
ALEXIS DUBUS
Alexis Dubus is an actor and comedian who has performed all over the world including at the Edinburgh Fringe, at Melbourne, New Zealand and Sydney’s Comedy Festivals and at the Adelaide Fringe. Alexis first became involved with Our Sansar in 2011 where he successfully headlined our first comedy event, Comedy Rocks The Battersea Barge. Alexis, along with the other comedians who so generously donated their time and talents for this show helped us to raise £1000 for Street Children in Nepal.
Alexis continues to support Our Sansar with our mission to reduce poverty and provide opportunities to disadvantaged children in Nepal and we are very proud to have him as our Patron.
"I'm happy to support such a great cause, especially living in a country where we take so many things for granted while others have nothing." Alexis Dubus
Read more about Alexis and his upcoming shows on his website
LOUISE TICKLE
Louise Tickle is a freelance journalist who specialises in education, social affairs and international development. Her background working in press and campaigns for the RSPB, CSV (Community Service Volunteers) and Comic Relief undoubtedly shaped her areas of journalistic interest, but also helped her to realise that she wanted to be the person asking the awkward questions rather than the one flailing around for a corporately acceptable answer.
Louise mainly writes for The Guardian, but has contributed to all the national broadsheets as well as a wide variety of trade and consumer magazines. Louise also runs media training courses and events though her company The Last Word. She lives just north of Bristol with her partner and two small monsters.
ALISON O'LEARY
Senior Vice President, Racepoint Group
Alison is an experienced communications professional with international expertise supporting US and European organisations
of all sizes. With 15 years’ front line experience of business-to-business and business-to-consumer public relations, she has good experience of strategic planning, corporate messaging, the development of thought leadership, executive media relations and training, social media, analyst relations, crisis contingency planning and management and internal communications.
Most recently, Alison has worked with companies including IBM, Sony, Skype and Mozilla Firefox amongst others, and brings her experience and contacts to bear for Our Sansar. She holds a BA in Media Arts from the University of London and a diploma in PR from the London School of Public Relations.
In her spare time she can be found trying out unusual sports (zorbing and indoor skydiving are the latest on the list!) or relaxing over a few glasses of wine of an evening.
KAREN COE
Following a career in motoring PR, Karen's life took a different turn when she and her husband, travel photographer Chris Coe, founded the Travel Photographer of the Year awards in 2003. Since then, TPOTY has become one of the world's leading photography competitions, attracting entries from over 90 countries each year and open to amateur and professional photographers of all ages and nationalities. In 2011 TPOTY entered into a partnership with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and the Society has become TPOTY's 'home', hosting major exhibitions of winning images each year.
As well as celebrating the beauty and diversity of this planet and its inhabitants, through many of the images in the awards TPOTY has also done much to highlight the poverty and exploitation that exists in so many nations. The organisation has also worked with charities such as Anti Slavery International, SightSavers and the Elephant Family, raising funds and awareness. And in 2012 Karen's husband Chris took the 2007 TPOTY winner Cat Vinton to India, where they photographed His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Images from this trip, and details of the life of the Tibetan people in exile, appeared in the TPOTY exhibition at the RGS in the summer of 2012.
Karen and Chris live in rural Suffolk with their children and dogs. She is still involved in motoring PR - specialising in the classic car world - and in her spare time she is an avid reader, but is also full of good intentions to explore more of the Suffolk countryside and coast by bike!
