Sandra is a British Macedonian apprentice in the field of semiotics and cultural insight, fascinated with decoding communication, cultural innovation, identities and intercultural misunderstandings. She has so far completed a dissertation on theatrical performances of Shakespeare in Japan; researched the role of culture in English language teaching and conducted contrastive analysis of the English and Macedonian media discourse. After working for almost a decade in Skopje’s independent alternative radio station Kanal 103 and singing in several indie-pop bands, she moved to the UK where she continues to blog about music, contemporary design, innovation and cultural trends in her tumblr blog Lofidelica.
London, United Kingdom
Tom is a qualitative researcher turned brand strategist, with a particular interest in semiotics and co-creation as drivers of innovation. He worked for four years at Synovate, before moving to brand consultancy Sense Worldwide. A qualified sound engineer, Tom also runs an independent record label that revels in blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Tom holds a BA in Modern Languages and Literature from Oxford University.
London, UK
Charles Leech is a partner at ABM Research (www.abm-research.com). Since his PhD in Applied Semiotics from QUT, he’s been an active commercial semiotician for over 13 years, working on projects for clients from AB-InBev to Nestlé to Unilever. Charles has helped ABM deliver profound, penetrating analyses on everything from tampons in Sao Paolo to light beer in Xiamen. He’s also worked tirelessly on commercial semiotics evangelism to clients, marketing and research organizations, and pretty much anyone else who’ll listen.
Toronto, Canada