Meet The Team

Meet the team behind Black USAF!

We're members of the Black community and allies, and experienced professionals from the heritage, arts and culture sector in the East of England - mainly Suffolk. We're all committed to telling Black cultural stories with authenticity and honesty, and in turn, ensuring the African diaspora in our region is celebrated and given a platform.

This is phase one of what is expected to become a long term initiative. And we hope to source additional funding to create exciting new traineeships for young Black people interested in a career in culture or heritage. Get in touch if you think you can help us achieve this goal: projectblackusaf@gmail.com.

Elma is a Black/mixed race woman smiles at the camera. She's wearing glasses and gold hoop earrings, and her brown curly hair reaches her shoulders. She's wearing a colourful top.

Project Manager

Elma Glasgow

Elma is a multi-award-winning consultant and cultural producer specialising in inclusive engagement and Black cultural storytelling. She founded Aspire Black Suffolk CIC, which started life as Elma's milestone cultural community engagement initiative for the award-winning Power of Stories exhibition in Ipswich. Elma went on to lead the local exhibition tour.

Also a consultant, Elma works with universities, companies, and in culture and heritage. She serves on the Norfolk and Suffolk Culture Board and is a trustee of HighTide theatre company.

She grew up close to USAF airbases of Alconbury, Lakenhealth and Mildenhall.

Tamika is a young Black woman with shoulder length locks stands on the other side of a window holding a notebook and pen and looks into the distance.

Writer

Tamika Green

Tamika is an award-winning journalist and TV researcher with a profound passion for telling the stories of underrepresented communities. As a mixed-heritage woman from Suffolk, she is on a mission to educate, inspire and champion diverse and untold stories. She is an advocate for equality, helping to found Bury St Edmunds for Black Lives in the summer of 2020.

Digital Content Producer

Frederico Dos Ramos

Frederico is an award-winning fine art portrait artist, with diverse backgrounds such as photographer, video editor, tattoo artist, website builder, painter and decorator.

John is a Black man with a shaved head with some grey. He looks at the camera. She's wearing a black jacket and scarf. There's a professional camera in his hands. He's leaning against an old steel pillar which has peeling paint.

Photographer

John Ferguson

John Ferguson is a unique photographer. His work has earned him recognition and accolades, establishing him as one of the most talented photographers of our time.

The National Portrait Gallery in London holds one of John's portraits from his 'Black Britannia' photo series in its permanent collection.

With a passion for capturing moments, he has travelled far and wide, working in over 50 countries and collaborating with a diverse range of clients and subjects. His work truly reflects his artistic vision and his unwavering commitment to excellence.

Clare is a white woman with blonde hair and fancy glasses sits at her laptop. Her dress is colourful and she's smiling laughing.

Production Coordinator

Clare Lucas

Clare Lucas is an award-winning business consultant and experienced Project Coordinator, known for her sharp eye for detail, calm confidence, and ability to bring order to creative chaos. As the founder of Ducks In A Row, an outsourcing agency based in Ipswich, Suffolk, she offers professional, personable support across business management, events, projects, marketing, and admin. Clare brings a wealth of experience to every project, effortlessly juggling logistics, schedules, and communications to keep workflows running smoothly. Clare is widely recognised for her ability to bring people together, solve problems with ease, and deliver results that make a lasting impact.

Claire is a white woman with shoulder length straight brown hair, and glasses. She's wearing a white top and stands in front of a light grey background,.jpg

Evaluator

Claire Driver

Claire is a heritage professional with a background in working with people in museums, archives and on community history projects. Her creative approach engages the public with heritage stories and spaces, and creates evaluations that are careful and purposeful. Her previous clients include Fulham Palace House and Gardens, Ipswich Museum and the National Paralympic Heritage Trust.

Jerry is a Black/mixed race man, smiling into the camera. He's wearing a white shirt and brown blazer. His hair is shaved on the sides. He's in the back of an aircraft.

Pro Bono AV Producer

Jerry Glasgow

Jerry Glasgow is a Studio Operations Officer at SOAS University of London. For many years he has provided enthusiastic technical and creative support to the university's vibrant international arts community as well as various teaching, research and outreach activities, e.g. the SOAS Concert Series. His background is music and media technology, and he is fascinated by the cross cultural synthesis of ideas, expressed in performance and digital and immersive formats.

Eleanor is a white woman with red rimmed glasses and a pierccing just below her lower lip. Her dark hair is pulled back and she smiles at the camera. There's a bookshelf behind her.

Research & Participation Officer (job share)

Eleanor Root

Eleanor is a multi-award winning cultural and engagement consultant with expertise in communicating with diverse audiences, nurturing community partnerships, and evaluation. Her approach to reaching under-served audiences was acknowledged by winning the Museums + Heritage 'Community Impact' Award in 2021 and 'Partnership of the Year' Award in 2023, and being a part of the 'Exhibition of the Year' team in 2021. Previously, she has worked as a curator at Ipswich Museums and is currently Cultural Partnerships Lead at Suffolk Libraries alongside her freelance consultancy.

Tola is a Black woman with long dread locks and she's wearing an orange top. She's smiling broadly at the camera.

Pro Bono Arts Advisor

Dr Tola Dabiri

Dr Tola Dabiri has worked across the cultural sector since 1995, beginning her career in public libraries and archives. She has also worked at the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and The National Archives, and the UK Centre for Carnival Arts, the National Academy for Social Prescribing.

Tola has developed and managed a number of successful projects including Carnival in a Box Fundraising for Archives for The National Archives, and UKCCA’s NLHF funded Carnival Archive Project.

Tola was awarded a PhD from Leeds Beckett University, for her research looking at orality and the intangible cultural heritage of British Caribbean Carnival. Tola is also a consultant in the cultural sector, specialising in project management, equality and inclusion, and fundraising.

Social media support

Melda Findikli

Melda Findikli is an award-winning Marketing Manager with over a decade of experience in driving market growth and enhancing brand recognition for leading global technology and consumer electronics companies, including Samsung and Bosch. She possesses a remarkable ability to translate complex concepts into actionable Go-to-Market strategies, fostering seamless collaboration across teams and leveraging data-driven insights to effectively connect products and services with consumers. Melda is also developing marketing content for Kimolian Academy, an initiative dedicated to empowering women to create innovative tech products utilising artificial intelligence. Her passion for exploration is evident in her extensive travels to more than 25 countries, where she continually seeks new experiences and perspectives.

Isobel is a white woman with shoulder length auburn hair. She's smiling gently into the camera. A tree in blossing is in the background.

Research & Participation Officer (job share)

Isobel Keith

Isobel specialises in collections management and building relationships with communities, from local to global, to engage audiences with their heritage. Her work collaborating with international communities, centring indigenous voices, and negotiating loans from MARVEL contributed to winning the Museums + Heritage award for 'Exhibition of the Year' in 2021. Currently she works as Archive Project Manager for Harwich Electric Palace and has previously worked in collections management at Ipswich Museums.

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Financial Admin

Kate Mason

Kate of ASK Your Fam is a qualified systems analyst and experienced project manager; as the FairyAdminManager she makes spreadsheets that work for the individual. As a neuro divergent creative she finds unique ways to use people’s language and way of working. She splits her time between making bespoke spreadsheets to help businesses, whether a CIC, microbusiness or sole trader, and creating eco-designs from preloved fabrics as byKatyMac.