Pitch Futures Speakers, how we met.

**Valentina Culatti**, Global Director Creative Strategy and Production at Snapchat; **Annika Allen**, Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at All3Media; **Jackie Lockinger**, Senior Manager of Programming and Editorial for the EU at Vevo; **Greg Francis**, Writer and Director; and *her*, **Sherry Collins**, Founder of **The Pitch Fanzine** media, **Pitch Futures** and **Pitch Film Fund**, launching soon.

Pitch Futures Speakers turned up at a secondary school in Hackney, London, and shared their career journey and knowledge on the creative industries with our Pitch Futures Creative Class of 2025.

Inspiring our future talent.

Sitting in my sunny garden afterwards, I reflected on how we met and why I reached out to each of our speakers to be part of the Pitch Futures Creative Class.

Valentina Culatti is a Pitch Super Woman, 2018, who has supported The Pitch Fanzine since her time at UNIT9 and now at Snapchat.

Valentina and I are also part of an amazing WhatsApp group, where creative leaders converse, uplift, and support each other.

Valentina is kind, thoughtful, and a positive leader.

Annika Allen and I met in 2018 at the Mayor of London’s The Women We See gender equality campaign breakfast.

I have followed Annika’s journey in the creative industry as she continues to uplift our communities, writing and speaking on topics which raise awareness of issues we should consider and take action on.

Annika is passionate about her craft and kind and caring about other people.

Jackie Lockinger, my former assistant during the early years of Pitch Futures in 2017, has paved her own path in the music industry.

Jackie’s curiosity and passion for her craft are infectious, and after a conversation with Jackie, I always feel uplifted.

Jackie is kind, curious, and full of incredible energy.

Greg Francis and I met during our time at RSA Films, where he supported me on my producing jobs and uplifted me with his kind words. Greg also knew how much I love Jamaican soups, so he always made sure I took breaks and ate.

It's a pleasure to watch Greg’s career grow from strength to strength, and to see that he has achieved his dream of writing and directing projects that are close to his heart.

Greg is kind, determined, and never gives up.

Abraham Asefaw, Entrepreneur and Creative Innovator, who joined the Pitch Futures Creative Class remotely from Copenhagen, Denmark, is passionate about the next generation of creatives.

Abraham is a Pitch Futures Creative Jamaica Pioneer, 2024.

Abraham shared knowledge, remotely, about the creative industries with Pitch Futures students at our pilot school in Negril.

Visiting Jamaica provided an opportunity to research and test how we can facilitate our creative classes in Jamaica’s schools with international speakers remotely.

Abraham’s advice to me at the time was to “keep things simple.”

Abraham is kind, passionate about his craft, and much-loved.

Thank you, Pitch Futures Speakers.

Time, to create our new futures.

We are in a knowledge-sharing evolution, creating a new world.

Best wishes,

Sherry Collins, I am her.

Jamaican Freedom Fighter, for the people.

Fighting for the creative freedom of the Jamaican peopledem and Pitch Futures, our future creative talent.

I am human. I create from my own visions and ideas, reading culture and the world.™

Watch on Pitch TV.

Life Lessons Learned.