meet your host & speakers

Naima McLean is building a future where African creatives — especially women — don’t just participate in the creative economy, but lead it.

With over 20 years of experience across creativity, business strategy, and leadership, her work focuses on one clear outcome: helping talent turn into income, ownership, and long-term opportunity.

She began in the creative arts, performing poetry at the first African Leadership Network conference in 2010. Today, she leads a pan-African strategy that blends technology, creativity, and youth empowerment — creating real pathways for creators to build sustainable careers.

Her belief is simple: art should not just be seen — it should sustain.

Yvette Davis Gayle brings over 25 years of experience shaping global music and entertainment.

She spent 18 years at Interscope Geffen A&M as Head of Urban PR, leading campaigns for A-list talent and helping define culture at a global level.

Today, as Co-Founder and COO of Africa Creative Agency, she leads global strategy across talent, music, and film — expanding African creatives onto the world stage through partnerships and original content.

Her work sits at the intersection of culture and commerce — turning creativity into scalable, international opportunity.

She has been recognized by Billboard (Women in Music Executive Honoree, Global Power Players List) and CNBC as one of the “31 Women Creating a Positive Impact in Africa.”

Nazrawi (Naz) Ghebreselasie is the CEO and Co-Founder of Kana TV, Ethiopia’s most-watched television network, which has maintained a 40%+ market share for seven consecutive years and was later acquired by Canal+ in a landmark media transaction he led from the company side. He is also the Founder of STRATIX STUDIO, a pan-African strategic communications agency that has advised global brands including Coca-Cola, Diageo, PFL, and Unilever on positioning and market development across the continent.

Trained in theoretical physics and mathematics at the University of Toronto, Naz works across media, strategy, content, art, and music. He has developed more than twelve original television formats, contributed to Ethiopia’s national tourism brand “Land of Origins,” served on the Board of Trustees of African Leadership University, and worked as a musical director and guitarist in Toronto’s jazz scene. His forthcoming book, The Body of Business, explores organizational design through biological systems thinking. He is based in Addis Ababa.