Jessica Ré Phillips
Jessica Ré Phillips is an unusual combination of creative power, research, advocacy, and commercial experience. Her work spans the arts, international politics and development, and the financial services sectors across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East.
A multidisciplinary artist and activist from the American South, Ré grew up amidst the legacy of the American Civil Rights Movement. As a result, her art and advocacy work are grounded in the desire to promote peace and increase mutual understanding across cultures. Since the age of 18, she has travelled to more than 15 countries to globalise messages of peace, hope, and non-violent resistance through “artrepreneurship” initiatives, art exhibitions, and socially engaged performances.
Ré’s art explores the intersections of art and activism, the African diaspora, and social change. Her work has been exhibited in Lebanon (Beirut), India (New Delhi), Spain (Barcelona), England (Oxford), Turkey (Ankara), China (Guangzhou), and the United States (Atlanta and Palo Alto). She has also performed with the National Theatre of China, the Ugandan National Theatre, and the Palestinian National Theatre.
In addition to her art practice, Ré has over a decade of experience working with underrepresented communities on issues related to human rights, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), migration, and development. Her work has been recognised and supported by the U.S. State Department as a Fulbright Fellow (China), the American India Foundation as a Banyan Impact Fellow (India), Peking University as a researcher of China-Africa relations (China), the World Economic Forum as a Global Shaper, and the Stanford Martin Luther King, Jr. Research Institute.
Formerly assistant vice president at Primerica, global governance consultant for the United Nations Development Programme, and strategic growth advisor to various India-based nongovernmental organisations, she is now co-founder of Root to Bloom, a social enterprise nurturing an ecosystem where creatives and social entrepreneurs of colour are supported to scale to their full potential.
Ré holds a B.A. from Stanford University, an MPhil from the University of Oxford, and she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at SOAS University of London.
She is a native of Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia.