Joumana Ibrahim graduated with an MA from the London College of Communications (LCC) after obtaining a BS in graphic design and a minor in fine arts from the Lebanese American University. Her focus at LCC was on information design, including her Master’s thesis, focusing on a spatial analysis of Hamra and Geitawi streets in Beirut. Upon returning to Lebanon, she worked as an art director at Leo Burnett Beirut, serving a vast array of leading Lebanese and international brands, and winning a number of regional and international awards. Joumana is currently working as a freelance graphic designer/art director for local and international brands and is an adjunct faculty at the Lebanese American University. She has been involved in delivering workshops and seminars as part of Beirut Design Week since its inception in 2011, and now serves on the board of the MENA Design Research Centre. She has also led several workshops in Lebanon and abroad.

Maya Karkour is an Environmental Consultant, an Eco-Entrepreneur, and the Managing Director of EcoConsulting which she co-founded in London, UK in 2003 and then established in Beirut, Lebanon in 2008. EcoConsulting is a specialized sustainability consultancy with a focus on reworking the relationship between businesses, institutions, municipalities, corporations, households and the Environment through greater energy-efficiency, better resource use, pollution mitigation, as well as healthier and circular solutions. Maya oversees or has directly worked on numerous projects aiming at reducing their environmental footprint –including the eco-renovation of Casa Batroun, first project in the Middle-East to achieve the British BREEAM “Excellent” certificate in 2014 and the Lebanese Architects Sustainability Award in 2017. She also conducts eco-building, sustainability, circular economy and environmental seminars & workshops on a regular basis. Maya has been actively promoting the Circular Economy and sustainable practices in Lebanon through workshops, as the local representative of the Circular Economy Club in Beirut, and more recently by launching the Circular Hub of EcoConsulting. She has also been coaching environmental start-ups or entrepreneurs with innovative entrepreneurial solutions. Maya has been a keynote speaker or moderator at various sustainability/environmental conferences in Lebanon and other countries. She has organized and animated a panel in 2017 on Agriculture & Climate Change, has been selected to coach all presenters and moderate an event for the EU Delegation in Lebanon in December 2019, entitled “Towards a Green Society in Lebanon?”, and was invited as a speaker on “Enabling a Circular Economy” at the CSR Lebanon Forum in October 2019. Maya holds an MSc (hons) in Environment from the London School of Economics and Political Science and is a LEED Accredited Professional, a BREEAM Licensed Assessor, a Low Carbon Energy Assessor, and holds certificates in the Circular Economy and Permaculture. She is currently the President of the Lebanon Mountain Trail Association and is heading its environmental Education Committee.