Zahra Sherzad has been involved in the contemporary art world for years and has a passion for philanthropy. She has served on the board and fund-raised for The Noguchi Museum, School Of Hope, Art For Tibet in addition to various non-profits, . 

She has independently curated and produced a number of art shows, working alongside a slew of graffiti artists, musicians, dj’s, filmmakers and creatives that have gone on to define street culture as a whole. She is a currently an executive producer for the Street Heroines Film, a documentary project featuring female street artists from all over the world. Zahra is mother to three young girls and still finds time to paddle board competitively around the world. 

Callie is a classically trained visual artist and printmaker who has spent the last 15 years exploring the relationship between people and their built environment. Her first interventions in the urban landscape took the form of wheat-pasting portraits to the walls of cities around the world, a project that is still evolving. Alongside her place-based work, she has a studio practice of drawing, printmaking, architectural sculpture and installations. Callie’s work has been collected and shown internationally at galleries and museums, including the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and the Sao Paolo Museum of Art.

With over 14 years of creating music for some of the biggest musicians in music history, Swizz has contributed to the sale over 320 million records in just the US alone, working with the likes of Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, DMX, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Kanye West, and Bono to name a few.  Along with working with some of the biggest names in music, film veteran Oliver Stone tapped Swizz to lend his expertise to the score for the classic movie Any Given Sunday.

When not creating music, Swizz is an avid art collector and painter and in 2014 he launched The Dean Collection to showcase the work of artists from around the world whose work he admires.  He is also a philanthropist who is involved in many charities and was recently named as the first Global Ambassador for New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation.

In 2013, Stan’s love affair with tiny homes led him to connect with Heliotrope Foundation's Konbit Shelter team and ultimately to travel to Cormiers, Haiti to assist in the construction of Adelia’s home. Since then he has stayed close to the organization, helping fund and manage the English Klub, and other fundraising initiatives.  In late 2019, he and his real estate team put together a fundraiser in Denver to support the on-going work with the Cormiers community and renovations to the Community Center.

Stan has been a long-time supporter of the Heliotrope Foundation and the Konbit Shelter project. He lives and works in Denver, founding and operating a boutique real estate firm in the city’s core. As a business owner, he and his team support local artists and community events in Denver, and works tirelessly to promote authentic architecture within the community. In his personal time, he spends as much time as he can at his tiny home in the Colorado Mountains.

As Founder and Executive Director of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Jane has overseen its growth from a small city agency into the nation's largest mural program and a model for community development across the country and around the globe.  Under Golden’s direction, the Mural Arts Program has created over 3,800 landmark works of public art through innovative collaborations with communities, grassroots organizations, city agencies, schools and philanthropies.  Golden has received numerous awards for her expertise and accomplishments, including the Philadelphia Award, the Girl Scouts Take the Lead Award, the Moore College of Art Visionary Woman Award, an Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship, and a Governor’s Award for Innovation in the Arts from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Michael has been a valuable member of the Heliotrope Foundation for over six years. He hails from the Leogane region of Haiti and is our local liaison in Cormiers.  He serves as the Program Manager and Lead Instructor of our kids program, Klub Obzevatwa. In his role, he oversees the planning and implementation of class curriculum, which is developed collaboratively with the 6 local teachers in the program. In addition to his work with the kids club, he also serves as one of Heliotrope’s local translators and communications liaison with the US based team.

Michael is strongly committed to helping the children learn valuable skills and awareness that will allow them to respond to the challenges of life. He is dedicated to creating a positive, caring and fun learning environment that the kids can grow and thrive in. His abilities to solve problems and listen to others makes him someone everyone can turn to for guidance. 

Reading is a great passion of Michael’s and he takes up every learning opportunity to gain new skills. He will soon be receiving his bachelor degree in Applied Linguistics from the State University of Haiti. 

Robinson Michelot is based in Haiti and has been working with Heliotrope Foundation since 2011.

Proficient in English, French and Haitian Creole, Robi was initially hired for the role of translator. Soon enough, his vast array of skills proved to be essential to the international Heliotrope team and his role expanded to become an Operations Assistant in Haiti.

Robi’s sensitivity towards others and his vast experience working with international organizations make him an excellent mediator in our Haitian projects. He always presents a positive attitude to adversity and unpredictability, finding creative solutions to everyday challenges in a versatile and engaged way.

This man of all trades regularly works as a carpenter and also as a teacher. He teachers English and IT at the TeacHaiti English & Computing School of Gonaives, as well as with the local girls soccer clubs Star Gonaivienne and Venus Fc des Gonaives.

Joana Torres is an architect and the founder of Oficina Design, a non-profit organization that provides architecture and construction services to those who cannot afford it. Joana has served as a project manager for more than a decade in projects spanning from conventional architecture to design-build social impact design. Joana’s projects engage communities around the world to participate in the design and construction of buildings that are safe and sustainable, beautiful and contextual.

Working with Konbit Shelter since 2015, Joana is responsible for the conservation of infrastructure built by Heliotrope Foundation in Haiti since 2010. Among other projects, Joana led the renovation of the Community Center of Cormiers. She designed and led the construction of “Kay Nana” in 2017, a sustainable bamboo home for Cormiers community member Louisiana Pierre Louis. Kay Nana won the SEED Network Award in 2018 (Social Economical Environmental Design) for excellence in public interest design. 

Jaime is a designer, educator and project manager. She has a passion for all things handmade and crafted with environmental sustainability in mind. As a creative, she specializes as a seamstress wherein her work ranges from sewn production for renowned fine artists to antique clothing reproduction and restoration. She has worked for fine artist Nick Cave, creating his elaborate, hand-stitched Sound Suits in addition to high-end tailoring. She also possesses a breadth of production management expertise for art, music and fashion events and festivals to include Frieze Art Fair, New York Fashion Week and Decibel Electronic Music Festival in Seattle.  As an educator, she has taught elementary school art as well as sewing instruction for both adults and children. Jaime’s true joy as a teacher comes through the process of helping people achieve their learning potentials.

Clementine Seely is a creative producer and project manager. Finding exceptional stories and storytellers has always been a driving force for her projects.

She is well-versed in large-scale, complex projects in theatre, film, public art installations and museum shows. Her work ranges from Christo and Jeane Claude's Floating Piers installation on Lake Iseo, Italy, to Zoey Martinson's immersive theatrical museum Black History Museum at HERE Arts Centre to Swoon's first major survey show The Canyon at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.

Clementine thrives off diversity within her work and is eager to assist others in the telling of their stories.