Jennie Tsekwa – Lead Facilitator (Schools & Corporate)
Jennie was born in the United States, grew up in Malaysia and the Philippines, and moved to South Africa in 2006 to complete her Masters degree in Diversity Studies from the University of Cape Town. Originally trained as a journalist, she loves exploring how stories shape our lives – collectively and individually. She is an experienced facilitator and coach with a passion for working with individuals and teams who are going through seasons of change, growth or stress and seeking greater alignment, connection and effectiveness. She has been working in the field of diversity and inclusion since 2001, in the public, corporate and non-profit sectors. Jennie lives in Johannesburg South with her husband, where they are raising their three sons in a bi-lingual (English and Sesotho) home. Jennie is a lead facilitator in Kopanya, working directly with clients and their teams, as well as leading Kopanya’s work in schools.
Sarah Ping Nie Jones – Lead facilitator (Schools & Corporate)
Sarah is of Indonesian Chinese and British ancestry, and has spent her life navigating complex intercultural contexts. As a facilitator and therapist, her focus is on creating and holding safe spaces of truth-telling for people to explore issues that arise around diversity (with a focus on race and gender/sexuality) in the face of complex and challenging power dynamics. For the last decade, she has facilitated courageous dialogues around these issues across corporate, educational and civil society spaces. Since completing her BA in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge and her Masters in Diversity Studies at UCT (2006), Sarah has been living in Cape Town, but frequently travels to other parts of South Africa and abroad. Sarah is a lead facilitator with Kopanya, working with both individual and organisational clients.
Mpho Tsekwa – Concepts
Mpho grew up in Soweto and experienced first hand the impact of South Africa’s apartheid rule, as well as its transition to democracy in 1994. With a keen interest in the movement of people, he studied human demography at Northwest University in Mafikeng, followed by a Masters in town planning at the University of Cape Town. His passion and commitment to social change has ranged from involvement in student politics to being a facilitator for a diversity and inclusion programme for youth in Cape Town schools.
Additionally, we draw from our broader team of facilitators and associates for each project.