My name is Geli Berg and I am of mixed cultural heritage. My Mum was from Peru and my father half Irish and half Norwegian. As a result I have always been fascinated by culture and diversity. I taught English as a Foreign Language for years and then moved into marketing and PR, becoming the marketing Manager for Jazz FM North West and joined the Board of Trustees for Band on the Wall. I then went into community radio and produced and presented Cultural Collage on ALL Fm Community Radio in Levenshulme for 13 years. This led to me setting up a world music agency and subsequently producing the Cultural Collage World Music Festival which ran across venues throughout Manchester between 2010 and 2013. I am now the Managing Director of Lingua Franca World (Music) Community*, a social enterprise which works on promoting cultural cohesion through diverse arts projects, mainly based around 'world' music and dance. I live in Levenshulme in South Manchester, a very diverse and active community neighbourhood and I feel strongly about neighbourhood issues and helping to make our community a wonderful place to live.
*We are changing the company name in March to drop the word Music.