Since the very first BoF VOICES in 2016, we have welcomed more than 400 luminaries and changemakers — from CEOs to activists, designers to entrepreneurs along with experts, technologists, scientists and cultural leaders from outside fashion — to create a space where the most influential leaders in the fashion industry can connect to reflect and ignite change together with inspiring people who are shaping the wider world.
Now in its tenth year, the mission of BoF VOICES remains unchanged. Today, we are delighted to announce the latest global speakers confirmed for this year’s agenda:
- Patrick Chalhoub, executive chairman of the middle-eastern retail operator Chalhoub Group.
- Olivier Bron, chief executive of American luxury department store Bloomingdale’s.
- Clare Waight Keller, global creative director of Uniqlo and the former creative director of Chloé and Givenchy.
- The Gstaad Guy, the satirical content creator who has captivated UHNW consumers.
- Maria Cornejo, the Chilean-born designer and founder of Zero + Maria Cornejo.
- Lidewij Edelkoort, forecaster, educator and publisher at Trend Union.
- Laura Nestler, vice president of community at social forum site Reddit.
- Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, founders of the AI shopping tool Phia.
- His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama and the lineage holder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition.
- Dr. Donatien Grau, head of contemporary programmes at the Musée du Louvre.
- Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View, a leading platform exploring the societal impact of emerging technologies.
- Max Vadukul, the British-Indian photographer known for his signature black-and-white style.
- Anoushka Shankar, the virtuoso sitarist, recording artist and film composer.
- Alexander Asseily, the British Lebanese technology entrepreneur and investor, and founder of venture studio Zulu Group.
- Kartiki Gonsalves, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker of The Elephant Whisperers.
They join an already outstanding line-up of confirmed speakers including Andrea Guerra, CEO of Prada Group, Gabriel Whaley, founder and CEO of MSCHF, and top model Jean Campbell.
We hope you will join us this November 18 to 21, 2025 at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire, UK — not just to celebrate the tenth edition of BoF VOICES, but to co-create the conversations that will shape fashion’s next decade.
- We have a limited number of invitation-only tickets to join us in person. To request an invitation, please complete this form.
- BoF Professional members will be able to join via the global livestream. Stay tuned for more details this autumn.
- To enquire about speaking opportunities, please contact niamh.coombes@businessoffashion.com
BoF VOICES 2025 is made possible in part by our partners Amazon Fashion, McKinsey & Company, Swap Commerce, Soho House and Getty Images. If you are interested in learning about partnership opportunities, please contact us here.
Patrick Chalhoub is the executive chairman at Chalhoub Group. The former group president has over 40 years of experience, and is responsible for strategy, leadership development, and the sustainable growth of the company. The group has a portfolio of 8 owned brands and over 300 international brands, and Chalhoub’s leadership has helped it become a leading luxury player in the Middle East. The executive has a talent for balancing innovation and respect for heritage, resulting in the successful development of a number of home-grown brands. Chalhoub was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite by the French government, and he was also honoured with the title of grade officer in the National Order of the Cedar, Lebanon’s highest state decoration.
Olivier Bron is the chief executive officer of Bloomingdale’s. With over a decade of experience, Bron has held C-suite roles at Galeries Lafayette, Central and Robinson Department Stores, and BHV Group. Using his expertise in management and business, Bron has previously developed strategies for digitisation, luxury customer growth, cultural transformation, and sustainable growth following covid-19. He has a deep understanding of retail, consumer goods, and private equity from 10 years at Bain & Company, and holds a master’s degree in Engineering from ECAM in Lyon.
Clare Waight Keller is the global creative director for women’s and menswear at Uniqlo. After studying at Ravensbourne College of Art and the Royal College of Art in London, Waight Keller began her career at Calvin Klein in New York before joining Ralph Lauren as head designer of the men’s purple label. She later returned to London as senior designer at Gucci, working with Tom Ford, and went on to lead Pringle of Scotland as creative director. In 2011, she was appointed creative director of Chloé, re-energising the Parisian house with her effortless style. Six years later, she made history as the first female artistic director of Givenchy, where she relaunched Haute Couture and expanded the maison’s global stature. Her honours include Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2018 British Fashion Awards and recognition in Time magazine’s 2019 Time 100.
The Gstaad Guy is a London-based social media content creator known for satirising the often-absurd lives of the world’s elite through videos. Through this, he has amassed over 2.5 million followers across social media platforms, allowing him to work with brands including Audemars Piguet and Loro Piana. The Gstaad Guy is the founder and chief executive of charm jewellery brand Poubel.
Maria Cornejo is the founder and creative director of Zero + Maria Cornejo. The Chilean designer creates wearable luxury for women, with designs emphasising freedom and simplicity. Cornejo has worked as a creative consultant across brands like Joseph, Tehan, and Jigsaw. In 1998, soon after moving to New York, she established Zero + Maria Cornejo, where she began making garments from upcycled materials. Cornejo most recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 CFDA Fashion Awards. She is a founding member of the CDFA’s Sustainability Committee, and was appointed to the CDFA Board of Directors in 2019. She also sits on the board at Women.ny, a programme dedicated to supporting and empowering the women of New York City.
Lidewij Edelkoort is a respected trend forecaster and the founder of Trend Union. The Dutch native launched her company in 1986 and has since produced trend tools for strategists and designers at a number of brands. She has worked across fashion, beauty, lifestyle, communications, and retail, and is also a publisher, educator, and exhibition curator. Edelkoort was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons for 5 years, and is the author of the Anti Fashion Manifesto, which explores the obsolescence of the fashion system. Recently, she co-founded the World Hope Forum to inspire the creative community post covid, and collaborated with Polimoda to create an innovative textiles Masters course.
Laura Nestler is the vice president of community at social forum site Reddit, where she leads Reddit’s Community team, which is responsible for key initiatives around moderation, governance, and international community growth. Before Reddit, Nestler served as Duolingo’s Global Head of Community. She also spent eight years at Yelp, where she helped craft Yelp’s community growth playbook. Nestler is passionate about community-driven growth and serves in advisory, board, and investor roles for organisations that build products with community intentionality.
Phoebe Gates is the co-founder of the AI personal shopping platform, Phia. Gates is also an entrepreneur, a podcast host for The Burnouts, and an advocate for women’s reproductive rights and gender equity. Co-founded with Sophia Kianni, the Phia app has garnered over 400K downloads since its release, and is VC backed with angel investors including Kris Jenner and Sara Blakely. Gates’s advocacy work includes collaborating with healthcare leaders and activists to advance access and opportunity for women and girls. Recognised as the 2024 Rising Reproductive Freedom Champion by Reproductive Freedom for All. Gates has a bachelors degree from Stanford University in Human Biology.
Sophia Kianni is the co-founder of the AI personal shopping platform, Phia. Kianni is an entrepreneur, climate activist, and podcast host for The Burnouts. Co-founded with Phoebe Gates, the Phia app has garnered over 400K downloads since its release, and is VC backed with angel investors including Kris Jenner and Sara Blakely. As a teenager, Kianni founded Climate Cardinals, now the world’s largest youth-led climate nonprofit with 16,000 volunteers in 80+ countries. She went on to serve as the youngest UN climate advisor in US history and sit on the EPA’s National Youth Advisory Council. She has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30, BBC 100 Women, and VICE’s Human of the Year. Kianni has a bachelors degree from Stanford University in Science, Technology, & Society.
His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist lama and the lineage holder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition. In 1992, he was recognised as a reincarnate lama by H.H. the Dalai Lama when he was two years old. In 2004, he entered into a solitary retreat in the Himalayas, which he completed in 2008. Today, that transcendent discipline is channeled into a uniquely contemporary life. Having spent the last 17 years in the West, His Eminence is a cultural architect who bridges worlds. He manages 55 Buddhist centers worldwide, with the mind of a spiritual entrepreneur and connects with a digital community of thousands.
Dr. Donatien Grau is an author, editor and scholar who specialises in philology and museums. Based in Paris, he is currently the head of contemporary programs at the Musée du Louvre and has previously held the same title at the Musée d’Orsay. Dr. Grau is the editor in chief and artistic director of the magazine Alphabet, and has also authored and edited publications such as Living Museums (Hatje Cantz, 2020), and Under Discussion. The Encyclopedic Museum (Getty, 2021). He has worked alongside Azzedine Alaïa, advising on the couturier’s not-for-profit exhibition space, as well as being a guest curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Azeem Azhar is the founder of Exponential View, a leading platform exploring the societal impact of emerging technologies. Azhar has served as an advisor, consultant and keynote speaker to international organisations, think tanks, government, universities and business, including the World Economic Forum, UNGA, OECD and Fortune 500 companies, such as Goldman Sachs, Accenture and Salesforce. In 2022, he published his debut book “Exponential: Order and Chaos in an Age of Accelerating Technology” to critical acclaim. His first TV series, a Bloomberg Original, “Exponentially with Azeem Azhar,” debuted in 2023. In addition, his research and work has been featured in the New York Times, The Financial Times and WIRED. Azhar is a fellow at Stanford University, Oxford Martin School and Harvard Business School. He has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.
Max Vadukul is a photographer, known for his signature black-and-white style. Born in Nairobi to Gujarati Indian parents, Vadukul is entirely self-taught. Vadukul was discovered by Yohji Yamamoto at 22, and he has helped define the visual language of French Vogue, Italian Vogue, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. In 1996, he succeeded Richard Avedon as staff photographer at The New Yorker, where he later shot the landmark “Brain Trust” portrait of 22 Nobel Laureates. Across his four-decade career, Vadukul has captured icons from Mother Teresa to A$AP Nast, with work exhibited at MAXXI, Galleria d’Italia, Fondazione Sozzani and the Brooklyn Museum. In 2025, Vadukul presented The Buddha Relic Project, in collaboration with His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche.
Anoushka Shankar is a musician, composer and activist who experiments across multiple genres from neo-classical to global and electronic. Based in London, the Indian recording artist has thirteen solo albums and eleven Grammy nominations to her name. She is the first ever Indian woman to perform live and present at the Grammy Awards. Shankar has played the sitar and studied Indian classical music since the age of nine, and today she has performed in symphony halls and to festival crowds as big as 40,000. Her collaborations include Sting, the Dalai Lama, Jacob Collier and Patti Smith. Shankar is one of the first female composers to be added to the UK A-level syllabus, and she has recently received an honorary degree in Music from the University of Oxford.
Alexander Asseily is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and CEO of Zulu Group, a venture studio that builds and invests in ambitious products that aim to solve societal and planetary challenges. Over a period of two decades, Asseily has founded several technology companies in the US and Europe, including consumer electronics company Jawbone and women’s health tech company Elvie, among others. Asseily received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Kartiki Gonsalves is an Academy Award winning director and documentary filmmaker from India. Her debut film, The Elephant Whisperers, received an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023. Gonsalves is the first ever Indian director to receive an Oscar, and in the same year received the Tara Award from King Charles III for her significant contribution to environmental advocacy and storytelling. She is the founder of Earth Spectrum, an organisation dedicated to raising awareness about biodiversity and cultural heritage through storytelling. She is also a photojournalist, exploring conservation, indigenous communities and upholding women’s voices. Gonsalves received Rotary International’s Paul Harris Award in recognition of her humanitarian work.
Andrea Guerra is the CEO and executive director of Prada group, having joined the board in 2023. An experienced business leader, he has previously held top roles at LVMH, Eataly, Luxottica, and Merloni Elettrodomestici (now Indesit). Guerra also served as a strategic advisor to the Italian Prime Minister and has held board positions at Bocconi University, Save the Children and several major listed companies. A graduate of Sapienza University of Rome, he is known for steering global brands through transformative growth and remains a key figure in Italian industry and international luxury business.
Jean Campbell is the founder and presenter of the I’m Fine podcast. Having battled with chronic pain since the age of 12, Campbell’s podcast aims to help those suffering with physical and mental pain by normalising transparency and honesty. The podcast hosts doctors and experts within the fields of mental health, sexual wellness and more. Campbell is also a model who has worked with Burberry, Erdem, Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton. In 2024, she was nominated for the Social Mover award at the Model of the Year Awards for her social activism surrounding chronic pain and mental health.
Gabriel Whaley is the founder and CEO of MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based art collective and creative studio known for blurring the lines between art, fashion, tech and satire. Whaley leads a team of artists committed to mischief, controversy, and cultural critique. From viral stunts like turning a pair of Air Max 97s into “Jesus Shoes”, to selling 1,000 Warhol art pieces (only one of being real); Mschf continues to make headlines and disrupt fashion industry norms. With Whaley at the helm, the collective has earned global recognition, museum placements and awards, including being named one of Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies and a spot on Hypebeast’s Top 100 list.
Alvaro Barrington is a London-based artist born in Grenada and grew up between the Caribbean and New York. He explores this heritage in his work, focusing on themes of migration, memory and hip-hop culture. Primarily a painter, Barrington uses found objects, sewn yarn and postcards to create mixed-media pieces. He has degrees from Hunter College in New York and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Recent highlights include “Grace”, a major Tate Britain Commission (2024), and “Come Home” at Art Basel Parcours (2024).
Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker is an acclaimed former Special Forces operator with 13 years of military service, including a decade in the UK Special Forces. He earned the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for combat operations in Afghanistan in 2013, where he served as a chief sniper instructor and demolitions expert. After his time in the military, Staz co-founded ThruDark, a multi-million pound performance outerwear brand that has been named among The Sunday Times’ 100 fastest-growing private companies. He is a published author and is part of the fastest known team to speed ascent Mount Everest from London in just 7 days.
Monita Rajpal is a certified life coach and former CNN anchor with over two decades of global media experience. She spent 13 years at CNN International anchoring flagship programmes and hosting a global interview show, speaking with world leaders, cultural icons, and changemakers. Now based in the UK, Rajpal works with high-achieving women navigating ambition and self-doubt, where she blends real-life insight with neuroscience-based methods and a no-nonsense approach.
Rohan Silva is chair of Founders Factory Australia, backing climate-tech and nature-tech startups globally. Based in Fremantle, Australia, Silva was previously senior policy advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, spearheading key innovation policies, including Entrepreneur Visas and the Open Data agenda. He founded London’s Tech City and helped launch the UK’s Life Sciences and Genomics strategies. After, he became a research affiliate at MIT, where he founded Second Home, a socially driven innovation hub. As well as being a regular columnist and broadcaster, Silva is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
Kristina O’Neill is currently Head of Sotheby’s Media and editor-in-chief of Sotheby’s Magazine and has played a defining role in New York’s media landscape, bringing a sharp editorial vision to some of fashion and culture’s most influential publications over the past 25 years. Previously, she served as editor-in-chief of WSJ. Magazine for over a decade, overseeing its global expansion and award-winning reinvention. O’Neill began her career assisting Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, and went on to hold senior roles at Harper’s Bazaar, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York. A Gallatin graduate, she lives in Brooklyn and co-authored the forthcoming All the Cool Girls Get Fired (2025).
Laura Brown is a journalist, author, and founder of LB Media, a communications firm connecting luxury, the arts, and community impact. She is the former editor-in-chief of InStyle, where she launched the Badass Women cover series and banned fur from the magazine. Previously, she was executive editor at Harper’s Bazaar, where she won the 2016 ASME Fashion Cover of the Year for Bazaar’s Jaws-inspired shoot featuring Rihanna. She has also held senior roles at W and Details. Brown has received multiple industry awards and co-authored the upcoming All The Cool Girls Get Fired. She chairs (RED)’s Creative Council and sits on the boards of The Fashion Trust US, me too, and Foot Soldiers Park.
