Art

Mashonda Tifrere

ArtLeadHer & Art Genesis, Founder

Since emerging on the scene in the early 2000s, Mashonda Tifrere has forged a multi-dimensional career that spans music, art, and entrepreneurship. In 2005, Mashonda released her debut album produced by industry heavyweights Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, and Raphael Saadiq, collaborating with critically acclaimed artists such as Jay-Z, DMX, Nas, and more.

As an international curator, collector, art advisor, and Founder of ArtLeadHer and Art Genesis, Mashonda is building a sustainable marketplace for both emerging and established artists and creatives. The Art Business graduate from Christie’s Education in New York has partnered with Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD, Gucci’s Chime for Change, American designer Donna Karan, museums, galleries, and art fairs worldwide to curate exhibitions. Her work has garnered features in Forbes, The New York Times, Cultured Mag, Artnet, Whitewall, and Artsy.

Since founding both ArtLeadHer and its sibling organization Art Genesis in 2016, Mashonda has exhibited over 250 women from all over the world, having curated over 40 exhibitions. ArtLeadHer works with women and teenage girls to provide visual arts education, professional development, brand exposure, and opportunities to exhibit their art in prominent exhibition spaces, while Art Genesis provides exhibition opportunities for emerging and established artists.

Recently, Mashonda was honored by Franklin Simmons and the Pérez Art Museum Miami for her curatorial and activism work with an Art and Soul Award. Mashonda is also the author of “Blend: The Secret to Co-Parenting” and currently resides in San Diego, California.

Gardy St. Fleur

Saint Fleur, Founder

Gardy St. Fleur is a Haitian-born, Brooklyn-based, art advisor, and collector, who founded Saint Fleur In 2014. Vanity Fair referred to him as “the NBA’s go-to art advisor,” as a number of basketball superstars are included among his clientele. Throughout the years, Gardy has also played major roles in researching and championing the work of unsung artists, particularly those of Afro-Caribbean descent, successfully widening their audiences and increasing awareness of their works.

Gardy’s personal art collection, which includes works by Tschabalala Self, Eric Mack, Kerry James Marshall, Vivian Springford, Ming Smith, Maren Hassinger, Kazuo Shiraga, Peter Bradley and more, as well as works by a number of Caribbean artists, has also been written about in a wide range of publications, including Cultured, Artnet, The New York Times and WSJ.

He is on the boards of Rivers Institute, New Orleans, and the Haitian Art Society, Washington, DC.

Kimberly Drew

Pace Gallery, Curatorial Director

Kimberly Drew is a curator and cultural critic. Drew received her B.A. from Smith College in Art History and African-American Studies. She first experienced the art world as an intern in the Director’s Office of The Studio Museum in Harlem. Her time there inspired her to start the Tumblr blog Black Contemporary Art, sparking her interest in social media. Drew’s writing has appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, and them. Drew currently works as a Curatorial Director at Pace Gallery. Her book's Black Futures, co-edited with J Wortham, and This is What I Know About Art are both available wherever book’s are sold.

Jenée-Daria Strand

Public Art Fund, Assistant Curator

Jenée-Daria Strand is the Assistant Curator at Public Art Fund where, since 2022, she has supported contemporary artists in realizing new commissions. Formerly, she was a Curatorial Associate at the Brooklyn Museum. She has curated independent projects for NADA Miami/TD Bank, ISCP, White Columns, amongst others, and has contributed written work to publications by the Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Lehmann Maupin, and more. Jenée holds an MA in Museum Studies from NYU and a BFA in Dance/Performance Studies from Florida State University. In 2024, she was an inaugural member of the Studio Museum’s curatorial fellowship, and in 2025 she joined the board of Future Leaders Institute Charter School, located in Harlem.

Claude Grunitzky

The Equity Alliance, CEO & Managing Partner

Claude Grunitzky is the CEO and Managing Partner of the Equity Alliance, a fund dedicated to providing capital to emerging, underrepresented venture capitalists and early-stage founders who are women or people of color. Claude is also the founder of two media companies focused on Black culture, TRACE (funded by Goldman Sachs and successfully sold to European investors) and TRUE Africa (funded by Google). 

Claude is a Visiting Social Innovator at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Social Innovation and Change Initiative, an accelerator of positive social change that supports visionary social innovators and strengthens the ecosystems they need to thrive.

Claude was raised between Lomé, Togo; Washington; Paris; London and New York. Growing up, Claude, who speaks six languages and carries three passports, was exposed to many different cultures. These foreign interactions shaped his transcultural philosophy and informed the creative energy of his ventures.

A graduate of London University and MIT, where he earned an MBA as a Sloan Fellow, Claude is a trustee at MoMA PS1 and at MASS MoCA, two of America’s leading contemporary art museums. He is also a longtime trustee at Humanity in Action, a foundation that works internationally to build global leadership, defend democracy, protect minorities and improve human rights.