I joined Bertha Foundation in 2019, working on the Bertha Challenge Fellowship program. Each year, I get to work alongside an extraordinary cohort of Fellows confronting unjust systems of power through creative and bold projects that strengthen the communities and movements fighting back.

My role is to help with the running and design of the program, supporting Fellows from the initial application stage, through project development and implementation and beyond as part of the Bertha Challenge alumni community. The best part of this work is getting to know Fellows and supporting connections within the cohort. It is exciting and hopeful to see how Fellows influence and inspire one another to work through different challenges in disparate geographies and movements - something that I think is unique to the Bertha Challenge.

This year I will be looking after the Bertha Challenge, which means I get to do two things I love - making incredible spreadsheets and getting excited about the work of the brilliant Fellows we are supporting. My previous experience of cheerleading independent journalists and getting excited about budget trackers included supporting media in Turkey, India, Ukraine and Syria. It was a delight working with such passionate, dedicated and talented individuals and I look forward to the opportunity to get to know a whole new bunch of fantastic folks across the world.

I will be organizing the day to day of the Fellowship - all the way from applications to the final wrap up. So I will have plenty of trackers covering timelines, work submitted, impact and travel plans. All will showcase my skills as a natural very-well-organized person. I’ll also be problem solving on the way as nothing ever really goes exactly to plan, does it?

I’m Harry Sitole - an artist, creative and lifelong lover of bold colour, texture and beautiful interiors. I also happen to be the co-director of Bertha Retreat. For the past eight years I have had the joy of helping shape it into a space that feels less like a conference center and more like a home away from home.

I believe color sparks conversation, handmade details tell stories and freedom of expression should be felt the moment you enter a room. Through prints, crafted décor and thoughtful design, I love turning spaces into places that feel warm, lived-in and deeply human.

From day one, my role has been about holding the space - thinking about how it feels the moment you arrive. I want people to slow down, breathe out, feel welcome and instantly know they belong. That feeling isn’t just for our guests; it’s just as important for every single member of our team.

Honestly, there’s nothing better than seeing the space in action - filled with conversation, creativity and connection - and hearing people say it feels like exactly what they needed. That’s when I know the Retreat is doing what it was always meant to do.

At the most practical level, I’m here to make sure that Bertha’s grantees, Fellows, staff and board are all on the same page and aligned with one another. To do this, I listen, shape and communicate to everyone what our political project is: our politics is focused on exposing and correcting corruption that puts power, influence and money into the hands of a few while exploiting people and planet. We find and support the artists, activists, lawyers, filmmakers, journalists and many other people in the world doing that with rigor and care.  

Another part of our political project is to intentionally design and grow physical spaces where people can develop their voice and communities through art, culture, music and connection. My job is to help ensure that in our spaces people’s politics get sharpened and honed to be powerful forces, and thinking about how we do this in fun, interesting and sustainable ways.

The best part of my job, though, is being a part of growing and shaping institutional culture. At Bertha, we get to be rigorous and think seriously, while also having fun and being influenced by wildly interesting and creative people. I lead an institution where people are here because they know their deeply held personal and political views and their day-to-day work is intertwined. Ensuring that they get to infuse that into everything they do is a huge responsibility and also a great privilege.

At the Bertha Retreat, I get to do one of my favorite things: hold space for people doing meaningful work. For the past eight years, I’ve been managing the Bertha Retreat on the Boschendal wine farm - a place where ideas are shared, plans take shape and people get the rare chance to slow down, connect and think deeply together.

It’s a busy, thoughtful and often joyful space where big conversations happen alongside cups of coffee, long walks and moments of reflection.

I work with an incredible team of 21 staff members from nearby communities, and together we run a vibrant, values-driven retreat center. I’m also a chef, which means food is kind of a big deal around here. One of our pride and joys is our micro food-growing garden, which supplies fresh, seasonal produce for the meals we serve. Think good food, grown with care - fuel for both the body and the conversations - as a living example of our radical hospitality.

Long story short(ish): the Bertha Retreat is more than just a venue. It’s a place where relationships are built, learning is shared and collective impact is nurtured - and I feel very lucky to be part of making that happen every day.

I joined the organization in November 2023, and it has been deeply fulfilling to channel my energy into work that genuinely matters. With over twenty years’ experience in hospitality, international events and venue management, my career has focused on building strong teams, designing meaningful experiences and running spaces that bring people together. Transitioning into civil society to Bertha felt like a natural next step - an organization whose values of collaboration, transparency, entrepreneurial thinking and intentionality closely align with my own.

I lead the overall strategy and day-to-day direction of Bertha House, Bertha Retreat and Global Programs, overseeing programs, venues, partnerships and people. My focus is on creating environments where ideas, storytelling and collaboration can thrive, while ensuring our spaces are safe, financially sustainable, professionally run and aligned with the Bertha Foundation’s purpose.

This role has deepened my commitment to spaces that support human rights work - going beyond providing venues to fostering belonging and co-creating with the communities we serve. It is a privilege to lead such dedicated teams as we shape an approach to hospitality rooted in trust, dignity and a shared sense of home.

At Bertha House, I look after our Programs, Operations and Systems. In simple terms, I help make sure the work happening in the building enables us to host activists, creatives and dreamers. I am lucky to lead an incredible team who bring all of this to life daily.

I started as the Activist Co-Work Space Community Manager in 2020, where my role involved designing and setting up the co-working space, as well as activating it. As the building came alive, it became clear that to truly support this community, we needed strong systems and solid day-to-day operations behind the scenes which is how my role has evolved over the years.

My job is to support the team so we can drive meaningful change together.

I’m drawn to those who love the complex story: the ones embracing many views and different opinions. The Bertha Challenge Fellows are doing work and telling stories that disrupt and disturb the prevailing narrative, while simultaneously connecting us to those who riff like us. We started the Bertha Challenge program seven years ago, borne from Bertha’s foundational belief in creative people who don’t toe the line. Our intent to support activists, journalists, lawyers and filmmakers to produce ambitious work aimed at exposing political and corporate abuses, while also showing up for each other wherever in the world we are, is a bright lodestar emitting hope in this time where so much light is blocked by those wielding unchecked political and economic power and, frankly, just spoiling our fun.

I think of my job as part beachcomber - finding those Fellows hungry and passionate, ambitious and hardworking. Together with Tony and Laura, I also manage the Bertha Film Fund.

I’ve worked at Bertha for about six years now and when first started I was Assistant to the Founder and Program Assistant for the Foundation team. I was in that role for about a year and a half and then during COVID Laura (our CEO) asked if I would like to work on the next Bertha book and take it from idea to finished product. That’s how I discovered I loved figuring out how to get all the work we do at Bertha - the complicated ideas, stories and information - not just digestible, but a joy to interact with. I also learned that Communications means doing this work.

After the first book, I became Bertha’s Comms Coordinator and then fast forward four or so years later, two more Bertha books, a couple major website overhauls, some new communications and content strategies, and I’m now (and have been since 2024) Bertha’s Communications Manager where I continue to figure out the best ways to make sure our work is shared, understood and useful for those who need it.

I joined Bertha in late 2022, having grown weary after many years fundraising for NGOs. Initially my role was Grants Manager, which meant I dealt with all the practical aspects of our grant making, from liaising with potential grantees about their requests and preparing paperwork for the board, to organizing all the payments. The other part of my role was ‘data strategy’ (whatever that is!) and, as administrator of our grants management system I was responsible not only for maintaining accurate records, but also for supporting Bertha’s wider team in thinking through how they monitor their programmatic work.

Nothing ever stays the same at Bertha and with changes in staffing and the evolution of our programmatic work, so too has my role evolved. I still get to indulge my nerdy side (I love a good spreadsheet!), managing the backend of the Bertha Spaces booking system and supporting colleagues with planning and tracking Bertha’s spending, but I also get to engage more deeply with Bertha’s work, providing technical support to a number of our grantees and managing our arts activism program, the Bertha Artivism Awards. I also serve as secretary to our Board and still lead on the administration of all our grants.

At Bertha Spaces, I get to do one of my favorite things: look after communications and marketing for our two flagship spaces - Bertha House and Bertha Retreat. I officially joined the team in May 2023 as a Communications Strategist, but long before that I was one of those people who basically lived in the Bertha House co-work space. I admired the organization from the inside, so when the opportunity came, I jumped in.

Since then, my role has stretched into all kinds of exciting new territories - relationship building and sales to bring new people into our spaces. Not just through our digital platforms, but through intentional face-to-face connections. Think of me as part communicator, part strategist and part tour guide for anyone curious about what we do.

In short: I help shape how people experience Bertha Spaces, online and in person - and I have a lot of fun doing it.

Bertha Foundation is, for me, funding people with big ideas and also funding the underdog. Maybe it’s from the shadow of growing up in apartheid South Africa, but I always say we know we are doing something right when we have our grantees fighting in court, people who have been arrested standing up for their beliefs and people who step up to be brave in service of something larger.

My role at Bertha is always to shake things up. Fun is an operating principle for me. I remember sitting in a lecture once and realizing the word funder starts with fun. That wasn’t a coincidence. I found that giving away money to causes close to my heart could be just as rewarding, and just as fun, as building a company.

That fun can be hard to find right now, but I am also here to remind everyone to keep it up even during these dark times.