Tala Elamine is a multi-faceted creative professional with a passion for poetry, theater, writing, painting, and photography. Born in Lebanon and raised in Montreal, she currently resides in Paris, France. Tala has traveled around the globe from Canada to Europe and speaks three languages fluently. As a student at McGill University in Quebec, she studied English, Drama, and Theater. Tala has also earned certificates in film and journalism.
Professionally, she has interviewed musicians for The Record and did some work with an international LGBTQ+ publication. Tala is passionate about social justice and helping improve peoples’ lives.
Gabriela Uribe is a Salvadoran woman who studied Graphic Design as well as Marketing with a Specialization in Digital Marketing. She has worked in a variety of industries, including health, entertainment, news, and education, where she worked in the marketing department and achieved outstanding results.
She is also very passionate about social causes and has volunteered on several organizations in El Salvador that help stray animals.
Daniella Mejia is a business administration graduate with a specialization in international business and a minor in digital marketing.
She has more than three years of experience in design and translation. Fluent in English and Spanish, she served as an interpreter and field assistant for Habitat for Humanity in El Salvador. During that time, she discovered her love for social work and the power that everyone’s unique story holds.
In addition, Daniella served as a design specialist for an educational consultant that specializes in risk management and child safety in Canada. As well as, she is a freelance social media designer for a Latin American magazine based in Vancouver.
She hopes that her journey with Orato allows her to tie together two passions: digital marketing and storytelling.
Yamila is a Social Anthropologist from La Plata University, in Argentina. She has more than two years of experience in social media. Yamila was an intern, where she served as an Account Manager for Facebook. She worked for an agency that specialized in political topics. In addition to that, she has more than five years in research, where she centers on issues about socio-territorial conflicts in southern Argentina between native communities and Fracking Companies.
Pamela Say, MBA, CFRE is a veteran administrator, nationally-published author, and speaker. She served in higher education and non-profit leadership for two decades before joining Orato World Media.
Say has been featured in Advancing Philanthropy Magazine, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the national Wiley Journal Fundraising Success. She has raised millions of dollars for non-profit missions, inspired staff to smash through marketing metrics, and coached best-in-class teams.
Say earned a B.A. in Journalism from St. Bonaventure University and an M.B.A. from SUNY Empire State College. She was named a Buffalo Business First 40 Under Forty in 2011, a Buffalo Niagara Partnership Athena Young Professional finalist in 2016, SUNY Empire State College Emerging Leader in 2019, and won the Leadership Allegany Founder’s Award in 2020. Say resides in Buffalo, NY.
Aurelie is a student at Lincoln Memorial University pursuing a B.S in Computer Science and a Minor in artificial intelligence.
She has more than three years prior experience in office administration and two years in web development and design.
She is the webmaster and journalist ambassador at Orato World Media Inc. having previously worked as a social media manager for more than three years and public relations officer for two-plus years on campaigns such as The Twenty-First-Century African Youth Movement, Ezinhle Projects and Management, Chateau Allure, Miss Virtual Africa, and more.
Sam is a proven entrepreneurial leader with more than 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry and real estate developments in Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
Sam founded the Cambie Malone’s Group of Companies in 1990 and established several highly successful brands employing some 250 staff, generating $25M in annual sales in a portfolio of high-value real estate assets, all of which he retired from in early 2019.
Orato Media, in its first iteration, was created by Sam in the late 1990s based on his experiences in the entertainment industry. He learned there was keen interest in first-person, non-fiction stories from real people when he invited the press to interview the jazz greats he was booking into entertainment venues in B.C. and Alberta. The stories of their lives were captivating and generated enthusiasm for the performances.
Nominated for a Webby Award, the original Orato website provided high-quality content, validated and fact-checked by traditional journalists who assisted with polishing citizen-told stories from around the world. Juggling the priorities of 13 businesses concurrently with the growing demands of the Orato site became complicated, and therefore the “day jobs” took precedence.
It is an unprecedented period in history as we face issues like the degradation of our environment, systemic racial inequalities, ethnic cleansing, and collapsed economies.
Sam felt it was time to rebuild and relaunch Orato to bring true stories from real people so that every man, woman, and child can be heard.
Richard is a lawyer educated in both finance and law.
Rick holds a degree in economics from Simon Fraser University, an MBA from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand (a joint Kellog/Wharton school), completed at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University in Chicago, and a law degree from Cambridge University in England. In addition, he has an MA (Cantab) from Cambridge University.
Law is Rick’s second career. He worked in the world of financial derivatives (futures, forwards, options, swaps etc.) for Refco Group and Man Financial. In that role, he traded derivatives and managed risk for large Canadian and U.S. corporations. During that time Rick also taught market risk management to members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Canada.
