Ms. Rodrigues, a South African native, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town where she was awarded the Old Mutual Gold Medal for academic excellence on the MBA programme. Up until recently, she worked as the Business Development Manager of the African Arts Institute, a South African based research and training institute.

She was previously the General Manager of the Arterial Network – a continent-wide advocacy body of artists, cultural activists and others working in the cultural sector in Africa (present in 40 African countries). She is well versed in corporate governance affairs, finance, operations and cultural policy development. She is currently running her own social enterprise consultancy called Belle and Co. offering business skills training, policy development and research services within the creative and cultural industries across Africa.

She is also the Programme Manager for the Klaus-Jurgen Bathe Leadership Programme at the University of Cape Town that offers financial support to young undergraduate students of African descent who demonstrate leadership potential. Ms. Rodrigues previously served as an elected member of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC); was a ministerial appointee serving on the National Arts Council (NAC) of South Africa; is currently the elected Treasurer on the Board of the Music in Africa (MIA) Foundation – a pan-African internet portal for African music archives; and is also currently a board member of the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) in Cape Town, South Africa.

Previously a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow for the Salzburg Global Forum for Young Cultural Innovators and Cultural Leaders, Ms. Rodrigues was also selected as a Mandela Washington Fellow for 2016, as part of President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) where she completed 3 months in the USA. She recently came back from Athens, Greece, where she participated in the second edition of the EU Cultural Diplomacy Initiative’s Global Cultural Leadership Programme.