About Us
Hello,
Thank you for your interest in Equitive, which we set up to support and develop leadership and communication skills for decision makers, especially - although not exclusively, those working in the media industry anywhere in the world. Click on the images above to find out a bit more about our areas of expertise and our individual journeys.
Thank you,
Sam & Juliana
Founders, Equitive
London, UK
Samir Farah
As a British-Lebanese graduate of American universities and veteran of international media, I am passionate about working with professionals across borders, languages and cultures.
My diverse experience comes from thirty years of working in senior leadership roles in media where I led large international teams, having also worked and am still active in finance, investments and, of course, leadership development. I am an alumnus fellow of the Media Transformation Programme at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in Florida, USA, and a certified Executive Coach and Mentor with accredited training and membership in some of the UK's leading professional bodies: The Institute of Leadership, the Association for Coaching, and the ILM.
Until December 2023, I was a senior leader at the BBC as Head of Journalism for the strategy team delivery the World Service's digital transformation project. Prior to that, I was Head and Editor in Chief of BBC News Arabic, covering the Middle East and North Africa. I led over 450 journalists in the UK and around the world, delivering award winning news, investigative journalism and analysis to a weekly audience of 45 million. I also oversaw a corresponding group of support services, from risk management and finance to HR and legal, and sat on the executive board for the BBC international languages division.
Currently, and in addition to my Founding Partner role in Equitive, I am an investments partner and non executive director at Bright Properties UK, an ethical London based real estate investment, development and consultancy firm.
By January 2024, the calling to focus on supporting other leaders became too difficult to ignore. Joining forces with another BBC senior executive, Juliana Iootty, we founded Equitive to help enable leaders, both emerging and established, anywhere in the world.
I believe that it is only through the genuine and equal representation in leadership that fairness in media is achieved. I want to support leaders in developing their skills and the way they project their professional voice and personalities for successful careers and, in turn, a fairer industry.
Fact Box
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Co Founder @ Equitive
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Non Executive Director @ Bright Properties UK
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Former Senior Leader @ BBC News
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Charmed by Impressionist art, F1 and Levantine heritage
Juliana Iootty
I am a British-Brazilian journalist and media executive with long-standing experience in leading large editorial operations and developing and implementing strategic change across three continents. I have held senior leadership positions in commercial and non-profit environments in the UK, Asia and Latin America through a career spanning 30 years.
Passionate about public service and its potential for positive change in peoples’ lives, I’ve spent two thirds of my working life in global public institutions like the United Nations and the BBC, where I worked as head of the Latin America and Asia regions and eventually as Controller of World Service Languages.
My professional and personal international backgrounds make me feel at home working in multicultural environments, and have strengthened my belief that different is an asset.
This conviction is at the core of my ethos as a coach and mentor. I have worked with leaders from different industries in the private and public spheres such as BBC Studios and BBC Children's and Education, London Metropolitan Police and the Brazilian national health system, always focusing on helping them to identify their uniqueness and where their value to the business lies.
I have been accredited as an Executive Coach by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, where I studied the interplay between individual and corporate psychology. I have also studied Business and Strategic Leadership at Cranfield University, diving deep into different schools of strategic thinking, organisational design, as well as behavioural and change processes.
In 2023, I made a radical career change to become a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. I am currently working as an Honorary Psychotherapist at the City and Hackney NHS Foundation Trust and I have been training at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, one of the world’s most important centres for psychoanalytic research, education and mental health treatment.
In an attempt to bring my executive and psychotherapeutic experiences together in the service of other media professionals, I have joined Sam Farah, another BBC senior executive and former peer, to found the Equitive partnership. With it, we aim to help global leaders and their businesses to overcome their challenges and achieve their aspirations whilst remaining true to themselves.
Fact Box
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Co Founder @ Equitive
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Honorary Psychotherapist @ NHS, UK
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Former Senior Leader @ BBC News