Yergali Yegemberdy, Astana

Head of the Economy and Budget Planning Department of Astana.

He began his career in 1998 as the chief legal counsel at the Astana Finance Department. In different years he worked in different position at the Astana Akimat, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Akimat of the Karaganda Region, the Administrative Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From November 2012, he was the Vice Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In August 2014, he became the Vice Minister of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and then, since 5 June 2017, he has been the Head of the Economy and Budget Planning Department of Astana. 

Yuliya Sorokina, Almaty

Ph.D., independent curator.

Yuliya Sorokina, Ph.D., is an independent contemporary art curator, lecturer, author, member of CIMAM (International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art). She is the Chair of the management board of Asia Art+, a lecturer at the T.K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts and the editor of the Central Asian Journal of Art Studies http://cajas.kz/.

Yuliya was born on 22 February 1965 in Shchuchinsk, Akmola Region, to a family of landscape engineers. She studied art in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Moscow (Russia), Salzburg and Vienna (Austria). She lives and works in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Currently, as a curator she runs the following projects: Astral Nomads (digital archive/resources of the contemporary art of Central Asia at http://astralnomads.net/) and the School of Artistic Gesture (an educational program for young artists within the framework of the ARTBAT FEST 7‒8 International Public Art Festival).

Zaure Tursunova, Almaty

Founder of The Steppe Website.

Zaure is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of Kids Lab space. At the moment she is the founder of The Steppe media portal that covers the life, work, and interests of people in Kazakhstan. The Steppe’s audience includes progressive and caring people. 

She is also a founder and CEO of Atom Media. 

Zhanel Bertayeva, Almaty

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Fashion Developer.

Zhanel began her career in the industry with the Kazakhstan Fashion Institute project in 2012. The main idea of the project was to enhance the educational component of the fashion industry by engaging industry insiders to make lectures. Having successfully launched this educational project, Zhanel and her partners received a license to run their first international fashion week – Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Almaty. The project was launched in 2014 and continues to develop and open new designers in the retail market in Kazakhstan.