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. More recently has completed her UCT Instructional Design Course to design courses, materials and online assessments.

With more than 20 years’ management experience in African creative and cultural industries, she was previously the Business Development Manager of the African Arts Institute, and General Manager of the Arterial Network – a continent-wide advocacy body of artists, cultural activists and others working in the cultural sector across Africa. She is well versed in social entrepreneurship, innovation policy, leadership development, corporate governance affairs, finance, operations and policy development. 

Additionally Rodrigues has vast experience designing compelling learning experiences both online and face-to-face with clients across Africa using LMS platforms (Learndash, Moodle, MS Community Training) supported by facilitated synchronous live sessions via web conferencing (Zoom, MSTEAMs, Google Meets etc).

She is currently running her own mission-based consultancy called Belle and Co. offering business skills training, policy development and research services across Africa. 

Ms Rodrigues has held a number of national and pan-African board positions including: Elected member to the 2nd General Assembly of African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC); National Arts Council (NAC) of South Africa; Music in Africa (MIA) Foundation (Held Treasurer for 7 years); Association for Visual Arts (AVA); Alumni Board of UCT’s GSB; Local Civic Association; and is also a member of the African Union’s Technical and Advisory Committee for the Great Museum of Africa as well as the Encyclopedia Africana Project, an Agenda2063 Flagship Project. 

Leadership recognition: Ms. Rodrigues was 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 was selected to participate at the Global Cultural Relations Platform (2017). She was also nominated as a Young Cultural Innovator at the Salzburg Global Seminar programme (2013).