Aretha George - Coaching, culture and creativity change agent.
- Isobel Arden
- Dec 23, 2025
- 5 min read
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Meet Aretha George.
In this interview, Mark invited Aretha George to create her own fantasy cultural year from the answers to some easy questions where there are no wrong answers. Enjoy her journey below.
Aretha George is a coach, consultant and culture-shifting human extraordinaire with a knack for turning messy thinking into strategic insight and joyful action. She is currently Head of Culture at the London Borough of Hounslow.
Born and raised in East London to Caribbean parents, Aretha once convinced her family that Fine Art was a “sensible career choice” — and then proved it by doing just that, completing both a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and an MA in Arts Policy and Management.
For over 25 years, Aretha threw herself into the arts, heritage and culture sectors — working with festivals, museums, universities, national strategic bodies, charities and local authorities — basically anywhere that needed a bit of heart, a dash of strategy and a generous dose of common sense.
Some people don’t choose coaching — coaching chooses them. That was certainly the case for Aretha, who found that helping others see beyond their own limitations was not just sensible, but deeply satisfying.
In 2022 she completed an intensive year-long Coaches Training Programme with Accomplishment Coaching and became a certified coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) — which basically means she’s properly credentialed to help people unlock their potential without resorting to clichés about “finding your inner unicorn”.
Aretha’s approach is warm, grounded and honest, with a touch of wry humour — because being serious about growth doesn’t mean you can’t laugh at how far you’ve come (or how convoluted the starting line looked). She also brings her expertise to organisational consultancy, helping teams embed equitable practice, elevate lesser-heard voices and engage communities with clarity and courage.
Beyond the professional accolades, Aretha is someone who knows success isn’t a trophy — it’s the number of times you help someone see they really can. Whether with individuals looking to grow, or organisations striving to be better, Aretha George creates space for transformation — with humour, insight and a clear sense of purpose.
Aretha's Fantasy Cultural Year ... with a magic wand and time machine to hand.
Aretha George’s Fantasy Cultural Year begins in a place where history, beauty, spirituality and complexity meet: the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
Seated at a pop-up café at the foot of the steps at 6pm in warm evening light, Aretha is taking it all in with a large glass of Malbec beside her and Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on the table — chosen for its joy, humour, and that wonderfully liberating “42” perspective on life.
From there, a fictirious international family foundation offers her an extraordinary commission: a year of first-class travel to explore where arts and culture can create the biggest opportunities for social change — complete with a book deal, TV series, TED Talk, and global lecture tour waiting at the end.
Aretha decides to start where innovation and influence are abundant, but gaps still remain: New York City.
On the flight, she’s given a musical challenge: only one genre for the entire year. Aretha chooses the Stax/Memphis soul-blues-funk sound — rich, varied, and full of feeling — evoking artists like Otis Redding and The Staple Singers.
In New York, she’s welcomed by artists, change-makers and students, and her first cultural highlight is pure energy: a hip-hop and breakdancing battle/competition at world-championship level, celebrating the artistry and athleticism of the form. Dinner afterwards is pure comfort: Italian cuisine, ideally a beautifully made lasagna (no pork), steaming and indulgent.
Next, she heads to Dominica, her parents’ homeland — a place she feels holds real potential for positive change. (And she later corrects the recording: the capital is Roseau.) It’s Sports Day when she arrives, and Aretha’s perfect two-hour spectacle is athletics — a nod to her own background competing as a thrower (including discus and shot put, and occasionally the relay), and her love of the skill, variety, and shared drama of track and field.
From the Caribbean to North Africa, the journey continues to Cairo, Egypt, where Aretha visits a digitally enhanced gallery offering a fully immersive VR experience of an artist’s work. Her choice is Elizabeth Catlett, whose striking prints exploring the Black experience have recently captivated Aretha as she returns to making prints herself. In this imagined gallery, she gets to step inside Catlett’s scenes and meet the people and stories her work honours.
Finally, the time machine whisks her back to London for a week of cultural evenings with Mark. For a “back in time” music moment, her choice is immediate and heartfelt: Prince — the concert she never got to see before he died.
For theatre, she goes classic and clever: Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap for the pure pleasure of a well-made whodunnit.
For musical theatre, the itinerary becomes a double bill: The Lion King for its theatrical magic and spectacle, and Hamilton for its impact and brilliance.
At the Royal Opera House, Aretha chooses Orpheus and Eurydice — for the score and the enduring power of the story.
And for a film on the IMAX screen, she opts for warmth over adrenaline: All About Eve, black-and-white elegance on a big screen as the ultimate comfort watch.
Before she heads off to complete the rest of her year-long exploration of cultural change, she’s given a “hero lunch” in London with anyone, living or not. Aretha invites Maya Angelou — for wisdom, depth, and the kind of conversation that leaves you thinking (and feeling) differently long after the plates are cleared.
Put together, Aretha’s Fantasy Cultural Year is a portrait of someone drawn to story, soul, wit, and transformation: grounded in listening and facilitation, inspired by culture as a force for connection, and always looking for the places where creativity can genuinely shift lives.
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Mark Walmsley FRSA FCIM AGSM
Chief Culture Vulture
Arts & Culture Network
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