The Blog

Art and the City: Inaugural Interview with Sheryl Cuisia

The meeting point of art and commerce is an ever-changing and chimeric point of interaction. What place does art have in the world of finance? How can young, savvy individuals learn to secure their footing in the world of work through smart investment? What advice do successful entrepreneurs have for the youth of today about finance, culture, and belief in the self? These are all questions ‘Art and the City’ seeks to answer, by interviewing some of the brightest and boldest minds in both the art world and the city. 

This inaugural episode is an interview conducted by our multi-hyphenate Artist Ambassador, Emmeline (link), with TEA founder and CEO, Sheryl Cuisia, a business woman, philanthropist, and self-described plantrepreneur. The pair sat down for ‘Art and the City’ to discuss topics ranging from barista work, through to the perils of spread betting, and partying for change…

Sheryl is a self-made business woman, whose journey from Toronto to London saw her scale many job ladders, including in hospitality and telephone service industries. She began initially to nourish her love of the arts with a focus on dancing and creative work, but when doing three jobs tipped a balance of pleasure vs. stress, she took a rather literal bet on a role in finance. What did those early years teach her, Emmeline asks? That with will power and the right formula, anyone can sell. 

Sheryl confesses that her path to business and the city was in many ways unorthodox, for starting in the arts and moving to business out of necessity. Her early forays into investing began with high-risk, high-reward spread betting, that swiftly brought her both large wins and large losses. It was here she sought a more structured environment to work in, and began to develop interest in the arena of proxy solicitation, where she would work for many years, eventually selling her business Boudicca Proxy to Equiniti in 2018.  

With over 20 years of experience in the city, Sheryl is now embarking on a new social venture, a company that aims to bridge the seismic gap between listed companies and their shareholders. The mission of The Engagement Appeal is to bring better, fairer, and more sustainable investing for all, providing the kind of access to information that Sheryl, for example, did not grow up with as a teenager. Engagement has been historically exclusive of individual investors, and TEA wants to change this. 

This episode of ‘Art and the city’ concludes with an announcement from Sheryl regarding the launch of ‘Partying for Change’, a sub-branch of TEA, and non-profit that aims to bring art back into the city, and some pazazz to the world of changemaking. Through this tailored programme of events, podcasts and information hubs, Sheryl and the team hope to find new and interesting ways of engaging with people. 

Read more about TEA and Partying for Change and listen to the episode here.

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