A visionary cultural entrepreneur, Phloeun is the Executive Director of Living Arts International (LAI). LAI incubates cultural initiatives that contribute to a peaceful, sustainable future, using the living arts as a catalyst for change.

Phloeun started his career as a co-founder of ‘Artisans d’Angkor’, a Cambodian social enterprise that provides professional skills to young Cambodians in rural communities. He became Director of Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) in 2009, which was the seed for LAI.

Phloeun has been a visiting Professor at NYU Abu Dhabi, teaching courses on Arts for Transformation. His skills enable him to bridge connections across grassroots and policy levels.

Tatenda Tavengeyi is a heritage professional and AI enthusiast with specific interests in indigenous knowledge systems and practices, AI governance and ethics.

Tatenda currently serves as the project coordinator for the “An AI Our Own” initiative under the Cambodia Living Arts International, and a subcommittee member for the Sudan Heritage Preservation Council.

Sadik is a certified Wikipedia trainer, journalist, and partnership and fundraising manager for An AI of Our Own.

He is also the co-founder of the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group, a young not-for-profit organization based in Ghana working to support the 16 Mabia languages on Wikimedia and the internet at large.

Gillian Rhodes is an American performing artist and storyteller who has spent close to thirteen years working in Cambodia, South Korea, Pakistan, and now Dubai.

She began working with Phloeun in 2012 as an executive assistant. Her creative ability to see
how things connect and articulate in words helps her gather the concepts and ideas central to
AAOO and give them shape and form.

Dr. Cindy Anh Nguyen is assistant professor in Information Studies, Digital Humanities, and Asian Languages & Culture at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her multifaceted digital humanities work bridges computation and critical data analysis as a commitment to global south cultural heritage and community engaged research. Her transdisciplinary research examines the historical and socio-technical production of knowledge in Southeast Asia through libraries, encyclopedia, visual media, and language through feminist, decolonial, and critical approaches. Her book, Bibliotactics: Libraries and the Colonial Public in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2026) uncovers how libraries functioned as instruments of colonial dominance and an experimental space of public critique. Her work has appeared in multiple journals and numerous edited volumes on history and digital humanities.