who we are

Everyone who works at Rare is exceptional. Our team of sixteen includes a part-time Blue Peter presenter, a DJ, former African Caribbean Society Presidents from Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick universities, an ex model, a qualified basketball coach, a former bra saleswoman, a MOBO award nominated gospel singer, a budding actress, an ex Goldman Sachs associate, a lawyer who spent seven years at Slaughter and May, two Oxford JCR Presidents, a Students for Barack Obama campaign worker, a brown belt in Kung Fu, a qualified executive coach, a former a cappella group singer and a distant relative of Princess Diana. Between us, we have lived in Argentina, Bahrain, Cuba, Germany, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Spain, Togo, Uganda, the UK, Uruguay and the USA, and speak seven languages.

Our managing director, Raphael Mokades, graduated with a First from Oxford University in 2001. He also played basketball for the University and served as his college’s JCR President. While at Oxford, Raphael organised the biggest ball Oxford has ever seen, the Oxford Revolution. The Oxford Revolution was endorsed by President Bill Clinton, had 3,000 paying guests and raised £25,000 for the Oxford Access Scheme, an organisation which works to get inner city and ethnic minority students into Oxford.

Raphael joined the Financial Times as a graduate trainee in 2001. From 2003 to 2005 he was in charge of diversity at Pearson, the international media company which owns the FT. Under his watch, Pearson more than doubled the proportion of its staff that came from ethnic minority backgrounds and won Race for Opportunity awards in 2004 and 2005.

Raphael has written on business, sport, and social issues for both the Guardian and Financial Times, and is the author of the upcoming Three Steps to Success, which will be published in 2011. He also sits on the boards of a number of small businesses.

Rare has an Advisory Board made up of prominent individuals from a variety of sectors. Board members are unpaid and give Rare their time for free. The Advisory Board is chaired by Sir David Bell, former Chairman of the Financial Times.