Mafalda Tenente is a qualified independent Supervisory Board Member and Strategy Advisor serving some of the most well-loved companies in their sectors as well as start-ups. Sectors covered include premium consumer goods, healthcare, hospitality, and arts on topics related to user centric innovation management, digital strategy, and strategic brand marketing. She currently serves on the board of Casino Interlaken AG and the Swiss INSEAD alumni association, and advises leading premium consumer goods companies.
For the INSEAD alumni association she has founded the INSEAD Women in Business initiative including its national mentoring program. She has previously served as Global Marketing Director for divisions of Novartis and Eli Lilly, and Advisor to startups in the kickstart innovation program in Switzerland. She has a degree in Economics from University of Porto and a MBA and executive certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.
When she is not helping boards and global companies drive their innovation and strategic agendas to craft more beautiful experiences for their users, she paints the world in Japanese ink (sumi) and creates her own objects of beauty. She is a member of the International Sumi-e Friendship Association, chaired by well-known master Kobayashi Tohun. She has taken Art History and Arts Writing courses at Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon and Sotheby’s Institute of Arts, respectively. Since 2017 she exhibits in Switzerland and abroad. In 2020 she won the Judge’s Special Award at the international ink painting exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Her third art book, “Autumn in Japan” was shortlisted for the Volumes Awards 2022.
Mafalda was born in Porto, and is also a Swiss citizen. She has lived in five countries, speaks 5 languages fluently (English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese), and is working her way through intermediate level Japanese. She still loves and practices classical ballet regularly, and another edition in development is a reflection of that other artistic passion.
You can reach her here
Exhibitions and Events:
Upcoming
October 2023, AIMPE, The Hall Awa Japanese Handmade Paper, Tokushima, Japan
June 14-17 2023, ineverread Art Book Fair, Basel, Switzerland
Past
2023, International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2022, Volumes Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2022, Die Poesie der Tusche, Japan Information and Cultural Centre, Bern, Switzerland
2022, International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (International Honor Art Award)
2021, Solo Exhibition and “The Tea House Diary” Book vernissage, Altstadthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
2021, AIMPE, The Hall Awa Japanese Handmade Paper, Tokushima, Japan
2021, Volumes Zurich Summer Edition, Zurich, Switzerland
2021, Art Beyond Boundaries International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (International Honor Art Award)
2020, Art for All International Art Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (Judge’s Special Award)
2019, Sakura Japan Festival, Ink Painting Exhibition by Atelier Margot, Zurich, Switzerland
2019, Torch of Asia International Creation Exhibition, National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (Special Award)
2017, International Sumi-e Friendship Association, Sato Design Living, Zurich, Switzerland (Jury’s Special Award)
Editions:
“Autumn in Japan: An Ink Painter’s Travel Journal”, Switzerland, 2022 (Volumes Awards Nominee)
“The Tea House Diary”, Switzerland, 2021
“One Moment, One Drawing, Twelve ink drawings to chase the seasons”, Switzerland, 2018
“Why Humans Dance, A world history of dance in objects”, Switzerland, (in development)