Helena joined COVO as a volunteer in 1996 and helped to set up the charity in 2001 and has worked in various roles as a project developer and manager specialising in visual arts, identity and heritage projects.

Since 2022 Helena joined COVO Board of Trustees.

Helena holds a 1st class BA hons. in the History of Art and Archaeology of Africa and Asia from SOAS University of London.

She went on to obtain an MA in Education: Culture, Identity and Language from Goldsmiths University and a PhD in 2021 from SOAS.

Her thesis on the legacies of colonialism in Italian twentieth century modern art and italian artists and their connections with postcolonial Africa has been published in 2023.

Helena is an independent researcher, writer and educator and is the exhibition review editor for Europe for the journal African Arts dedicated to historical and contemporary art from Africa and the diaspora