Jo Berry, UK

Founder, Building Bridges for Peace

Jo Berry is an amazingly inspiring speaker who works to resolve conflict around the world. Sixteen years after her father was killed by an IRA bomb, Jo first met with the man responsible, Patrick Magee. In fact, back in February 2022, I went to the Grand Hotel in Brighton where this event took place just to see how it was recalled. I sat down, had a cup of coffee and tried to imagine this tragic event. She talked on many occassions how this relationship started. Their initial meeting led them to speak to each other for over three hundred occasions, on a shared platform around the world. So I tried to ask her about the conditions that made such an encounter possible, country- wise, process-wise but also personally.

Jo established a charity ‘Building Bridges for Peace’ and advocates empathy and seeing the humanity in others. She has given talks and workshops in areas around the world including Lebanon and Rwanda, India, South Korea, Palestine and Israel as well as throughout the U.K.
She has also developed workshops in schools and with youth groups on topics of conflict transformation, storytelling, becoming positive changemakers, and challenging violent extremism.