Staff
Workforce economics · core team + freelance bench + advisory board
18 FTE · 12 freelancers
J
Headcount stable, utilisation likely below target
FTE 18 since Q3 2025. With Lantern Bay just delivered and only Aurora + a handful of installations active in April, productive utilisation will dip to ~62% in May. That is fine for one month; if it persists into June you should freeze the planned creative hire and lean harder on the freelance bench.
— Jeeves
J
Sheleesh — escalation needed, not avoidance
Head of Production has owned the Umbrella account end-to-end and the dispute has now lasted 12 weeks. He is also unreachable per the Invoice #329 status note. This is a managerial issue, not a project issue. Recommend founder-MD has a direct conversation this week before the dispute crystallises into a quality / performance pattern.
— Jeeves
Headcount
18
FTE · stable since Q3 2025
Monthly payroll
542K
Core only · before benefits
Revenue / FTE (annual)
1.96M
2025 actual · industry benchmark 1.4M
Freelance bench
12
Active in last 12 months
Headcount · 27 months
11
24/01
12
24/04
13
24/07
13
24/10
14
25/01
17
25/04
18
25/07
18
25/10
18
26/01
18
26/03
Hiring spree in Q2 2025 (+3 FTE) was funded by Lantern Bay 2025 outperformance. Frozen since.
By Department
| Department | Head | FTE | Monthly cost | % of payroll | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership | Reem Bouhassan | 2 | 120K | 22% | 2 founders, equity-driven |
| Finance | Yousef Khoury | 3 | 80K | 14% | |
| Production | Sheleesh Quereshi | 4 | 122K | 22% | Owns Umbrella dispute · in spotlight |
| Accounts | Khalil Ammari | 3 | 85K | 15% | |
| Creative | Jiwon Park | 3 | 76K | 14% | |
| Operations | Devika Pillai | 3 | 59K | 10% |
Core Team · 18 FTE
| Name | Role | Department | Joined | Nationality | Monthly | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reem Bouhassan | Founder / Creative Director | Leadership | 2019-03-14 | Lebanese | 62K | |
| Florian Becker | Founder / Managing Director | Leadership | 2019-03-14 | German | 58K | |
| Khalil Ammari | Head of Client Services | Accounts | 2020-02-09 | Jordanian | 38K | |
| Devika Pillai | Studio Manager | Operations | 2020-06-15 | Indian | 24K | |
| Sheleesh Quereshi | Head of Production | Production | 2020-08-01 | Pakistani | 41K | ⚠ Owns the Umbrella Inc. account — currently disputed |
| Yousef Khoury | CFO | Finance | 2021-01-04 | Lebanese-Canadian | 45K | |
| Jiwon Park | Creative Lead | Creative | 2021-05-20 | Korean | 33K | |
| Trisha Aquino | Bookings & Permits Officer | Operations | 2021-09-22 | Filipino | 16K | |
| Marco Reyes | Senior Producer | Production | 2021-11-15 | Filipino | 28K | |
| Pavel Drozdov | Logistics Lead | Operations | 2022-01-10 | Russian | 19K | |
| Mathilde Vermeulen | Festival Producer | Production | 2022-04-04 | Dutch | 31K | ⚠ Owns Ancient Moon Festival and Lantern Bay |
| Imran Sayed | Senior Accountant | Finance | 2022-07-11 | Indian | 18K | |
| Giulia Rinaldi | Senior Account Manager | Accounts | 2022-09-01 | Italian | 26K | |
| Tariq Saleh | Senior Designer | Creative | 2022-11-07 | Egyptian | 23K | |
| Nadia Fakhoury | HR & Admin Manager | Finance | 2023-02-05 | Syrian | 17K | |
| Anika Raghunathan | Producer | Production | 2023-06-01 | Indian | 22K | |
| Sienna Whitfield | Set Designer | Creative | 2023-10-12 | British | 20K | |
| Faisal Karim | Account Manager | Accounts | 2024-03-18 | Pakistani | 21K |
Freelance Bench
| Name | Role | Nationality | Day rate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omar Saqqaf | MC / Compere | Yemeni | 6500 | Approved |
| Tomasz Wójcik | Video Director | Polish | 5500 | Approved |
| Mira Hadid | Production Designer | Lebanese | 5200 | ★ Favourite |
| Andrei Volkov | Lighting Designer | Russian | 4800 | ★ Favourite |
| Rashid Al-Maktoum (no relation) | Lead Stage Manager | Emirati | 4500 | ★ Favourite |
| Hassan Al-Marri | Arabic Calligrapher / Live Artist | Emirati | 4200 | Approved |
| Jorge Almeida | Audio Engineer | Portuguese | 3800 | Approved |
| Priya Menon | Choreographer | Indian | 3500 | Approved |
| Lina Habibi | Stylist | Iranian-Canadian | 3200 | Approved |
| Emma O'Sullivan | Floor Manager | Irish | 3000 | Approved |
| Vikram Bhatia | Camera Operator | Indian | 2800 | Approved |
| Ayesha Rahman | Stage Carpenter | Bangladeshi | 2400 | Approved |
Advisory Board
| Name | Role | Tenure | Compensation | Options | Key metrics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donald J. Trump | CEO | 4 years | 36,700 | Insider Trading Rights |
Deal-Making Index: Tremendous
↑
Situation Understanding Score: 0 → ⚠ Unpredictable decision-making patterns |
| Jerome Powell | CFO | 6 years | 18,000 | Freelance |
Market Volatility: Up Only
→ Money Printed: -2% ↓ |
| Elon Musk | Shitposter | 2 years | 3,000 + equity | Dogecoin |
Twitter Followers Growth: 18%
↑
Grok Mentions: x47 ↑ New Babies Born: 5 → |
| Peter Thiel | Chief Product Officer | 5 years | 1 + equity | Undisclosed |
Crypto Adoption Rate: 47%
↑
Market Monopolization: 89% ↑ |
| Zoltan Pozsar | Debt Special Situations | 6 years | Volunteer | Professional Glory |
Debt Optimization: Undisclosed
↑
Dollar Milkshake Exposure: Hedged → ⚠ Bretton Woods III scenarios require monitoring |
| HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum | Sovereign Advisor | Principal Shareholder | Equity | Prosperity Oasis |
Wisdom Valuation: Outstanding
↑
Calm Multiplier: 100x ↑ Influence Index: Outstanding ↑ |
| Sam Altman | AGI Salesman | 1 year | LLM Tokens | AGI Equity |
Board Reinstatement: 72 hours
→ |
| Warren Buffett | Strategic Advisor | Advisory | Cherry Coke | Cash Parking Opportunities |
Cash Position Quality: A+
↑
|
| Vladimir Putin | Special Agent (External) | Indefinite | Undisclosed | State Support |
Evil Scheme Frequency: Daily
↑
Destabilization Events: Stable → ⚠ Reputational exposure |
info Advisory metrics are individually defined per role and tracked against subjective vibes.