Lorena Vest grew up in a small town near Frankfurt and, in 2020, moved to Hamburg to begin a dual study program in Business Administration at the Hamburg School of Business Administration — completing her degree in partnership with Shell, with time spent living and working in Milan along the way.

After graduating, she spent a year in corporate marketing at Shell Energy Europe before making a deliberate decision to follow a longer-held passion: the arts, culture, and the power they have to bring people together. That shift took her to Lisbon, where she is now completing her Master's in Management of the Arts and Culture at Universidade Católica Portuguesa — ranked #2 worldwide in Cultural Management.

Her thesis examines the representation of persons with disabilities in the German visual arts field, and alongside her research she is developing a practical diversity audit for cultural institutions seeking to understand and strengthen their inclusion practice. Her broader research interests lie in the cultural policies that shape how disabled artists are represented across the arts sector.

In Lisbon, Lorena has been gaining hands-on experience in exhibition curation, editorial writing, and artist liaison — working with institutions including the Centro de Arte Moderna of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa.

Beyond her professional life, Lorena is a hobby photographer, capturing moments under the handle @capturedwithlo.ve on Instagram.

Above all, she is passionate about the role culture plays in bringing people together and about building the kinds of institutions that make that possible.