İlayda —mathematician, artist, coder, model and Founder of Exhibits— is one half of the dynamic Bakare-sister duo who make up Exhibits: the only comprehensive guide to all of London’s exhibitions.

With a Mathematics degree from the University of Leeds, she had the divinely-inspired idea to start Exhibits whilst on a web development bootcamp over lockdown. Following this by teaching herself how to code for mobile, she built the Exhibits app from scratch over four years while juggling two jobs. She marries technical expertise with creative vision, building the tool she wishes existed years ago: an easy way to find cool exhibitions going on in London, instead of missing them all the time! As a self-taught artist, she designs tattoos, paints murals and has had her work in colouring books and poetry anthologies—she particularly enjoys creating cities in her mind and re-working art nouveau pieces to include Black women.

Modern life can often feel hectic and disconnected. Being in the present moment —even for a short time!— really helps life feel less stressful and more meaningful. This happens effortlessly when you’re engaging with stuff you’re actually interested in, be it sport, history, art or science. İlayda believes there’s an exhibition out there for everyone, it’s just a matter of finding it in time. And so, by using the platform she built, she’s personally inviting people of all ages, backgrounds and interests to visit exhibitions so that as a community we can connect in real life, learn something new and hopefully have some fun along the way!