our team

We are pleased to present our members

Lidia Arriagada-Garcia: founder, president and CEO; Richard Barber: director and secretary and John Scott-Richardson: director.  IFI will be collaborating with humanitarian organizations and individuals who share our vision and goals.  We welcome volunteers and sponsors from any part of the world to be also part of our team.

Lidia Arriagada-Garcia is a photographer and artist who began her training in her native country Chile. She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Painting & Drawing at San Francisco State University prior to becoming a United States citizen. Her passion for photography started as a teenager, and she began her professional career in the Magazine industry in Chile at the age of 22, establishing herself as a portrait photographer in NYC in 2010.  During the last 16 years she has photographed people of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities. She has acquired skills in all phases of portrait photography including, studio, weddings, editorial and portraits of artists of all kind. Currently, Lidia is a freelance photographer and artist based in New York City.  She has spent the last couple of years traveling and exhibiting her photography artworks at galleries and public spaces in New York City, London, UK, and recently Prague, Czech Republic. Lidia has always been fascinated by people’s cultural idiosyncrasies. She strongly believes that art including photography can help improve the world - that art has the power to raise social awareness and spur social change. "There is a need for change in people’s minds and hearts to battle cruelty in all its forms. Cultural sensibility is very important, and that mutual regard for one another is key," she says.

John Scott-Richardson is member of the Halwai-Saponi Nation in north eastern North Carolina. His maternal lineage is Nansemond/Saponi and paternal lineage is Tuscarora. John received his undergraduate BA degree from Atlantic Christian College. He has a professional background in private and public sector business. He has worked with NC Commission of Indian Affairs as a program coordinator, US Federal Census as tribal liaison, NC Museum of History as a educator and cultural presenter. Mr. Richardson currently serves as a board member to the American Indian Community House and Amerinda Indian Arts both in New York City. He has worked to enrich programming for several local, state and national events that includes powwows, cultural workshops, public speaking assemblies in support of indigenous issues such as but not limited to Dakota pipeline, missing and murdered indigenous woman, proper cultural representation in educational programs, business inclusion and diversity and American Indian Child Welfare Act. John's passion for American Indian people and these communities has lead him to recently present at the United Nations. John is also an avid storyteller who is passionate about art forms including acting, music, photography and athletics. He feels that these art forms are one of the keys, along with the correct education, can bridge the gap for Indigenous people as they help toward true self determination while adding value to the larger world. 

Rich Barber holds an AB from Dartmouth in American History, an MA in political science and American History from Columbia University, and taught at Exeter.  He was the co-editor and writer of an industry newsletter "Inside Bookselling."  Prior to this he was with Viking Penguin Inc. where he was initially director of publicity and public relations and developed the marketing campaigns for authors such as Graham Greene and Frederick Forsyth.  Becoming a member of the senior editorial department he acquired and edited books by such authors as Donald E. Westlake and Sally Bedell Smith. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and reviewed for the Los Angeles Times and the Hearst papers.   Rich is a past president of The Publishers' Publicity Association, served on the Executive Committee of The Association of American Publishers, was Co-Chair of the National Books Awards, and Director of Public Relations for The National Medal for Literature.  He is the co-author of two books, one on early American history and one book of humor. He is currently president of A. Richard Barber & Associates, a literary agency, and book publishing and marketing consultancy.  Rich is on a committee providing college scholarships in his hometown, Kent, Connecticut, and he is a past board member and Vice President of the Player's Club in NYC.  He also volunteers to help library fundraising.