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About Lacey Da Costa

Originally from Texas, Lacey Da Costa has reinvented herself many times but always with the goal of serving others. The Monaco resident since 2010 left behind a medical career in cardiac care and entered the world of film and non-profit foundations, and is currently the President of the International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA).

Lacey has shifted her storytelling talent from film to books. She has teamed up with veteran journalist Nancy Heslin to create Carob Tree Publishing, Monaco’s first English-language book publishing house. Created in March 2024, the Monaco-registered SARL is committed to embracing diversity and fostering inclusion, particularly with women authors and women-focused projects

Named after the country’s national tree, Carob Tree Publishing believes supporting local businesses is worth more than the bottom line. The company’s Made-in-Monaco books and projects will create a publishing eco-system to support local writers, local designers, local photographers, local artists, local businesses and local printers in the Principality.

For those familiar with her caring nature, organisation and discipline, it is no surprise that Lacey holds a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Texas Christian University. Or that she was as an elite athlete in her teens whose Olympic dreams came to an end when she broke her back. Or that she was one of the first people in Monaco to open her home to Ukrainian refugees who fled after the 2022 Russian invasion.

It is these traits that won the heart of IEFTA founder, filmmaker and philanthropist, Marco Orsini, who brought Lacey on as assistant and production coordinator and led her to oversaw two critical international UN Refugee Campaigns (in print, broadcast and new media) while developing IEFTA’s engagement with the educational and industrial capacity of emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Film credits include: Latin Four Plus (2022); Beyond the Raging Sea (2019); Refugee Voices in Film (Editions 2017-2024); and Gray Matters (2014).

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Caro Cuinet Wellings, photographer & writer

Caro is short for Caroline. I was born in France, and grew up in a small village near Aix-en-Provence. I knew from a very young age that I’d travel, live abroad and speak English and that is what I did.

On my way back from a Hebrew lesson, during my LLCE degree at the Université de Lettres of Aix en Provence, I found a poster in a corridor that advertised about PGCE -Post Graduate Certificate of Education. I applied and got accepted into St Martin’s University in Lancaster. I was going to be a secondary school teacher, teaching French as a foreign language. I began that career in August 2000 in Kenya. I then came back to the UK to teach in London. After 5 years there, I moved to Dubai to teach in an International School. I met my now husband on day 2 of me being there. 6 months later, we were engaged. James is British but we got married in my village in the South of France in July 2008. We found out I was pregnant in Como, during our honeymoon, when I realised I couldn’t stand the smell of coffee anymore. Our first daughter was born in Dubai in April 2009.

Teaching filled my life. It really did. I was a good teacher, I could coach students and staff, I worked on Learning & Teaching Policies and took part in real exciting innovative work. But when the idea of moving to Malaysia came into play, after a 12 year career in Education, I decided to explore a new path for myself. We moved to KL, Malaysia after 5 years in Dubai. This move was a tough one as I embarked on setting up a photography business, with little knowledge of how to run one, barely the skills to take photos and no more friends to support. Our second daughter was born in March 2014, followed by a post-natal depression. We lived for 6 years in KL, a city I absolutely adore, even though it wasn’t love at first sight. It is a place paved by fabulous friendships, fantastic trips, even better food, big heartaches and discoveries and also great courage.

Moving to France in the summer of 2018 was a big leap after 20 years abroad, I feel like an expat in my home country, to say simply. This is perhaps the hardest move I have ever had to make. I recognised a series of depressions throughout the years that led me to a very intense psychotherapy before I left Asia. I am proud to say that my photography business is continuing to grow. But mostly, being an entrepreneur, a creative, is continuing to give me opportunities to meet wonderful families, fellow photographers and the chance to be involved in beautiful projects. I am proud and happy to have taken this leap of faith when I did, a few years back.

During lockdown in April, I invited photographers to join me to find light. Hundreds of photographers followed the project that consisted in taking and publishing 1 photo a day. The aim was to photograph the confinement but always trying to find the light and improve technique and art. I am so happy and humbled to have been able to gather a supportive and creative community during a time that was really difficult for some of us.

I have renewed my love for learning and teaching with setting up photography mentoring and courses such as Learn Live. I starting with teaching a lifestyle newborn course online on Portrait ou Paysage that ran for 2 years since 2015, then a lifestyle family live course on Empara filmed in October 2018 in Nice. I also taught at Groovy Photography Bootcamp in 2019 and 2020. I run my own workshop called Creativity, Light and Visual Identity, and coach 1 to 1.

I have worked with IKEA on their project for paternity leave in 2017 in Malaysia, work that was exhibited at The National Gallery of Kuala Lumpur. I also work with Chanel since last year for private events. My experience with teaching has given me opportunities to work on School photography. I have worked with International Schools such as St Julians in Portugal, Garden International School in KL and Alice Smith International School in KL and Wellington International School in Dubai. My work has been published in ELLE HK, The long Way Home magazine (US), Dear Photographer (US), and I have been awarded finalist place the two times I participated to the prestigious annual and world wide contest The Voice, in the US.

My speciality and my first photography love remains doing lifestyle in home family shoots. I love creating with families the photos of the moments they live everyday, in their home, that have become mundane routines, and show them how beautiful these moments truly are. I love to think that as parents, we grow so much with our children. I want these photos to be a testimony, an heritage of love and connexions for generations to come.

Where to find me:

https://carocuinetwellings.com

https://www.instagram.com/carocuinetwellings/

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About Nancy Heslin

NANCY HESLIN is a Monaco media personality who swapped the chilly temps of Canada for year-round sunshine on the Côte d’Azur back in 2001.

She is an accomplished journalist, podcaster and cofounder of Monaco’s English-language book publishing house, Carob Tree Publishing.

Launched in March 2024, Carob Tree Publishing is the first 100% women owned and operated maison d’édition in Monaco. Cofounded with film producer Lacey Da Costa, the company is a Monaco-registered SARL that champions women authors and women-focused projects and is committed to printing and promoting services in Monaco.

Carob Tree’s first release, 100 Years of Women: Motorsport in Monaco, came out on January 24, 2025. The “groundbreaking book” is not-for-profit and the book launch was attended by Prince Albert and hailed as “an influential event” by FIA.

The media personality hosts the new Monaco Info podcast in English series, with guests such as creator of Paw Patrol and Bob the Builder Keith Chapman, Olympian Paula Radcliffe, easyJet founder Sir Stelios and model Victoria Silvstedt.

The podcaster is the cohost of Nancy & PJ Finally Get Together, a popular podcast launched on January 23, 2023, with listeners in 139 countries, total downloads have reached 81,000 to date (source: Buzzsprout). The podcast is a spinoff of You, Me & France, a 75,000-word lived experience non-fiction manuscript.

While Nancy started her not-for-profit project Good News, Monaco in November 2020 to share positive human interest stories that support the community and local businesses in a time of Covid, her mission to deliver good news continues today.

Nancy is the Editor in Chief of The Monegasque, the English-language arts and culture magazine launched in December 2023. Prior to this she was Editor in Chief of the bimonthly Forbes Monaco, from its launch in November 2018 until January 2023, when it ceased publishing due to licensing terms.

Nancy hosts the Savills Monaco sponsored What’s New in Monaco for Riviera Radio, the English-language FM radio station in Monaco that broadcasts across the South of France.

Additionally she is a pitch coach at Monaco Tech and a gifted moderator working with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (Ocean Week, Blue Economy Index, Re. Ocean Fund, Re.Generation Leadership Program, including names like Paul Polman, Alejandro Agag and Alain Ducasse) and various banks (UBS, BNP, Barclays Monaco). She also led the 1st Forbes Monaco Power Women’s Summit with Cherie Blair, Shevon Harris-Holyfield and Chinwe Esimai.

Her reputation in Monaco and the South of France has had an international dimension for many years. She was interviewed by ARTE and Channel 5 for documentaries on the Principality. During the aftermath of the Nice Bastille Day attack on July 14, 2016, she appeared on international media: BBC World Service (UK), BBC Northern Ireland, CBC (Canada), CTV News (Canada), Global News (Canada), Morning Report (New Zealand).

As of Dec 2024, Nancy is the president of the Swimrun Monaco. The swimrunner (follow her on Insta: swimrunnerinmonaco) is the former editor of ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Life.

She began rowing in 2020 at the Société Nautique de Monaco and sat on the Board from 2023-2024. She won for Monaco at the 2022 French Coastal Rowing Championships (Women’s Masters x4 6000m).

Prior to Monaco, for 15 years, Nancy was Editor in Chief of the English-language publication the Riviera Reporter. She has penned for various airline magazines (easyJet Traveller, Norwegian Airlines N Magazine, Iberia Ronda and Wizz) and for 16 years wrote for Fodor’s Travel Guides (France, Provence & The Côte d’Azur and Paris editions). She has contributed to Women’s Running Magazine in the US.

Nancy (Wilson) also reported as a stringer for People Magazine for several years, covering events from the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, while on other occasions she’s taken the TGV with Tom Cruise to Marseille and sipped champagne with Paris Hilton in St Tropez.

From 2013-2016 Nancy taught “Debates and Interviews” in English at the French École du Journalisme in Nice, where she gave a Master’s course on the History of International Media.

Nancy became a naturalised French citizen in 2010 to obtain the right to vote.

Contact: GoodNewsMonaco

Photo: Ed Wright Images.