About Us
As the first 100% women-owned book publishing house in Monaco, Carob Tree Publishing was founded in March 2024 by Lacey Da Costa, an IEFTA film producer, and Nancy Heslin, editor-in-chief of The Monegasque, who share the belief that empathy fuels connection.
The long-time friends were initially motivated to get involved in a non-profit book that would champion young girls in the world of motorsport, everything from driving to engineering. From there, Carob Tree Publishing was created and expanded into a wider cultural field.
The concept is Made-in-Monaco books that largely support women authors and women-driven projects connected to the Principality. Books in French that help develop Monaco’s cultural identity will also make up the catalogue of this niche maison d’édition.
The Monaco-registered SARL looks to create an inclusive publishing eco-system – supporting, as much as possible, local creatives, local businesses and local printers in the Principality who equally embrace diversity, equity and inclusion – with a goal of getting Monaco’s vibrant stories out there to the global market. The first title is scheduled to launch in September 2024.
Lacey Da Costa
Managing Director
Lacey Da Costa has been an avid reader since childhood and a passion for storytelling has been a driving force in her life and career. Originally from Texas, she left behind a medical career in cardiac care to come to Monaco in 2010. An unexpected role as a documentary film producer with the Monaco-based International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA) launched her into the world of film and non-profit foundations.
A decade on, Lacey is currently the President of IEFTA and has overseen 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. She has represented IEFTA at various international film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, El Gouna). Film credits include: Latin Four Plus (2022); Beyond the Raging Sea (2019); Refugee Voices in Film (Editions 2017-2024); and Gray Matters (2014).
As a mentor to up-coming filmmakers from under-represented regions and through her work with the UN, she has seen first-hand the influence film can have on shifting perceptions and creating positive change. Carob Tree Publishing is her way of continuing to tell inspirational stories that reach a global audience of all ages, all genders, through another medium – books.
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Nancy Heslin
Publishing Director
Nancy Heslin swapped the chilly temperature of Canada for glorious year-round sunshine on the Côte d’Azur back in 2001, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 2010.
Nancy is the Editor in Chief of the English-language arts and culture magazine, The Monegasque and was Editor in Chief of the bimonthly Forbes Monaco. She is a gifted moderator and MC, working with the Prince Albert Foundation, Formula E, UBS and the Forbes Monaco Power Women’s Summit.
Her passion project, Good News, Monaco, shares positive human interest stories that support women and community. She is the cohost of Nancy & PJ Finally Get Together, a podcast launched in January 2023 that is ranked in the Top 25% reaching listeners in 125 countries. Nancy also reports for Riviera Radio, the English-language FM radio station based in Monaco.
As a journalist for nearly 25 years, Nancy has distinguished herself as the go-to media personality in the region, whether taking the TGV with Tom Cruise to Marseille or talking to Cherie Blair about financial empowerment for women. She has been featured in documentaries by ARTE and Channel 5 and is known internationally as a swimrunner, participating in, and writing for ÖTILLÖ Swimrun in Sweden. More recently she turned her hand to rowing and helped win a 2022 French Coastal Rowing Championships title for Monaco.
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