2015 shortlist

A comedian, compère, writer and actor, Sajeela has been performing stand-up across the UK and abroad since 2006. She famously starred in Brendon Burns’ “So I Suppose This is Offensive” show, which went on to win the The Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award. She stars in BBC Radio Scotland’s multi-faith family sitcom “Mixing It” and has produced her own hit comedy show “Immigrant Diaries”. She donates all the profits from her award-winning comedy club Comedy Cottage to charity.

Bengal-born Piali is director of Sampad, a Birmingham-based agency which supports and develops the profile of South Asian arts through performances, festivals, conferences, education and outreach work. An acclaimed performer and choreographer, she was commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival to produce two large scale shows – “Moving Earth” and “Mandala”, which were widely recognised as flagship events for South Asian arts in the UK.

Sevasti is a Managing Director with Accenture, where she has worked within the Communications Industry serving some of Accenture’s largest global telecommunications clients for over 15 years. No only recognized by her peers, and the senior clients she serves, as a deep industry expert with unrivalled mastery of business transformation, she is also an extremely inspirational role model. She has been a champion of people development, a mentor to many, and has made a huge impact in her role of Inclusion and Diversity Lead in Accenture.

Nupur is the HR director for Tata Consultancy Services UK & Ireland, part of the Tata Group – one of India’s largest and best-known companies. Starting her career as an HR officer in Mumbai, Nupur rose up the ranks and is now responsible for the HR function for more than 11,000 employees from 39 nationalities. The company was named “Britain’s Top Employer” by the Top Employers Institute in 2013 and 2014.

A former vice-chair of business relations for the British Conservative party, Farzana founded London-based communications agency Curzon PR in 2009. She has headed campaigns for the Oscar-winning documentary “Saving Face”, the Arts Council-backed initiative Creative Industry Finance, and the NYSE-listed global rice brand Amira. She holds a board position at the largest educational NGO in Pakistan, CARE Pakistan UK.

Serial entrepreneur Renu is the brains behind X-Forces, a social enterprise set up to support and launch ex-service people in their own businesses. Started in November 2013, X-Forces has now launched more than 300 entrepreneurs and lent over £3.3m. Her vision is to help the armed forces community build more than 3000 enterprises over the next three to four years, creating an extra 15,000 jobs.

Voted one of 100 people “making digital Britain tick”, Shivvy is an editor, speaker and the creator of Digital Futures (youtube.com/digitalfutures). The video series focuses on ‘tech-for-good’, has gained a loyal following of 1.5+ million and features eclectic trailblazers. TED Global’s curator calls Shivvy “a brilliant connector brining together people and ideas”, the WEF’s Director insists “her expertise and spirit make her a media leader beyond compare” and the late soul legend James Brown said she was one of the “greater ideas” of the broadcasting world!

Shelina wowed the judges of BBC’s “MasterChef” back in 2012 with her exotic and modern take on Mauritian food, becoming the first Asian woman to win the coveted MasterChef title – and the first woman in eight years to be crowned winner. She went on to write two cookery books and has regular appearances on C4’s “Sunday Brunch”, ITV’s “This Morning” and has featured on the Food Network and C4’s “What’s Cooking?” and ITV’s “Lorraine”.

As head of the professional policy division at the British Medical Association and with more than 15 years of experience within healthcare policy development, Nicky is renowned for managing sensitive negotiations to represent the best interests of medical professionals, building effective working relationships with key stakeholders, and delivering on major projects and programmes of change.

Daman is a groundbreaking doctor, passionate about patient safety. She is a fulltime NHS consultant and founding trustee of the UK Sepsis Trust- a national charity committed to saving 12, 500 lives a year from sepsis. Daman has combined her clinical skills with developing networks to help establish the charity as a credible national player, influencing health policy change. Previous charity work includes being lead anaesthetist for the Transplant Links Charity, helping to save lives in the developing world by training local doctors and founding kidney transplantation programmes.

Parmi set up a national charity dedicated to supporting ethnic minority disabled children and their families. She has developed a range of initiatives, research and resources, including peer and ambassador programmes increasing disability awareness within a cultural context. She continues to campaign for equality, aiming for a disability rights-respecting society.

Faced with a collection of her son’s outgrown shoes and no organisations that could tell her where they would end up walking again if she donated them, Camilla founded Sal’s Shoes in 2013, collecting children’s outgrown shoes and finding them new feet. In its first year, Sal’s Shoes collected 4,805 pairs of shoes and found them new feet in eight countries including the UK.

As a practising diabetes specialist dietician for the past 17 years, Balvinder has helped to make healthcare more accessible to black and ethnic minority groups, developing and implementing a number of successful health programmes designed to improve accessibility. Her work has been recognised in Parliament as an example of best practice. Balvinder is also general secretary of humanitarian relief agency Khalsa Aid.

A rare female role model in the male-dominated world of football, Annie is a Muslim coach with Leicester City Football Club and the first ever South Asian woman to get a level two coaching certificate from the Football Association. She is passionate about training aspiring footballers and encouraging disadvantaged young people into the sport.

Last year, Rimla became the first Muslim woman on the Football Association Council – and its youngest member. She works with national government bodies to promote diversity in sport and is on the advisory board of the international digital magazine, “Shirzanan Global”, to help encourage more Muslim women role models in sport. She has been named the Sky Sports and Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year (2013), the Asian Woman in Football winner (2012), an FA Grassroots Hero (presented by HRH Prince William) and a member of the Muslim Women Power List (2009).

Tanya is a rising star of retail and currently runs a £6m Marks & Spencer store in north London. Acknowledged for her vision and innovation, she is behind a £300k store refit and modernisation programme that will offer customers the latest shopping experience. She has been recognised within the top quartile of M&S management nationally.

A passionate astrophysicist, Jen is currently based in the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth where she is the South East Physics Network /Ogden physics outreach officer. She also works at the Winchester Science Centre as a planetarium presenter, helps to organise the Winchester Science Festival and does astronomy themed stand-up comedy.

A 28-year old civil engineer, Joanne works on the £4.2 Thames Tideway Tunnel. She is a the Past Chair of the British Tunnelling Society Young Members Committee, a London Bridge Associates ambassador for London Excellence and a founding member of London Excellence Aspiring Professionals.

Jyoti is a consultant urological surgeon at Burton Hospital with extensive experience in clinical and academic work. She is the commissioning editor of the Royal College of Surgeons Journals and joint editor-in-chief of “Medical Woman”. She is an examiner at Leicester Medical School as well as being an author, reviewer and teacher.